Kupurā
Te Kāhui (the assembly) Atua (gods / spiritual beings)

Tīpuna (ancestors) · Te taonga (treasure / something precious) tuku iho, te koha (gift / contribution) a te kaumātua, te wheua hei taputapu

Muri-ranga-whenua

Say it: MOO-ree-rah-nga-feh-noo-ah

The old woman whose jawbone became Māui's hook and his weapon. Muri-ranga-whenua is what an elder holds that a young one cannot yet see the value of — until it is handed over.

Te Kāwai (Line of descent)

Te Kore → Te ira tangata → Muri-ranga-whenua

Te Kōrero (the story)

Muri-ranga-whenua was Māui's ancestress, so old and so nearly gone from the world that she could smell him coming before he arrived. He caught her by surprise and, in some tellings, tricked or startled the last of her power from her. Rather than resist him fully, she recognised her grandson and gave him her jawbone — the very bone he would use to fish up Te Ika-a-Māui, the North Island, and to strike Tama-nui-te-rā into slowing the day. Nothing Māui is remembered for happens without that gift. She is rarely the centre of the story, but she is the reason the story is possible at all, and every version of Māui's deeds is quietly her deed too.

Te Whakapapa (the genealogy)

Ancestress and grandmother of Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga, whose jawbone he carried into his best-known feats; her line reaches back into the oldest part of his whakapapa.

Ngā Mana (domains and influence)

What elders hold and hand downBone as tool and weaponInheritance that outlasts the giverBeing the unseen reason behind someone else's success

Kei Kōnei Rātou (they are present here)

  • Advice from someone much older than you, given plainly.
  • A tool, comb or taonga handed down through a family.
  • Realising someone's achievement rests on a gift you never saw them receive.
  • An old relative who notices more than they let on.

Ngā Huarahi Hono (ways to connect)

You are with an older relative

Ask them for one thing they know, and actually use it, rather than letting it pass as small talk.

You succeed at something

Name out loud who gave you what you needed to get there.

Handling something inherited

Hold it a moment longer than necessary before you put it to use.

A Common Misunderstanding

This profile holds one telling of Muri-ranga-whenua. Pūrākau and whakapapa can differ between iwi and whānau, so it should not be read as the only account.

Ngā Uara (values)

Wise

A quality carried in the kōrero of Muri-ranga-whenua.

Sharp-sensed

A quality carried in the kōrero of Muri-ranga-whenua.

Generous once convinced

A quality carried in the kōrero of Muri-ranga-whenua.

Easy to overlook

A quality carried in the kōrero of Muri-ranga-whenua.

Ngā Pūrākau (the traditional stories)

Told in full, the way they would be shared out loud. Versions differ between iwi (tribe), hapū (sub-tribe) and whānau (family).

Te kauae — the jawbone

Māui goes to his oldest ancestress, and she gives him the tool for everything he later does.

About 2 min read