Hurumanu is the atua (gods / spiritual beings) of seabirds. Like Punaweko, he is counted among Tāne's descendants. What is told of him is brief, and this telling stays within it.
Seabirds live at the edge of two worlds. They nest on land, on cliffs, islands and burrowed headlands that belong to Tāne. They feed at sea, diving into the realm of Tangaroa. After the separation, the brothers Tāne and Tangaroa were at odds, and the boundary between land and sea became a place of tension. Hurumanu's birds cross that line every day without belonging fully to either side.
What this meant for the people was practical. Tītī (muttonbird) were harvested each year from the same islands and burrows, under strict limits handed down through generations. Gannets and other birds working a patch of water were read as a sign that fish were beneath them. Navigators watched the flight of birds at dusk to know where land lay. Sailors and fishers who watched the birds before the weather were reading Hurumanu's signs, whether or not they named him.
Little more is told, and nothing is invented to fill what is missing. Tellings differ between iwi, hapū and whānau, and the knowledge of particular islands and harvests belongs with the people who hold them.
Hei whakaaro (reflect / thought): think about where in your life you live between two worlds. What can you read there that people on one side alone would miss?
Hei whakaaro · something to sit with
Ka whakawhiti ngā manu o Hurumanu i waenga i ngā ao e rua ia rā.
Those who live between two worlds can read signs that either side alone would miss.
Where do you stand between two worlds, and what can you see from there?