When you look up what do you see?

You see the sky and sun, stars and moon.

Look more closely you will see the shark.

Māngōroa looms over you by night.

The great Māui who caught the Fish,

sent the shark to protect us on Earth-

Māngōroa, the protector in the sea of the sky.

The patches of black a gentle reminder

of the shark that protects,

swimming through the white waves.

Māngōroa dazzles us with unearthly beauty

as it shimmers and shines through the night.

Māngōroa, the great guardian,

the protector in the sea of the sky,

the beautiful and strong Milk Way.

When the Earth was young,

there was a great battle.

A battle of love,

to win the heart of Pīhanga.

Pīhanga was a beautiful mountain

who caught the eye of three suitors.

Pīhanga and her betrothed Tongariro

made the winds, the snow, and the rain.

Yet there were three who wanted Pīhanga

to leave Tongariro and their descendants.

Taranaki, Tauhara, and Pūtauaki

all fought for Pīhanga's hand.

Tongariro was proven to be

the strongest over the other three.

So the great battle ended and

each mountain left Tongariro's land,

sad they could not win Pīhanga's hand.

When the Earth and Sky were together

their children lived in darkness

due to their tight embrace.

No longer did the children

want to live in darkness.

So they rose up and tried to

pry Papatūānuku and Ranginui apart.

None were successful.

Finally, Tāne arose and pried them apart.

Te Ao Mārama- the world of light,

was brought to life.

Thus Tāne, the God of Forests,

fashioned the first human.

Tāne brought, not only light and life, but

understanding, knowledge, and wisdom

from the heavens down to Earth

to share among the humans.

Tāne brought light into the world

and was revered for it; however,

one child of Papatūānuku and Ranginui

did not want to separate them.

This was Tāwhirimātea- the God of Weather.

Tāwhirimātea was so enraged that he sent

his children, the four winds and clouds

to wreck havoc on the land Tāne had created.

Forests were destroyed by

thunderstorms and heavy rain.

Tūmatauenga- the God of the War and People,

was angered by his brother's actions,

so he went to war with him.

Neither could defeat the other.

Now there is an everlasting war

between Tāwhirimātea and Tūmatauenga.

A long long time ago,

when the Earth was a child,

the Sun ran across the sky.

Tamanuiterā was so fast that

the days were too short

and the nights were too long.

Tamanuiterā set too quickly one day,

leaving Māui and his brothers

to eat angrily in the dark.

Mischievous Māui soon devised

a plan to catch Tamanuiterā and make

him move more slowly.

Māui took his sacred jawbone

and a rope made of flax,

and with his brothers,

made their way to where

Tamanuiterā was sleeping.

After they entrapped Tamanuiterā,

Māui struck him with his sacred jawbone.

"Why are you doing this?!" Tamanuiterā asked.

Māui struck him again and said:

"Because of you, we do not have

enough time in a day to do what we want!

No longer will you race across the sky!"

Since then, Tamanuiterā

moves slowly across the sky,

allowing time for more fun

and more work to be done.