Editing Paikea

{{Short description|Cultural ancestor in Polynesia}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:{{lang|mi|Paikea|italic=no|nocat=y}}}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox deity 
| image        = file:Paikea carving at Whāngārā Marae.jpg
| caption      = Carving at {{lang|mi|Whāngārā Marae|italic=no}} of {{lang|mi|Paikea|italic=no}} riding a whale
| type         = Polynesian
| name         = Paikea
| other_names  = 
| gender       = Male
| region       = [[Polynesia]]
| ethnic_group = [[Māori people|Māori]], [[Cook Islanders|Cook Islands Māori]]
| cult_centre  = 
| symbol       = <!-- or | symbols = -->
| consort      = * Ahurumowairaka
* Hoturangi
| offspring    = 
| parents      = * [[Uenuku]]
| siblings     = * Taiē
* Ina
* [[Ruatapu]]
* Maputukiterangi
* Ropanui
* Mahinaiteata
* Whiwhingaiterangi
* Rongoruaroa/Rongoueroa
* Ira
}}

'''{{lang|mi|Paikea|italic=no}}''' is a notable ancestor who originated in [[Hawaiki]] according to [[Māori mythology#Traditions|Māori tradition]]. He is particularly known to tribes with origins in the [[Gisborne District]] such as {{lang|mi|[[Ngāti Porou]]|italic=no}}, and {{lang|mi|[[Ngāi Tahu]]|italic=no}}.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/1621/the-ancestor-paikea |title=The ancestor Paikea - Ngāi Tahu |encyclopedia=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |access-date=2016-11-05}}</ref> {{lang|mi|Paikea|italic=no}} is the name assumed by '''{{lang|mi|Kahutia-te-rangi|italic=no}}''' because he was assisted by a whale to survive an attempt on his life by his half-brother {{lang|mi|[[Ruatapu]]|italic=no}}.

On the island of [[Aitutaki]], he is also known as a brother of Ruatapu, but is not as famous as him.<ref name="PolySoc06-75">{{cite journal |date=1906 |title=The Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. XV, 1906 |url=https://archive.org/details/journalpolynesi07zgoog/page/n94 |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society Containing the Transactions and Proceedings of the Society |volume=15 |pages=75–76 |access-date=20 April 2020}}</ref> In an account, probably from the Kāti Kurī [[hapū]] of Ngāi Tahu, the family lived on [[Mangaia]].<ref name=Kiwi>{{cite web|url=https://www.whalewatch.co.nz/our-people/indigenous-kiwi-and-paikea/ |title=Indigenous Kiwi & Paikea - Māori Legend |work= Whale Watch, Kaikōura, New Zealand |access-date=8 May 2020}}</ref>

=={{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}}'s shame==
{{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}} became offended when his father {{lang|mi|[[Uenuku]]|italic=no}} elevated his older half-brother {{lang|mi|Kahutia-te-rangi|italic=no}} ahead of him. When {{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}} was about to use a sacred comb belonging to {{lang|mi|Kahutia-te-rangi|italic=no}}, {{lang|mi|Uenuku|italic=no}} rebuked him, pointing out that {{lang|mi|Kahutia-te-rangi|italic=no}} was of high rank while {{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}} was of low birth, because his mother was a slave wife.<ref name="Craig1989">{{cite book|author=R. D. Craig|date=1989|title=Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology|location=New York |publisher=Greenwood Press|page=237}}</ref><ref name="Reedy1993">{{cite book |author=Reedy, Anaru|date=1993|title=Ngā Kōrero a Mohi Ruatapu, tohunga rongonui o Ngāti Porou: The Writings of Mohi Ruatapu |location=Christchurch |publisher=Canterbury University Press|pages=142–146}}</ref>

Some tellings also say Uenuku had built a canoe for his 70 sons and set about to do their hair with sacred combs for the first voyage,<ref name="TeAo">{{cite journal |title=The story of Paikea and Ruatapu |date=September 1962 |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/te-ao-hou/1962/09/00/8 |journal=Te Ao Hou |volume=40 |page=6 |via=Papers Past |access-date=5 May 2025}}</ref> or that Ruatapu was about to use Uenuku's own sacred comb rather than Kahutia's.<ref name=teara-ngaitahu>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Te Maire |last=Tau |date=2017 |title=Ngāi Tahu – Early history |url= https://teara.govt.nz/en/ngai-tahu/page-1 |encyclopedia=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand|Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |access-date=5 May 2025}}</ref> Either way, Ruatapu is told he cannot use any sacred comb because of his heritage, and is shamed.

In other accounts, the rebuke came when {{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}} dared to walk on the roof of {{lang|mi|Uenuku|italic=no}}'s house.

