In MÃÂori mythology the primal couple Rangi and Papa (or Ranginui and Papatà «ÃÂnuku) appear in a creation myth explaining the origin of the world and the MÃÂori people (though there are many different versions). In some South Island dialects, Rangi is called Raki or Rakinui.
Ranginui first married Poharua Te Pà  where they bore 3 offspring including Aorangi (or Aoraki as given in South Island). He later married Papatà «ÃÂnuku together becoming the primordial sky father and earth mother bearing over 500 children of male and female including TÃÂwhirimÃÂtea, TÃÂne and Tangaroa. Both Ranginui and Papatà «ÃÂnuku lie locked together in a tight embrace, and their sons forced to live in the cramped darkness between them.
These children grow and discuss among themselves what it would be like to live in the light. Tà «matauenga, the fiercest of the children, proposes that the best solution to their predicament is to kill their parents. But his brother TÃÂne disagrees, suggesting that it is better to push them apart, to let Ranginui be as a stranger to them in the sky above while Papatà «ÃÂnuku will remain below to nurture them. The others put their plans into action—Rongo, the god of cultivated food, tries to push his parents apart, then Tangaroa, the god of the sea, and his sibling Haumia-tiketike, the god of wild food, join him. In spite of their joint efforts Rangi and Papa remain close together in their loving embrace.
After many attempts TÃÂne, god of forests and birds, forces his parents apart. Instead of standing upright and pushing with his hands as his brothers have done, he lies on his back and pushes with his strong legs. Stretching every sinew TÃÂne pushes and pushes until, with cries of grief and surprise, Ranginui and Papatà «ÃÂnuku were pried apart. Traditions of the Taranaki region, however, assign this separating role to Tangaroa, god of the sea.
And so the children of Ranginui and Papatà «anuku see light and have space to move for the first time. While the other children have agreed to the separation, TÃÂwhirimÃÂtea, the god of storms and winds, is angered that the parents have been torn apart. He cannot bear to hear the cries of his parents nor see the tears of Ranginui as they are parted, he promises his siblings that from henceforth they will have to deal with his anger. He flies off to join Rangi and there carefully fosters his own many offspring who include the winds, one of whom is sent to each quarter of the compass. To fight his brothers, TÃÂwhirimÃÂtea gathers an army of his children —winds and clouds of different kinds, including fierce squalls, whirlwinds, gloomy thick clouds, fiery clouds, hurricane clouds and thunderstorm clouds, and rain, mists and fog. As these winds show their might the dust flies and the great forest trees of TÃÂne are smashed under the attack and fall to the ground, food for decay and for insects. Then TÃÂwhirimÃÂtea attacks the oceans and huge waves rise, whirlpools form, and Tangaroa, the god of the sea, flees in panic. Punga, a son of Tangaroa, has two children, Ikatere father of fish, and Tà «-te-wehiwehi (or Tà «-te-wanawana) the ancestor of reptiles. Terrified by TÃÂwhirimÃÂtea's onslaught the fish seek shelter in the sea and the reptiles in the forests. Ever since Tangaroa has been angry with TÃÂne for giving refuge to his runaway children. So it is that TÃÂne supplies the descendants of Tà «matauenga with canoes, fishhooks and nets to catch the descendants of Tangaroa. Tangaroa retaliates by swamping canoes and sweeping away houses, land and trees that are washed out to sea in floods.
TÃÂwhirimÃÂtea next attacks his brothers Rongo and Haumia-tiketike, the gods of cultivated and uncultivated foods. Rongo and Haumia are in great fear of TÃÂwhirimÃÂtea but, as he attacks them, Papatà «ÃÂnuku determines to keep these for her other children and hides them so well that TÃÂwhirimÃÂtea cannot find them. So TÃÂwhirimÃÂtea turns on his brother Tà «matauenga. He uses all his strength but Tà «matauenga stands fast and TÃÂwhirimatea cannot prevail against him. Tà « (or human kind) stands fast and, at last, the anger of the gods subsided and peace prevailed.
Tà « thought about the actions of TÃÂne in separating their parents and made snares to catch the birds, the children of TÃÂne who could no longer fly free. He then made nets from forest plants and casts them in the sea so that the children of Tangaroa soon lie in heaps on the shore. He made hoes to dig the ground, capturing his brothers Rongo and Haumia-tiketike where they have hidden from TÃÂwhirimÃÂtea in the bosom of the earth mother and, recognising them by their long hair that remains above the surface of the earth, he drags them forth and heaps them into baskets to be eaten. So Tà «matauenga eats all of his brothers to repay them for their cowardice; the only brother that Tà «matauenga does not subdue is TÃÂwhirimÃÂtea, whose storms and hurricanes attack humankind to this day.
There was one more child of Ranginui and Papatà «ÃÂnuku who was never born and still lives inside Papatà «anuku. Whenever this child is kicking the earth shakes and it causes an earthquake. Rà «aumoko is his name and he is the god of earthquakes and volcanoes.
TÃÂne searched for heavenly bodies as lights so that his father would be appropriately dressed. He obtained the stars and threw them up, along with the moon and the sun. At last Ranginui looked handsome. Ranginui and Papatà «ÃÂnuku continue to grieve for each other to this day. Ranginui's tears fall towards Papatà «anuku to show how much he loves her. Sometimes Papatà «ÃÂnuku heaves and strains and almost breaks herself apart to reach her beloved partner again but it is to no avail. When mist rises from the forests, these are Papatà «ÃÂnuku's sighs as the warmth of her body yearns for Ranginui and continues to nurture mankind.
Ranginui
Papatuanuku