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.