Comments on: Magical Buffet Mythology: Hine-nui-te-po https://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/?p=184 Where spirituality, politics, and pop culture collide! Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:54:18 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.9 By: Adrienne https://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/?p=184&cpage=1#comment-2640 Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:54:18 +0000 http://themagicalbuffet.com/blogx/?p=274#comment-2640 In Maori myths there are always many meanings hidden within the story. They may not be apparent at first, but look deeper to find them.

]]> By: Adrienne https://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/?p=184&cpage=1#comment-2639 Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:52:53 +0000 http://themagicalbuffet.com/blogx/?p=274#comment-2639 Hine Nui te Po, started as Hine te titama, the dawn Maiden. Her Mother Hine Ahu-One was created from the earth. Tane take Hine Ahu One to wife, to create mankind. Thus Hine te Titama was the first person made from the union of Tane- “the divine spirit” and Hine Ahu One of the earth.
Fittingly Their child was the first light- dawn. Hine titama descends to the underworld every day, as she is the dawn. The description of her teeth as barracudas is I beleive an incorrect translation. It originally said that her teeth were as white as a sharks. Sharks were very important symbolically, and many beleived that ancestors were often reincarnated as sharks.

The chasing of Tane after hine titama can also be seen as the daily travel of light across the sky and into the underworld.

She did not give mortality to the Polynesians. They were already mortal. Maui hoped to overturn this by gaining her manawa- by entering her. She went to the Underworld to look after the children and protect from Whiro, He who brings disease to the world. She acts as a guardian to protect the dead, to look after the children, saving them from the evil one.

Death is just another cycle, it has always existed, some see it as a bad thing, others see it as a process of transformation.

Whiro kills mankind. Hine nui Te Po, opens the world of spirit to the children, so they can still find the light within her.
Myth says that she killed Maui, because he slew her sister Mahu Ikas children of fire. As the protector of the children, their spirits would have gone to her at their death.

Regards
Adrienne Giacon NZ

]]>