... They were Ranginui, the Sky Father, and Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother, both sealed together in a close embrace. Crushed between the weight of their bodies were their many children, whose oppression deepened. They yearned to be free; they fought their parents and each other to break loose. Tuumatauenga, virile god of war, thrust and shouted; Tangaroa of the oceans whirled and surged; Tawhirirangimaatea howled with many raging winds; Haumiatiketike and Rongomatane, of wild foods and cultivated crops tried their best but were not successful; and Ruamoko, god of earthquakes, yet to be born, struggled in the confinement of his mother's womb. Of them all, Taane Mahuta, the god of the forests, was the most determined; he set his sturdy feet upon his father's chest, and braced his upper back and shoulders against the bosom of his mother. He pushed; and they parted. So the world; as the Maori understand it; came into being ... (Cfr Da Capo.)

... In the beginning were Rangi and Papa, Sky and Earth. Darkness existed. Rangi adhered over Papa his wife. Man was not. A person arose, a spirit who had no origin; his name was Rangitokona, the Heaven-propper. He went to Rangi and Papa, bid them go apart, but they would not. Therefore Rangitokona separated Rangi and Papa, he thrust the sky above. He thrust him with his pillars ten in number end to end; they reached up to the Fixed-place-of-the-Heavens. After this separation Rangi lamented for his wife: and his tears are the dew and the rain which ever fall on her. This was the chant that did the work:

Rangitokona, prop up the heaven! // Rangitokona, prop up the morning! // The pillar stands in the empty space. // The thought [memea] stands in the earth-world - // Thought stands also in the sky. // The kahi stands in the earth-world - // Kahi stands also in the sky. // The pillar stands, the pillar - // It ever stands, the pillar of the sky.

Then for the first time was there light between the Sky and the Earth; the world existed ... (Cfr Tane.)

But in the very beginning there were strong 'tentacles' which kept the 'cloth' of night firmly onto earth:

... The sun was held down close above the slowly evolving earth by the Great Octopus, Tumu-rai-fenua, Foundation of Heaven and Earth, who lived in the primeval waters on which the earth floated. One of his arms was to the north, one to the south, one to the east and another to the west ... (Cfr The Rain God)

These 'loving arms' had to be severed in order to let in the light:

"According to one of the Maori cosmologies there existed from the very beginning two divine beings, Rangi-nui, Great Sky-father, and Papa-tua-nuku, Earth-mother. Yearning for a mate Rangi descended from heaven and made Papa his wife. Within their loving embrace were born seventy male gods.

For eons the gods remained in their narrow lightless existence while the various ages of the Po, Darkness, succeeded one after another. Confined between heaven and earth the younger gods longed for light and freedom until they could bear it no longer. Tane and Ue-poto managed to find their way outside where they looked wonderingly upon limitless space, lighted as by the soft glow of moonlight although there was no Sun, Moon, or stars. The world seemed very pleasant to them except that they were nipped and frostbitten by the primeval colds of space - the Wero-i-te-nihinihi, the Wero-i-te-wawana, and the other colds - and were forced to shelter against their mother, Earth.

Then they called to their brothers to come outside and hold a council, for they had resolved to part their parents forever. In the tenth Po Tane and his brothers forced Rangi upward by their magical incantations and placed four props under him, one at each of the cardinal points. The props kept slipping and Rangi and Papa clasped hands to prevent being forced asunder.

Then Tane commanded his brothers to fetch two axes. They asked where they should find two axes. He told them to take the axe from under the pillow of their eldest brother Uru-te-ngangana and with it shape a second ax. They obeyed his instructions. With the two axes, which were later brought by the Maoris from their far western homeland and used for 'felling' the tempests on some of their famous voyages, Tane severed the arms of his father Rangi. By the powerful incantations of another brother Tane raised Rangi high above the earth, where he still floats ...

Tendons drawn tight tend to produce sound. Thus string instruments can be created, to produce music for the ear. Rainbows will similarly produce colours for the eye (and a prism can mimic the rainbow colours).

The transition from rain to sunshine generates bows of colours between sky and earth. Later, the transition from a season of Sun to a season of Rain will first be announced by lightning and the crack of thunder - Punua, the lastmentioned of the 9 gods for which Hina tutu po was beating tapa in the night (cfr at Ure Honu). Then follows the soft sound of drops falling:

... Then Rangi lamented for his wife and his tears fell incessantly while Papa, with her youngest godling still at the breast, moaned and stormed at the cruelty of her sons. Clouds, mist, rain, frost, and driving snow enveloped the earth and sky to the great discomfort of the gods.

To remedy the situation they turned Papa over so that she faced the Underworld and could no longer look up at Rangi. Thus the youngest child grew up to manhood in the region beneath the earth and became the ruler of earthquakes and volcanic fires with which he still wages war on the upper world in revenge for the inhuman treatment of his parents." (Makemson)

(Picture of the 'weeping-eye motif' from Thor Heyerdal et al., Reports of the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island and the East Pacific. Volume 2.)