Te pō, te matenga
Say it: HEE-neh-noo-ee-teh-PORE · Hine = woman, nui = great, te pō = the night. 'Great woman of the night.'
Hine-nui-te-pō receives us. She is not to be feared — she is the reason a life has a shape at all.
Ko wai tēnei? — in plain words
The one who receives us at the end of life. She was once Hine-tītama, the dawn maiden, and chose to go into the night to care for her descendants there.
Whanaungatanga: Daughter and later wife of Tāne; formerly Hine-tītama; guardian of the descendants in Rarohenga.
Where you already meet them
Te kōrero — the story
Born Hine-tītama, the dawn maiden, she withdrew to the night on learning her whakapapa and became guardian of the descent. Māui sought immortality by passing through her and was refused; because of her, we are mortal, and because we are mortal, our days matter.
A common misunderstanding
She is not a death-demon. Death in this worldview is a return to an ancestress who is waiting for you, not an annihilation.
Ngā uara
Whakaaro ki te mate
Remember the ending; it clarifies the day.
Aroha ki te hunga mate
Care for those who have gone before.
If you are new to this — start here
Say the name of someone who has died out loud today. In te ao Māori the dead stay part of the conversation.
I tēnei ao — acknowledging today
He mihi
Hine-nui-te-pō, tiakina rātou kua wehe atu.
Hine-nui-te-pō, care for those who have departed.
Ngā taha o te ora