HINEAHUONE

Taken from my manuscript for... Mana Wahine...

Toitu Te Mana Maori

Hineahuone is in fact the garden of mortal man. However Hineahuone’s auspicious life began, literally, as a hand full of dirt. In fact it was Tane-Mahuta, son of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, who wanted to find a female human to take as a wife. He looked hard but discovered that there was no female figure and he decided to create one. Tane performed a powerful karakia before taking a hand full of sacred soil from Te-one-i-Kurawaka. He started shaping the soil into a basic body shape. 

Tane started adding arms and legs to the figure. Then he fashioned the head, the hands and the feet. Finally Tane shaped her sexual organs. When at last Tane was happy with the final shape he decided to breathe life into her body. Tane took a deep breath. He then pressed his nostrils to her nostrils and began to blow life giving breath through his nostrils into hers. This is actually the origin of the hongi and it remains as an important part of our culture today. After a while the female figure began to breath and slowly opened her eyes. Life seeped slowly into every inch of her body and soon she was able to sit and look upon the world of light. 

Hineahuone and Tane Mahuta

Within minutes Hineahuone was able to raise herself up from the dirt and stand on her own two feet. It was Tane who named her Hineahuone (woman shaped from soil) and he took her to be his wife. Tane and Hineahuone had a daughter together and named her Hinetitama. When Hinetitama grew up Tane took her as his wife. Hineahuone was annoyed by this behavior and she left Tane. Hineahuone eventually married Tane’s younger brother Tumatauenga. Together they had a son called Tiki who is actually the first mortal male.

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