Editing Atea (section)

==New Zealand==
[[Friedrich Ratzel]] in ''The History of Mankind'' (1896)<ref>Ratzel, Friedrich. [http://www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/legend.htm ''The History of Mankind''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706145707/http://www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/legend.htm |date=2011-07-06 }}. (London: [[MacMillan and Co.]], 1896, accessed 30 May 2010.</ref> related the [[Māori mythology|Māori belief]] that creation commenced with the night then, after untold periods, desire awoke, then longing, then feeling. Thought followed upon the first pulse of life, or the first breath drawn; and upon thought, mental activity. Then sprang up the wish, directed to the sacred mystery or great riddle of life. Later, from the material procreative power of love develops the clinging to existence, permeated by a joyous sense of pleasure. Lastly, Atea, the universe, floated in space, divided by the difference of sex into [[Rangi and Papa]], Heaven and Earth; and individual creations then began.<ref name="Tregear">[[E. R. Tregear]], ''Māori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary'' ([[Lyon and Blair]]: Lambton Quay), 1891.</ref>