Coromandel Life Magazine 2015 Winter V3

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rience Grand Mercure Puka Park Resort
oromandal
Miha
Places to Be
Puka Park Resort
Coromandel Peninsula
Grand Mercure
Accor Vacation ClubApartments
+64 7 864 8088
Email:
Mount Avenue, Pauanui Beach
Coromandel Peninsula NZ
Miha is Grand Mercure Puk a
Park’s signature restaurant and is
renowned for its superb dining
and stunning views.
This unique resort can cater for your
every need from a casual meal on the
deck celebrating with friends to your
unforgettable conference needs and
team building events, not forgetting
one of the Coromandels premiere
wedding venues.
HAPPY HOUR
EVERY DAY
WEDDINGS
Grand ercure Puka Park Resort
4.30pm
to 6.30pm
Jane Crisp’s art is inspired by, and imbued with, her love of the natural world.
She has lived in the rural surrounds of the Waikato since the 1990s, and the
wildlife of the region has provided the ideal subjects for her skills, especially
wild birds – she beautifully captures the life in their eyes
and vitality in their poses. Her precise portraits might pair
a wild bird poised with a treasured antique item, such as
a kiwi lounging in an ornate serving bowl.
See her art at d on fb. Prints are
available from the artist or Mosaic Gallery in Whitianga.
drawings and conversation with Maori Tohunga
and Kaumatua went into this piece before and
during the painting process, which took many
months to complete. It was then blessed before
commencing its journey. – Jane Crisp, artist
Tane Mahuta’s Triumph was painted for all people
and to be viewed publicly where its Wairua (Spirit)
can be appreciated.
To depict the legend correctly and to the highest
standard, many hours of research, preliminary
KauriTane brings light to the Earth
In the beginning there was no sky, no sea
no earth and no Gods. There was only
darkness, only Te Kore, the Nothingness.
From this nothingness, the primal parents
of the Maori came, Papatuanuku, the
Earth mother, and Ranginui, the Sky father.
Papatuanuku and Ranginui came together,
embracing in the darkness, and had 70 male
children.
These offspring became the Gods of the
Maori. However, the children of Papatuanuku
and Ranginui were locked in their parents’
embrace, in eternal darkness, and yearned to
see some light. They eventually decided that
their parents should be separated, and had a
meeting to decide what should be done.
Finally, Tumatauenga, the God of War, said
“Let us kill our parents.” However, Tane
Mahuta (the God of man, forests, and all
which inhabit the forests) thought that Rangi
and Papa should be separated.
He thought that Ranginui should go up
above, to the sky, and that Papatuanuku
should go below, to dwell on earth. All
the children, including Tu, the God of War,
agreed with Tane.
Tawhiri Matea, the God of winds and storms
was the only child who did not wish for his
parents to be separated. One by one the
children tried to separate their parents.
Rongomatane, the God and father of
cultivated foods, tried without success.
Haumia Tiketike, God of uncultivated food
also tried. Then it was the turn of Tangaroa,
God of the sea, and Tumatauenga, god of
war, but neither could separate their parents.
Lastly Tane Mahuta rose. Strong as the
kauri tree, he placed his shoulders against
his mother Papatuanuku and his feet
against his father Ranginui, and he pushed
hard, for a very long time, straining and
heaving all the while. Rangi and Papa cried
in pain, asking their sons “why do you wish
to destroy our love?”
After a long time Tane finally managed to
separate Rangi and Papa, and for the first
time the children saw the light of day (ao
Marama) come streaming in.
In this painting a handful of Tane’s children
fly nearby supporting their God’s success.
Graceful Kotuku, representing ‘all things
rare and beautiful’ as this sacred moment
truly was, the orator and ever welcoming Tui
startled in the excitement as light floods in
where darkness once dwelled, and watchful
Kaahu who acted as a messenger to the
Gods in the heavens, and communicated
back with Tohunga here on earth.
Tawhiri Matea, the God of winds and storms,
and who had been against the separation of
his parents, left for the sky to join his father.
The turbulent winds and storms on earth are
caused by Tawhiri Matea, in revenge for this
brother’s acts.
The actual painting has a simple box frame crafted from swamp kauri, centuries old, found on the Brown’s
estate in Pukekawa. The wood was generously donated and milled by the family.
18 COROMANDEL LIFE 2015 WINTER