Inquiry: The Story Of Hineahuone - First Women On Earth

This week for inquiry been learning about something very different. We were learning about the story of Hineahuone. Our task for this particular task was to write down paragraphs and sentences our teacher ( Mrs Anderson ) on a paper. The challenging bit was that we have to write them using symbols. For example, when Mrs Anderson said the word slowly my partner in this case Jack and I drew a snail. As we all know that snails are very slow, and the snail symbol perfectly matches the word slowly. This was fun and really creative way of learning. After that we were to create a Storyboard which has 6 section and explain the story of Hineahuone. All the students in our classroom used a website called Storyboardthat. Although, Jack and I decided to challenge ourselves and make a google drawing. We also drew our own pictures using the shape tools and a tool called Curve Tool. 





Here is the full story of Hineahuone

According to Maori legend, the world as we know it was formed when Tane Mahuta – the god of the forest – prised apart Ranginui, the father of the sky, and Papatuanuku, the mother of the earth. Afterwards, Tane Mahuta and his brothers slowly went about making all things on earth and in the sky. When they were done, they had created a dazzling and beautiful world, but there were no people to enjoy it.

Tane Mahuta went about convincing the gods that they should make a woman, who could then go on to have children. The gods agreed, so Tane Mahuta took red earth from Papatuanuku, and shaped it into the form of a woman. Impressed, Tawhiri Matea, god of the winds, whispered “take my breath. Give her life”. And so Tane Mahuta bent over the woman he had created, placed his nose against hers, and breathed deeply. Her chest moved, and she sneezed – “Tihei!” The gods were ecstatic, and together they gave her the gift of life – mauriora – and the first woman, Hineahuone, was made.

Today, the hongi is the traditional greeting of the Maori people. It is known as the ‘breath of life’, and is performed by pressing noses – just like Tane Mahuta did to breathe life into Hineahuone. This greeting makes the visitor at one with the tangata whenua, or hosts.