Tane, god of the forest, used his head and feet to separate his parents.
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Courtesy of Corel Corporation
Papa
According to the Maori people of New Zealand,
Rangi was the Sky Father and his wife was the Mother Earth, Papa. At the beginning of time, Rangi, the male sky, and Papa,
the female Earth, were entwined in a static embrace. Rangi wanted with this embrace
to prevent the creation of the world.
Their divine children, like Tangaroa the god
of the sea, could not escape. The trapped gods tried in vain several times to separate from their parents.
Then it was the turn of Tane, the god of the forest. Pushing away his father with his head and his mother with his feet, Tane finally succeeded.
He then set the Sun and the Moon, and decorated the heavens with stars. Tane was also the one who created
the first woman, called Hine, whom he married.
Their children were the first Polynesian people. One of Tane's brothers, Tawhiri, the god of winds, did not want his parents to be separated and expressed his wrath by hurling storms and hurricanes against Tane's forests and the sea which was under the authority of another brother, Tangaroa, the god of the sea.
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