Tawhirimatea, the wrath between sky and earth

Tawhirimatea is a god of Maori tradition.

The storm god who wages war against his brothers. Tawhirimatea embodies the wrath between sky and earth, waging war on his own brothers.

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Tawhirimatea

Tawhirimatea is the Maori god of storms, winds and weather, son of the sky father Ranginui and the earth mother Papatuanuku. He is the only son who resisted the separation of his parents, and out of anger he wages war against his brothers.

He sends his wind children to the cardinal directions, and his raging strikes forest, sea and crops alike. Only Tumatauenga, the human, withstands him. In Maori cosmology, Tawhirimatea is a central figure who remains strongly present to this day.

At a glance: Tawhirimatea

Type: god of storms, winds and weather
Origin: Maori tradition, son of Ranginui and Papatuanuku
Texts: Grey 1855, Best 1924
Period: Maori tradition, documented from the 19th century
Appearance: not anthropomorphic, storm, gust and cloud

Textual history

Period of the Texts

Maori tradition, very well documented: the standard works are George Grey’s Polynesian Mythology from 1855 and Elsdon Best’s works from 1924.

Area of Diffusion

New Zealand: Tawhirimatea belongs to the core of the Maori cosmology of Aotearoa and affects weather and seafaring.

Sources

Good: Tawhirimatea is very broadly attested, including in Grey, Best and in Orbell’s encyclopedia of Maori mythology.

Name and variants

Maori: The name contains tawhiri, to blow or beckon, in the sense of the blowing wind. Tawhirimatea is thus, even by name, the god of the moving sky.

Form and effect

Appearance

Tawhirimatea has no fixed anthropomorphic form; he is present as storm, gust, cloud and wind from all directions. His wind children bear the names of the cardinal directions: tuaraki in the north, tonga in the south, marangai in the east and hauauru in the west.

Effect

Out of anger and grief over his parents’ suffering, Tawhirimatea follows his father Rangi into the sky and wages war against his brothers: against Tane-Mahuta, whose forests he breaks apart, against Tangaroa, the sea, whom he drives back with waves, against Rongo and Haumia-tiketike, the cultivated and wild food that Papatuanuku hides, and against Tumatauenga, the human, who alone withstands him.

Profile: Tawhirimatea

The key aspects of the storm god at a glance.

Cultural Context

Central god of Maori cosmology: son of sky and earth, the sole opponent of their separation, and a warrior against his own brothers.

Object of Influence

Weather and seafaring: storm, gust, cloud and wind from all directions, sent out by his wind children in the cardinal directions.

Depiction

Not anthropomorphic: Tawhirimatea appears as storm, gust and cloud, not as an image or statue.

Sphere of Influence

Storms, winds and weather; his war strikes forest, sea and food, only the human Tumatauenga withstands him.

Practice

Fear and respect: prayer formulas, karakia, for weather and travel are addressed to him or seek protection from him; an elaborate cult of offerings is not prominently attested.

Distinctions

Raka-maomao, the god of ordinary winds, as a counterpart; typologically comparable are Vayu and Aeolus.

The son who never forgave the separation

The name contains tawhiri, to blow or beckon, in the sense of the blowing wind. Tawhirimatea is very well attested, including in George Grey and Elsdon Best. When the children of Rangi and Papa decided to separate their tightly embracing parents, and Tane forced them apart with his legs, Tawhirimatea alone resisted.

From this act of resistance grows his war: he follows his father into the sky and punishes his brothers with storms, breaks apart the forests of Tane-Mahuta, drives back the sea of Tangaroa with waves, and forces the food gods Rongo and Haumia-tiketike into the protection of the earth mother. Only Tumatauenga, the human, withstands him. Thus the myth also explains why humans can defy the weather yet never truly conquer it.

Matariki and the afterlife

Tawhirimatea is central to Maori cosmology and remains strongly present today. In a widespread tradition, he tore out his eyes in anger and grief and hurled them into the sky, where they became the stars of Matariki, the Pleiades. His name gives its name to weather and environmental references in Aotearoa.

From a religious-studies perspective, Tawhirimatea is a destructive storm god who actively wages war against his brothers, a high but not apocalyptic threat, since Tumatauenga withstands him. Important clarifications: he was the sole opponent of the separation, not its advocate; the number and order of the Rangi-Papa children varies by iwi; and the Matariki eye episode is a widespread variant, not the only one.

Fear, respect and karakia

As a force of nature, Tawhirimatea is mainly feared and respected; prayer formulas, karakia, for weather and travel are addressed to him or seek protection from him. An elaborate cult of offerings is not prominently attested; he is a figure of explanation and reverence. Dealing with the storm god thus consisted less in ritual apparatus than in attitude: meeting the weather with respect.

Storm gods beside the everyday wind

Tawhirimatea stands opposed to Raka-maomao, the god of ordinary winds, the storm as opposed to the everyday wind. Typologically he is comparable to storm gods of other cultures, such as the Vedic Vayu and the Greek Aiolos. His friendly counterpart in the same tradition is Hine-Tu-Whenua, the goddess of favourable sailing winds.

Frequently asked questions about Tawhirimatea

Who is Tawhirimatea?

The Maori god of storms, winds and weather, son of the sky father Ranginui and the earth mother Papatuanuku.

Why does he wage war against his brothers?

He alone opposed the separation of his parents, and out of anger and grief he punishes his brothers with storms.

What is his connection to Matariki?

In one widespread variant he tore out his own eyes and hurled them into the sky, where they became the stars of Matariki, the Pleiades.

Further links

Literature (selection)

Further standard works in the bibliography.

As the god of winds and weather, the Maori storm god Tawhirimatea remains central to the cosmology of Aotearoa to this day: the son who never came to terms with the separation of sky and earth, and whose anger lives on in the storm.