The Intersection Of Land, Whakapapa and Pūrākau

Māori have always been a people rich in pūrākau — traditional narratives that explain the nature of the world. Passed down orally through generations, these stories were later recorded in written form. Pūrākau describe the natural world, its cycles, and the place of Māori within it.

These narratives are not simply stories, but frameworks for understanding existence, relationships, and responsibility. They contextualise humanity as part of a living, interconnected universe.

In Māori cosmology, creation begins with Te Kore (the realm of potential), followed by the presence of Io, and the entwined embrace of Papatūānuku (the Earth Mother) and Ranginui (the Sky Father).

Their separation by Tāne brought about te ao mārama — the world of light. This moment marks the emergence of order, life, and consciousness.

Following this separation, the traditional Māori worldview describes the structure of creation as governed by the atua brothers: Tāne, Tangaroa, Tāwhirimātea, Rongo-ā-Tāne, Tū, and Haumia, all direct descendants of Papatūānuku and Ranginui.

Each atua presides over specific domains of life — forests, oceans, winds, cultivated food, warfare, and uncultivated food — shaping the rhythms of the natural world.

Māori pūrākau often attribute human qualities and personal identities to elements of the environment. Landforms, weather patterns, celestial bodies, and seasons are given names, personalities, and whakapapa.

Much like the gods of ancient Greece, Māori atua could be temperamental, compassionate, destructive, or beautiful beyond comparison. Examples include Marama (the Moon), Tama-nui-te-Rā (the Sun), Hinepūkohu-rangi (the mist), and Hinewai (the gentle rain).

Māori did not view themselves as separate from the natural world. The first human, according to tradition, was formed from clay taken from the body of Papatūānuku. Humanity, land, sea, and sky are therefore bound by shared ancestry.

The origins of many significant places in Aotearoa are explained through pūrākau. The Southern Alps are described as brothers descended from the Sky Father, stranded during an attempt to paddle their waka into the heavens.

In the North Island, mountains such as Taranaki, Tauhara, and Putauaki are said to be rivals banished for seeking the love of Pihanga, the wife of Tongariro.

Many locations across Aotearoa are associated with Kupe, the legendary voyager from Hawaiki. Kupe is said to have pursued the great octopus Te Wheke-ā-Muturangi across the Pacific, eventually arriving in Aotearoa.

Pūrākau speak of the dawn of time, and in this sense their characters are our tīpuna — our earliest ancestors. At the same time, these beings are inseparable from the land, sea, and sky.

Through this relationship, Māori are tangata whenua — people born of the land itself.

Māori traditions also speak of the patupaiarehe and the tūrehu, beings said to have inhabited Aotearoa before the Great Migration. These stories may have offered explanations for unfamiliar sounds heard in forests, rivers, and along the coast.

The patupaiarehe were often regarded as atua or predecessors of Māori, shaping early understandings of place, identity, and belonging in Aotearoa.