Ranginui, the sky father, was torn away from Papatūānuku, the earth mother, and formed the vault of the heavens. When Māori looked up at the sky they saw the sun god, Te Rā, whose journey was slowed by the legendary Māui. At night, they sometimes saw Rona, who had been pulled up from Earth ...

Māori mythology personified the heavens as a sky father, naming him variously Rangi (heavens), Ranginui (great heavens), Rangiroa (expansive heavens), or Te Ranginui-e-tū-nei (the great-standing heavens). He was also called Te Rangiātea, which referred to the great ...

Ranginui – the sky father . Māori mythology personified the heavens as a sky father, naming him variously Rangi (heavens), Ranginui (great heavens), Rangiroa (expansive heavens), or Te Ranginui-e-tū-nei (the great-standing heavens).

Origin of the celestial bodies According to Māori myth, Ranginui played a pivotal role in the birth of the sun, moon, planets, stars and constellations – collectively called Te Whānau Mārama (the family of light). One version told by Hāmiora Pio of Ngāti Awa is ...

Following the Te-Ika-a-ranganui battle in 1825, Te Kawau sought shelter in Waikato. In the winter of 1826 Ngāti Whātua moved north to Mahurangi, where they were made welcome by Ngāpuhi relatives but subjected to a series of attacks by hostile northern tribes.

Tāne ascends to the heavens. Human life and knowledge were said to originate in the realm of Ranginui, the sky father. In one tradition, the god Tāne climbed to the citadel Te Tihi-o-Manono, in the highest of the 12 heavens, known as Te Toi-o-ngā-rangi.

This lintel, which was carved with stone tools in the Bay of Plenty in the 1850s, shows Ranginui (the sky) and Papatūānuku (the earth) during the stage of creation known as Te Pō (darkness). The spirals represent light coming into the world. The following Ngāti Raukawa version of the ...

The battle – known as Te Ika-a-ranganui – was fought near Kaiwaka. Although Ngāti Whātua had over 1,000 warriors, the 500-strong invading force was armed with muskets and crushed their old foe. Ngāti Whātua survivors fled into exile.

In 1825 Hongi defeated Ngāti Whātua at Te Ika-a-ranganui, Kaipara. He pursued the survivors into Waikato territory, fighting them at Nohoawatea. By the following year, Ngāpuhi had gained revenge for their 1807–8 defeat by Ngāti Whātua at Moremonui in 1807–8.

Whakatōhea; academic, activist, author. This biography, written by Paul Spoonley, was first published in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography in 2024. It was translated into te reo Māori by Te Kahautu Maxwell.