Pūhaorangi: Gentle Breath of Heaven

Pūhaorangi, an atua (god) of the heavens was overwhelmed by the beauty of Te Kuraimonoa (precious treasure) and he fell in love. During the nights, he would descend from the heavens to be with her.

At first, Te Kuraimonoa believed it was her husband, Toi, but then realised it was in fact the atua, Pūhaorangi. Te Kuraimonoa became pregnant and the next time Puhaorangi came to her he said, “If our child is born a boy call him ‘Ohomairangi’ (heavenly awakening | born of the heavens).

So it was, that Kuraimonoa gave birth to a son, Ohomairangi, from whom our Te Arawa whakapapa (genealogy) links with our atua, Pūhaorangi.

Our kaumatua (elders) today still speak of our people as ‘Te Heketanga-a-rangi’ (those who descend from the heavens) in proud remembrance of the origin of our tupuna Ohomairangi. Ngāti Ohomairangi was the name of the tribe of people who first arrived on the Arawa waka with Tamatekapua.

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.