Tāne

Māori god of forests and birds; separated earth and sky and made the first woman.

Parentage

• parent: Ranginui
• parent: Papatūānuku

Children

• Hine-nui-te-pō

Domains

• forests
• birds

Powers

• Separate earth and sky with his legs
• Fashion the first woman from earth
• Ascend the heavens to fetch knowledge baskets
• Adorn the sky father with stars

Epithets

• Tāne-te-wānanga maori · cultTāne of the sacred knowledge (who fetched the baskets of lore from the heavens)Elsdon Best, Maori Religion and Mythology, Part 2 (Dominion Museum Bulletin 11, 1924); Edward Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (1891) (secondary)
• Tāne Mahuta latin · Tane Mahuta · cultTāne of the forest; lord of trees, birds, and all that dwells in the woodsElsdon Best, Maori Religion and Mythology; George Grey, Polynesian Mythology (secondary)
• Tāne-nui-a-Rangi latin · Tane-nui-a-Rangi · cultGreat Tāne, son of Rangi; who thrust apart Sky and Earth and made the lightElsdon Best, Maori Religion and Mythology (secondary)

Relations

• equated with: TāneReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Tāne), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
• equated with: TaneReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Tāne), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
• equated with: TaneReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Tāne), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
• equated with: TaneReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Tāne), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
• sibling: Haumia-tiketikeFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Ranginui & Papatūānuku) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: RongoFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Ranginui & Papatūānuku) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: TangaroaFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Ranginui & Papatūānuku) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: TāwhirimāteaFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Ranginui & Papatūānuku) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: TūmatauengaFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Ranginui & Papatūānuku) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: WhiroFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Ranginui & Papatūānuku) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• equated with: KāneCognate theonym (PPn *Tane, t>k in Hawaiian). Both male generative powers and makers of humankind; Maori Tane is forest-and-birds specific, Hawaiian Kane broadened to sunlight, fresh water and supreme creator status.Edward Tregear, The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (1891), s.v. 'Tane' (secondary); Martha Beckwith, Hawaiian Mythology (1940), ch. 4 (secondary)

Sources

• existence: Grey, Polynesian Mythology (1855) (primary)