Rūaumoko, the Maori God of Earthquakes

In light of the devastating earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city and the largest on the South Island, I found it interesting that prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Māori had experienced what they called "rū whenua", that is the shaking of the land.

In Māori legend, it was the God Rūaumoko who caused earthquakes. Rūaumoko was the son of Ranginui (the Sky God) and Papatūānuku (the Earth Goddess). 

Rangi had been separated from Papa, and his tears had flooded the land.  In an attempt to ease their grief and sorrow, their offspring turned Papa face downward so they could not see each other, however in doing do, Rūaumoko was still at her breast, and therefore was carried to the world below. To keep him warm there he was given fire. He is the God of earthquakes and volcanoes, and the rumblings that disturb the land are made by him as he walks about.

In some other traditions, earthquakes were also to the taniwha, dragon-like monsters. For example, it was said that a taniwha travelled north from Porirua, near Wellington, to Te Aute in Hawke’s Bay, and left a trail of destruction. At Te Aute it battled with the god Tāne, the thrashing of its tail creating a sandbank island in Lake Roto-a-Tara. Although this small lake is now drained, the sandbank remains. The Te Aute area also has two other lakes dammed by earthquakes – Poukawa and Hātuma.

Source: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/historic-earthquakes/1

Adonis – the Image of Masculine Beauty

“The fairest thing I leave behind is sunlight

then shining stars and the full moon's face,

and also ripe cucumbers, and apples, and pears"

(“Hymn to Adonis”, Praxilla of Sicyon, ca.5th century BC)

With Valentine's Day fast approaching and our attentions being encouraged to turn towards love and beauty, I thought I would share part of an article that I wrote for "Insight" magazine either last February or even February 2009.



We are told that our devotion to our partners is measured in the number of long stemmed red roses we buy, whose price almost miraculously skyrockets around the 14th of this month. Aside from roses, when we consider love and beauty, it is the Greek Goddess of love, Aphrodite, (or her Roman counterpart Venus) who quickly comes to mind. For the purpose of this article, however, I would like to focus on another Deity, one whose extraordinary beauty even had Aphrodite herself distracted by feelings of passion, that being the beautiful youth, Adonis.