Te Kāwai (Line of descent) o ngā Atua (gods / spiritual beings)
One widely shared line — each iwi tells it differently.
Te Pō is the darkness that gestates. It is told in a chant of stages — Te Pō nui, Te Pō roa, Te Pō uriuri — each one the world slowly coming into being. Out of that darkness Ranginui and Papatūānuku emerged, locked together.
Te Kāwai
Te Pō (The long night)
Te ira tangata (The human line)
Ngā mātua (The first parents)
Ngā uri (The children of Rangi rāua ko Papa)
Ngā mokopuna (The grandchildren)
Te whakatupuranga whā (The fourth generation)
Ngā tīpuna (The ancestors)
He kupu (word) whakatūpato
Whakapapa differs between iwi and traditions. What is held here is one widely told line, offered as a doorway rather than an authority — kōrero with your whānau, marae and iwi for the version you carry.
