Hinepukohurangi

New Zealand’s Māori tribes have a fund of narratives about people and beings who existed long before the arrival of Polynesian settlers by canoe. This collective knowledge is central to the experience and identity of the tangata whenua – the people of the land.

Some Māori tribes have unique traditions about their origins in nature. Perhaps the most well-known is that of the Ngāti Tūhoe people, said to descend from the mist of the Urewera Ranges. The Tūhoe people of the Urewera forest call themselves the children of the mist because they trace their spiritual ancestry back to Te Maunga, who was lured to earth from the skies by Hine-pū-kohu-rangi (girl-patch-mist-sky). Hinepūkohurangi later became the mist and Te Maunga became the Urewera mountains.

According to evidence presented to the Waitangi Tribunal, all of Tūhoe are descendants of Potiki I, also known as Potiki-tiketike, who was the offspring of the union of Te Maunga and Hinepūkohurangi. Thus all Tūhoe are descendants of the land itself.

The Mist Maiden is called Tairi-a-kohu by the neighbouring Ngati Kahungunu people. They tell of how she seduced their ancestor Uenuku and turned him into a rainbow.