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Story: Te Waonui a Tāne – forest mythology

Whaikōrero

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Whaikōrero

Mita Taupopoki, an elder of the Tūhourangi and Ngāti Wahiao people, speaks on a marae, around 1915. Orators on marae illuminate topics in the same way that Tāne brought light into the world when he separated heaven and earth.

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Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand Railways Collection (PAColl-5167)

Reference: 1/2-023794-G

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, Te Waonui a Tāne – forest mythology – Rituals of the marae, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/13159/whaikorero (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, published 1 March 2009.