Ranginui

Ranginui (often shortened to Rangi, personified as the Great Sky Father in traditional Māori cosmology of Aotearoa New Zealand) is the masculine personification of the celestial dome and the primordial progenitor of all divine and human lineages, alongside his consort Papatūānuku (the Earth Mother). In the archaic cosmogonic narrative, preserved in the oral traditions of the tribes of the North and South Islands, Ranginui and Papatūānuku remained joined in a perpetual, tight physical embrace (te awhitanga), keeping their numerous supernatural children (ngā atua) immersed in the absolute darkness of the primordial Night (Te Pō). Unable to stand up or thrive in the suffocating gap between their parents' bodies, the children debated their fate and resolved to force their parents apart. While the war god Tūmatauenga proposed parricide, the strategy of Tāne Mahuta (the atua of the forests) prevailed: he set his back against the Earth and pushed the Sky with his legs, breaking the bonds that held them together and raising Ranginui to the infinite heights so that the Light (Te Ao Mārama) could enter. The pain of the eternal separation generated continuous weather phenomena: the tears shed by Ranginui fall upon Papatūānuku as rain, dew (hau) and frost, while the warm sighs rising from the Earth Mother's breast ascend to the heights as morning mists (kohu). Later, moved by the nakedness of the father left isolated in the dark firmament, Tāne gathered the twinkling stars and fixed them on Ranginui's chest as a luminous royal mantle.

10 min read · Reviewed on September 28, 2026 · How we research

The sky, the stars, the rain and the dew

Primary sources

• Grey, Sir George, Polynesian Mythology, and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race. translation: London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1855. read
• Shortland, Edward, Maori Religion and Mythology: With Notes on the Land Tenure of the New Zealanders. translation: London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1882. read
• Whatahoro, H. T. / Smith, S. Percy (trans.), The Lore of the Whare-wānanga; or Teachings of the Maori College on Religion, Cosmogony, and History (Part I: Te Kauwae-runga). translation: New Plymouth: Polynesian Society, 1913. read

Studies

• Tregear, Edward, The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary. Wellington, N.Z.: Lyon and Blair, Lambton Quay, 1891. open
• Best, Elsdon, The Maori As He Was: A Brief Account of Maori Life as it Was in Pre-European Days. Wellington: Dominion Museum, 1924. open