Papatūānuku.

By Home Birth Aotearoa
Sep 2014

He raupapa toru o ngā wāhine toa

Papatūānuku

Ko tōku tinana, ko ōku kikokiko, ko ōku uaua, ko ōku wheua ngohe, he toka, he one, he paru, he kōhatu, he kirikiri, arā, ngā mea mārō katoa.

Ko ōku kōiwi, he rākau mātātoka, he uaua karanati, koura, hiriwa, he konukura, me ērā konu katoa, mai i ngā pekanga o tōku ira, mai i tōku pūtaketanga hoki.

Ko ōku toto, he rangitoto, he wē toka, he wai māori, he paru koropupū, e nakunaku ana i te poroiwi me te kiko ki ngā momo uaua mārō katoa.

Ko tōku hā, he pungatara, he kāpuni, he hau, he kohu, e pupū ake ana i ngā taumata kiri mārō katoa, he kiri whakahou oranga. Kia puta te ora ki āku tamariki, āku mokopuna, tae atu hoki ki a rātau taihuānga maha i puta. Ko ngā ngāherehere ērā, ngā whakatipu, ngā moana, ngā awa, tae atu ki te hunga kararehe, e kākahutia nei au. Ko rātau tōku korowai, e manaaki nei i a au.

Koinei tōku pūrākau.

Ko Rūaumoko tāku pēpi, e ngote nei i tōku ū, he whana, he tākaro pērā i ngā tamariki katoa, kua rū tōku puku, kua wiriwiri tōku tinana, kua tūpato te haere a āku tamariki. I tō māua wehenga ko Ranginui, ka noho ko Rūaumoko ki tōku taha, i te wā i tohua e māua kia puta ki te whaiao, ki te ao mārama.

Kua tae kē ki te wā, hei wehe mō māua. Kua tae hoki ki te wā e puta ai ā māua tamariki ki te ao mārama, kia tipu ai rātau, kia mōhio ai rātau he aha ā rātau mahi. Ka whakaaetia e māua kia wēhea māua e tā māua tama a Tāne, ka takoto me ōna waewae ki te rangi, ki te pana i tōna matua, kia motu ai tā māua hononga.

Ka haere anō ngā mahi whai i ngā kupu whakarite a ngā tīpuna. I ōhakitia mai ki a tātau, hei tānga ki te ngākau wairua, i heke mai i Te Kore, i Te Pō. He taonga aroha ka whakawhiwhia ki ngā hua, kia haere tonu te āwhio o te orokohanga.

Engari ko tā te orokohanga, ko te mamae, ko te whakahere, ko te hāngaitanga, he ōrite ki te wai, me te rā mō te hunga mataora. I tō māua wehenga ka toko te wā hei whakaaroaro – he wā kitenga, he wā o te mana, he wā nō te pūngao whakahou, he wā panoni hoki.

Ko tōku korowai e kākahutia nei i tōku tinana, te tūāpapa, hei tango i te kākano mō āpōpō. Ka whakahaua e Ranginui tāna tama a Tāne, kia whakatōngia te kākano, kia whiria ki ngā muka o te korowai rā. Ka mahia e Tāne te mahi, ka ūhia e Ranginui te kākano rā ki ōna roimata, ka whāngaihia e te rā, ā, kua taea te oati o ngā rā o mua.

Koinei te tīmatanga o tōku haerenga whaimana, ko au hoki te whāea o ngā mea katoa, e hoki mai aua mea katoa ki a au.

Ka whakaaetia e māua kia whakawāteahia he wāhanga i waenganui i a māua, he wāhanga e whiti ai te māramatanga. E tipu ai ngā whakatipu katoa.

Nā, kua tukuna ngā tamariki ki te mahi i ngā mahi, ki te haere i ngā haere, ki te whakaea i ngā māmina, heoi kua wareware ētahi i takea mai rātau i hea.

Engari ka rongo au i a rātau, e tuku karanga mihi ana ki a au, me tā rātau mōhio e kore rātau e wareware. Kua karanga rātau ki te rā hou, ki te whakahōnore i te hunga kua huri ki tua o te ārai, kua karanga hoki rātau ki a māua, ngā mātua o te ao, te matua o te rangi, me te whāea o te whenua.

Ko au te whenua, ko Papatūānuku au.

Papatūānuku

My flesh, muscle, sinew, and cartilage are composed of rock, granite, dirt, mud, stone, sand, and all that is dense and solid.

My bones are fossilised trees, veins of granite, gold, silver, copper, and all precious metals, branching from my core, from the centre of my being.

My blood is molten lava, liquid rock, water, boiling mud, nourishing bone, and flesh through a labyrinth of rigid veins.

My breath is sulphur, gas, air, and mist, seeping through countless layers of hardened skin, a skin of regenerating life. Life for my children, my grandchildren, and the countless offspring which derive from them. They are the forests, plants, seas, rivers, and creatures which clothe me. They are my wondrous korowai which sustains us all.

This is my story…

My newborn, Rūaumoko, suckles at my breast, kicks, and plays as any child, causing my belly to rumble, my body to shudder, and my children to be wary. Rūaumoko stayed with me when I was separated from Ranginui, Sky Father, when we chose to allow light to come between us.

It was the right time for us to grow apart, my husband and I. It was also the right time for our children to grow and understand the responsibilities of becoming all they possibly could. And so, we allowed our son Tāne to brace himself against me, to thrust his legs upward, pushing Sky Father away, to severe our embrace.

And the journey of following the unspoken words of our forbearers continued. This was their gift to us, an imprint in our consciousness, handed down from Te Kore, the nothingness, through Te Pō, the nights. A gift of love which we in turn passed on to our children, to continue the cycle of creation.

Creation requires pain, requires sacrifice, requires possibility and belief, as food, water, and light for any living thing. Our separation was a time of inward turning – a time of discovery, a time of power, a time of regenerating energy, a time of change.

My korowai which cloaked my body in the past was also the foundation to receive the seed for the future. Ranginui instructed Tāne, our son, to plant the seed, to weave it into the tapestry of my korowai. And as he did so, Ranginui’s tears nourished the seed, so too did light give the seed food, fulfilling a promise from the past.

This was the beginning of my journey as the mother of all, from whom all living things are created, to whom all will eventually return.

We had allowed our children to create a space between us, a space which admitted light. Light which allowed growth and the ability to stand tall.

And now that our children have been free to create whatever their will desires, some have forgotten from whom they came.

But I hear them calling, a karanga of acknowledgement, of understanding that they will not forget. They call to celebrate a new day, to honour those who have passed to the next world, they call to acknowledge their ancestral parents, Sky Father and Earth Mother.

I am Papatūānuku, Earth Mother.

“The mythological origins of Māori society are laid out in three major myth cycles, beginning with the creation myth of Ranginui, the sky father, and Papatuanuku, the earth mother. The second sequence of myths deals with the adventures of the demi-god Maui, who fished up the land and brought many benefits into the world for humankind. The third series of myths deals with the life of Tawhaki, the model of an aristocratic and heroic figure. …. The central characters in the myths are gods, their progeny, and their human descendants. The stories are narrated in prose form, with the notion of an evolutionary sequence conveyed by the storyteller linking the main characters through the traditional method of genealogical recital. Inherent in the genealogy of earth and sky, the gods and their human descendants is the notion of evolution and progression.”

– Walker, Ranginui, Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou:

Struggle Without End, Penguin, Auckland, 1990.

Content supplied by the Ministry of Education http://www.minedu.govt.nz/