When Tāne and his brothers forced Ranginui and Papatūānuku apart, one brother would not agree. Tāwhirimātea went up to live with his father in the sky, and from there he made war on the brothers who had done it.
He did not fight alone. He raised a family of winds and storms to carry his anger. They came as fierce squalls and whirling gusts, as dense clouds and dark clouds, and as clouds that burst with rain. Some tellings name them: Apū-hau, Apū-matangi and others. Each had its own temper.
He sent them out to the four quarters of the sky. That is Ngā Hau e Whā, the four winds. Each direction has its own wind, gentle or savage depending on where it blows from and what season it is. Between them they cover the whole sky, so no direction is ever entirely still.
With his children around him, Tāwhirimātea tore down Tāne's forests, whipped up Tangaroa's sea, and drove Rongo and Haumia-tiketike into hiding in the earth. Only Tūmatauenga stood against him and could not be moved. The winds never truly came to rest. The quarrel goes on in every storm.
That is why people who live by the weather learn to know the four winds by name and by direction. Fishers know which one is blowing before they launch. Gardeners know which one brings frost. Each wind is honest about its own nature, and the skill is in reading which one is speaking today.
Tellings differ between iwi, hapū and whānau, especially in the names and the number of the winds.
Hei whakaaro (reflect / thought): notice which wind is blowing in you today, and plan for that weather rather than pretending it is calm.
Hei whakaaro · something to sit with
He tika tō ia hau ki tōna ake āhua; ko te mōhio ki te hau e pupuhi ana te pūkenga.
Every wind is honest about its own temper; the skill is reading which one is blowing today.
Which wind is blowing in you today?