Horoirangi: The Return

For many years, a simple stone carving of a goddess of the forest, named Horoirangi, guarded a small cave on a cliff-face on Tihi-o-tonga overlooking Lake Rotorua. The carving could only be reached by climbing Te Arakari-a-Tūtānekai (the steps carved by Tūtānekai). Made of ignimbrite rock and pumice, the figure sat calmly overlooking the land for many years.

Before her death, Horoirangi was a noble woman and cousin of Tamatekapua. Because of the qualities she displayed in her lifetime, she became revered after she died and was thought of as a kaitiaki of Ngāti Tuarā.

As a spirit, she cared for the fertility and protection of the lands around the ancient pā named Te Whetengū. Her care preserved birds and fruits of the surrounding forest. She was an important part of daily life for the Ngāti Tuarā people. As long as she was revered, her mauri (vital essence) would protect all who lived in that area.

The Ruawahine, or priestess of the pā, would often take gifts of food and offerings to her. The first fruits of the kūmara harvest and the first birds taken in a hunt were laid at her feet. Food was buried after the feast rather than left out because it was considered tapu and not to be touched or eaten by others.

During the raids of the warrior and prophet Te Kooti, in 1870, the Tihi-o-tonga settlement was abandoned. Later, Rangiriri, one of Te Arawa’s last great tohunga, decided to remove Horoirangi from her home in case she was vandalised. In the 1920s she was taken to Auckland Museum for safe keeping.

In the following years, stories of famous male gods were collected, written and spread by Europeans, but the stories about female spiritual beings, or atua wāhine, were never recorded. Consequently, they began to be forgotten. Horoirangi was one of the atua wahine, or female spiritual beings, whose story was almost lost.

That was until the 1980s, when a curious academic named Dr Aroha Yates-Smith decided to complete research into atua wāhine. She believed that the stories and roles of women were just as important as those of men.

Thanks to her hard work and dedication, more was learnt about atua wāhine including Horoirangi. Dr Yates-Smith was responsible for the rediscovery of Horoirangi at Auckland Museum, and helped organise her return to Rotorua, her home. Horoirangi is now cared for by Rotorua Museum – Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa.

This story comes from the original Great Te Arawa Stories website created by Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru (NPeW) Education Trust in 2018. To ensure consistency, minimal updates were made to the text before it was transferred to this new site.