Kiwa (mythology) - Children

Children

The names and numbers of their children vary in different accounts. One version (Best 1982:257) names ten children and for most of these, gives details about the creatures they gave rise to:

  1. Pipihura, ancestor of the cockle.
  2. Te Uru-kahikahika, source of eels, lampreys and frostfish.
  3. Wharerimu, ancestor of seaweed.
  4. Hine-tapiritia, ancestor of certain molluscs and oysters.
  5. Te Raengawha, origin of sea urchins, as well as various fishes.
  6. Te Kiri-pakapaka, origin of the snapper and the gurnard.
  7. Whatu-maomao, whose offspring include the grouper, the kingfish, and the kahawai.
  8. Te Kohurangi
  9. Kapuwai
  10. Kaiwahawera, ancestor of the octopus.

Others say that Kiwa is the brother of Hinemoana, or her guardian (Orbell 1998:60). Some Māori tribes have stories in which Hinemoana is married to Rangi, the god of the sky. This causes jealousy on the part of Papa, the earth mother, another of Rangi's wives. The enmity between Hinemoana and Papa is shown in the way the sea is constantly attacking and eroding the land. In other areas of New Zealand, traditions about the guardians of the sea and the origin of its creatures were very different. For instance in the Mataatua canoe area, (the eastern Bay of Plenty) it appears that Hinemoana was unknown; their traditions concern a female deity named Wainui (Great Water) instead (Best 1982:252-257, Reed 1963:397).

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