Tanya

Tanya is mentioned in the Maori legend of the creation of the world, which tells about the separation of the Ranges and the Pope , who were in a tight embrace and enclosed numerous creatures and deities between their bodies. In the end, their children, compelled to exist in darkness and crowding, decided to separate their parents. The most warlike of the gods, the god of war Tumatauenga , even offered to kill Rangi and the Pope, but Tanya said: “No. It is better to separate them, and make the Sky stand high above us, and the Earth lay here below. We will make the Sky alien to us, but let the Earth remain close to us, like our caring mother . ” All brothers except Tafirimatea , who was afraid to lose his kingdom, agreed with Tanya. But other brothers ( Rongo , Tangaroa , Haumia-tiketika and Tumatauenga ) failed to separate their parents. Only Tanya was lucky. He subsequently adorned Ranga's naked body with stars (Gray 1956: 2-3; Orbell 1998: 145).

Tafirimatea , the god of the wind, could not endure the crying of his parents, who were far apart, so he promised the brothers that he would take revenge on them. When Tafirimatea attacks the oceans , huge waves and whirlpools form, and the sea god Tangaroa flees in panic. Pung , the son of Tangaroa, has two sons: Ikatera , the father of fish, and Tu-te-vehivehi , the ancestor of reptiles. Fearing Tafirimatea, fish seek shelter in the sea, and reptiles in the forest. Because of this, Tangaroa is very angry with the god Tanya, who sheltered Tu-te-milestones. Now he takes revenge, turning over the canoe and flooding houses, lands and trees and taking them to the open ocean. Tane also supplies timber to the descendants of Tumataueng, who make canoes, fishing nets and hooks to catch the descendants of Tangaroa.

One of the Maori legends says that it was Tanya who created the first person. His name was Tiki , or Tiki-au-ah-ha , and he was made from the soil of the legendary land of Hawaii . Subsequently, Tane decided that Tiki alone would be bored, so he created a companion, a woman whom he ordered to live with Tiki. According to other legends, Tiki himself was a deity who created man by mixing red clay with his blood (Dixon 1916: 24-25).

But another legend is better known, which tells about the attempt of the forest god to find a suitable wife. Initially, Tane wanted to marry his mother, Dad, but she refused, offering him Mumuhang as his wife. In marriage with her, Tanya gave birth to a totaro tree ( lat. Podocarpus totara ), which greatly disappointed God. He again returned to his mother, who, this time, proposed Hine-tu-a-maung as his wife. But she could not bear the child: mountain waters and reptiles, which now live there, became her children. Tanya returned to Papa, who told him to go to the Ranga-choir . But she was able to give birth only to stones. The same thing happened with the following wives named Ngaore , who gave birth to him a toetoe plant ( lat. Cortaderia toetoe ), and Pakoti , who gave birth to a hareke, or New Zealand flax . This greatly upset Tanya, who did not know what to do. Dad advised him to go by the ocean to the shore of Kura-vak , where he could make a man of the earth. So did Tanya, naming the woman he created Hine-ahu-one , who became his new wife. She first gave birth to him Tiki-tohua , the bird's egg from which all flying birds crawled out, and then Tiki-kapakapa , the woman, the first human child (Dixon 1916: 25-26).

Another version of this legend gives a shorter description. According to her, Tanya first married a tree that gave birth to trees. This saddened God, so he took the mud and mixed it with the sand that lay on the shores of the legendary land of Hawaii. So Tanya blinded the figure of a woman who was originally motionless and lying on the ground. Tanya covered her with clothes, breathed into her mouth and left her. When he returned, he saw a living woman, whom he later took as a wife (Dixon 1916: 27).

Some legends tell how Tanya married his own daughter, Hina-titama, who was unaware of family ties. After learning about this, she fled to the underworld, becoming the goddess of death Hine-nui-te-po . Tanya tried to get her back, but she refused (Orbell 1998: 38).

Other legends mention three baskets of knowledge that Tanya threw to people from heaven (Orbell 1998: 145).

• Dixon RB Oceanic Mythology . - Boston: Marshall Jones Company, 1916.
• Gray G. Nga Mahi a Nga Tupuna. - 4th edition. - Wellington: Reed, 1971.
• Gray G. Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race . - reprint. - Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1976.
• Orbell M. The Concise Encyclopedia of Maori Myth and Legend . - Christchurch: Canterbury University Press, 1998.
• Smith A. Songs and Stories of Taranaki from the Writings of Te Kahui Kararehe. - Christchurch: MacMillan Brown Center for Pacific Studies, 1993.
• Tregear ER Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary . - Lambton Quay: Lyon and Blair, 1891.