=={{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}}'s revenge==
[[File:Humpback Whales - South Bank 1.jpg|thumb|left|250x250px|[[Humpback whale]]s at the South Bank of the [[Dominican Republic]]. This species is closely associated with the ancestor Paikea.]]
Angry and ashamed at his father's disparaging comments, he lured {{lang|mi|Kahutia-te-rangi|italic=no}} and a large number of the other noble sons of {{lang|mi|Uenuku|italic=no}} into a canoe the next day and took them out to sea. He had hid the bailer somewhere onshore prior,<ref name="TeAo"/> and as soon as they were far enough he unplugged a preformed hole on the canoe flooring, drowning all members aboard - apart from {{lang|mi|Kahutia-te-rangi|italic=no}} who recited an incantation invoking his ancestor [[Tangaroa]],<ref name="TeAo" /> or the goddess [[Moakuramanu]], to call forth a whale (usually considered to be a southern [[humpback whale]] - {{lang|mi|paikea}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/te-whanau-puha-whales/page-1 |title=1. – Te whānau puha – whales |encyclopedia=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |date=2006-06-12 |access-date=2016-11-05}}</ref> to carry him ashore. {{lang|mi|Kahutia-te-rangi|italic=bo}} was the sole survivor of his brother's evildoing and assumed the name {{lang|mi|Paikea|italic=no}} as a memorial of the assistance he received from the whale.<ref name="Reedy1993"/><ref name="Reedy1997"/>

In some versions, {{lang|mi|Kahutia-te-rangi|italic=no}} himself transformed into the whale. In some tellings Ruatapu simply slays everybody with a spear once they're out at sea - again with the exception of Paikea who takes to the oceans and is saved by the gods.<ref name=teara-ngaitahu/>

==The waves of {{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}}==
The episode where {{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}} threatens to return as the great waves of the eighth month may explain other accounts which portray {{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}} as having invoked a great flood which destroyed Hawaiki. Such accounts or conclusions may result from Christian influence. According to {{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}}'s account in the {{lang|mi|Ngāti Porou|italic=no}} accounts, {{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}} shouted out to {{lang|mi|Kahutia-te-rangi|italic=no}} that he would return to fight him: "The great waves of the eighth month, they are me! I am then approaching!"<ref name="Reedy1993"/><ref name="Reedy1997">{{cite book|author=Reedy, Anaru|date=1997|title=Ngā Kōrero a Pita Kāpiti: The Teachings of Pita Kāpiti|location=Christchurch|publisher=Canterbury University Press|pages=83–85)}}</ref> In an endnote, Reedy writes:

<blockquote>
In the eighth month of the Māori calendar, in the early summer, large waves known as {{lang|mi|ngā tai o Rangawhenua}}, {{lang|mi|Rangawhenua|italic=no}}'s waves, sometimes break upon the shore on the East Coast. In this episode {{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}} announces that in the eighth month he will take this form, and follow {{lang|mi|Paikea|italic=no}}.<ref name="Reedy1993"/>
</blockquote>

The eighth month of the Māori calendar is Kohitātea (December-January) according to [[Ngāi Tūhoe]].<ref name=teara-lunarmonths>{{cite web|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/maramataka-the-lunar-calendar/page-1|title=Lunar Months|publisher=Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand|access-date=20 April 2020}}</ref>

=={{lang|mi|Whāngārā|italic=no}} connection==
{{lang|mi|Ngāti Konohi|italic=no}} is the Ngāti Porou hapū that is closely associated with [[Whangara|Whāngārā]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/east-coast-places/page-5|title=Story: East Coast places|last=Soutar|first=Monty|date=30 March 2015|website=Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand|access-date=5 April 2019}}</ref> a small settlement located between [[Gisborne, New Zealand|Gisborne]] and [[Tolaga Bay]]. Oral traditions of the {{lang|mi|hapū}} state that {{lang|mi|Paikea|italic=no}} came to New Zealand from {{lang|mi|Hawaiki|italic=no}} on the back of a whale following an event known as {{lang|mi|Te Huripureiata}},<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ahuwhenuatrophy.maori.nz/files/2019/AT_S&B_2019_FieldDayHandbook.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113221217/http://ahuwhenuatrophy.maori.nz/files/2019/AT_S&B_2019_FieldDayHandbook.pdf |archive-date=2020-01-13 |url-status=live|title=Ahuwhenua Trophy Field Day Handbook|date=2019|website=Ahuwhenua Trophy|access-date=5 March 2019}}</ref> a slaughter of the first born sons of {{lang|mi|Hawaiki|italic=no}} at sea.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.trotak.iwi.nz/view/the-people-nga-iwi/history/|title=History Turanganui a Kiwa|website=Te Runanga o Turanganui a Kiwa|access-date=5 March 2019}}</ref> According to tradition, the whale turned into stone, and is now the island of {{lang|mi|Whāngārā|italic=no}} (also known as {{lang|mi|Te Toka a Rangi}} or {{lang|mi|Te Ana o Paikea}}), immediately offshore.

==Kāti Kurī version==
In a version probably recorded from Kaikōura, Paikea was the youngest of Uenuku's sons, and his favourite, which made the other siblings incredibly jealous of him. His brothers plot to kill him, intending to slay him out on a fishing trip and tell Uenuku that he drowned. Paikea, through feigning his sleep that night, learned of the plan, and so deliberately sunk the canoe the next day himself, killing his brothers. Paikea alone remained alive, clinging to the remains of the canoe for survival, awaiting his death. Suddenly, a [[southern right whale|tohorā]] came to his aid, and carried him all the way to Whāngārā.

==See also==
{{Portal|Mythology|New Zealand|Oceania}}
* [[Jonah]]
* ''[[Whale Rider]]'', a book (by {{lang|mi|[[Witi Ihimaera]]|italic=no}}) and film inspired in part by the story of {{lang|mi|Paikea|italic=no}} and {{lang|mi|Ruatapu|italic=no}}.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{lang|mi|[http://folksong.org.nz/paikea/index.html Paikea]}}, a Māori folk song, with English translation and discussion.

[[Category:Legendary Māori people]]
[[Category:Legendary progenitors]]
[[Category:Māori mythology]]