Ihimaera - Navigating the Stars: Maori Creation Myths

I haere mai ttou i tawhiti

We come from far away

Once upon a time, several million years ago, a mitochondrial mother lived in what is now known as Africa. There were other beginnings before her, but let us call her the original Eve. She was the mother of mothers, and from her arose the children of humankind, generation after generation. Our story begins with them.

Myths commemorate our ancestors and origins

It started with the incredible saga of nomadic hunter-gatherers. They foraged their way across great distances and through the Stone Age. They fashioned simple implements and inscribed the events of their lives in images on the walls and ceilings of the caves they lived in. Outside, the skies above would have seemed vast and brimming with possibilities, the stars offering a means of orientation and, perhaps, the idea of something more magical.

It wasnt sufficient just to live their lives, and humankind therefore began to ask themselves how, what, by whom, when and why. So began a particular compulsion to ask questions concerning their existence, to explain and understand it.

Humankinds subsequent development can be traced through the Old World names of the periods in which many ceased their patterns of roving. In the Neolithic Age literally the new stone age, which followed the Palaeolithic or old stone age they started to settle, to domesticate animals and to bond together as tribal groups. During the successive Copper, Bronze and Iron ages, they forged metal implements and created civilisations with unique cultures and kin loyalties. Large cities were built, such as Jericho, Byblos and Uruk.

Myths became integral to the human story, carried by the strong pulse of primal storytelling. Stars were charted and used both to tell the time and to foretell the future. Monuments were built to act as calendars, at first in wood and later in stone. The something more magical evolved into something more profound: systems involving negotiations with pantheons of gods who would praise or blame and who always required obedience. Humankind began to engrave their relationships with the divine on palaces, temple walls and stelae.

Their gods were competitive, and so were they, shaping not just tools but also weapons and chariots. There are remains of early massacres carried out with stone blades and wooden arrows, such as at Jebel Sahaba from 12,00015,000 years ago, but with metal came much wider destruction. Sumer in southern Mesopotamia home to many warring settlements was conquered by the legendary Sargon of Akkad, while the early Pharaohs fought over Upper and Lower Egypt.

Myths tell of great battles, of tragic losses and triumphant victories

The emergence of city-states led to increasing sophistication as larger alliances based on nation, language, race, religion and common beliefs were formed. Astronomers calculated the motion of the planets, while philosophers theorised over the phenomenon. As far as myth was concerned, bards attached stories to constellations and priests described how they were imbued with divinity. Thus, for the Greeks, Helios was the sun god, Selene the goddess of the moon, Zeus god of the sky and ruler of the heavens; and the known planets were each ascribed a god. In the Norse pantheon, Odin rode across the sky on his winged eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. Ahura Mazda was a god of light in Persia, fighting against Ahriman, the spirit of darkness, who controlled a three-headed demon known as Azi Dahaka.