Oceania — Aotearoa (New Zealand), Polynesia
Māori — the Indigenous Polynesian people of Aotearoa (New Zealand), organized in iwi (tribes) and hapū (sub-tribes), descendants of the Polynesian voyagers who arrived by waka (canoe).
Cosmological Structure. A cosmos understood as a vast genealogical web — whakapapa — in which all things, from the primal void to the gods to the natural world to human beings, are connected through descent and relationship. Everything has whakapapa; everything is related. The cosmos unfolds from Te Kore (the void, the potential), through Te Pō (the long night, the darkness), to Te Ao Mārama (the world of light), through the separation of the primal parents Ranginui (Sky Father) and Papatūānuku (Earth Mother) by their children. The whole of existence is a web of genealogical relationship.
Creation. In the beginning was Te Kore (the void/potential), then Te Pō (the long night). Ranginui (the Sky Father) and Papatūānuku (the Earth Mother) lay locked in a tight embrace, their many children crushed in the darkness between them. The children debated; Tāne Mahuta (god of the forests) finally forced them apart, pushing the Sky up and the Earth down, letting in Te Ao Mārama, the world of light. From this separation, and the acts of the divine children (Tāne, Tangaroa, Tūmatauenga, Tāwhirimātea, Rongo, Haumia), the world and its life came to be — all connected by whakapapa.
Time. Genealogical and relational — time is understood through whakapapa, the succession of generations connecting the present to the ancestors and the origins. There is also the sense of walking backward into the future (facing the known past, the ancestors before us, while the unseen future comes behind). The web of relationship extends through time as through the cosmos.
The Sacred. Whakapapa itself — the genealogical web connecting all things, the fundamental sacred structure of reality. Mana (spiritual authority, power, prestige — derived from and flowing through whakapapa and right action). Tapu (the sacred, the restricted) and noa (the ordinary, the free). The primal parents and the divine children. The ancestors (tūpuna). The land (whenua) and the relationship to it. Mauri (the life-force in all things).
Death / Afterlife. The dead join the ancestors (tūpuna) and are honored, especially in the tangihanga (the funeral rites on the marae). The spirit journeys to the ancestral homeland (Hawaiki) via Te Rerenga Wairua (the leaping place of spirits). The dead remain part of the whakapapa web, connected to the living; death is a passage within the genealogical web, not a severance. The ancestors are present and honored, woven into the ongoing web of relationship. ---
Sacred Objects. The whakapapa itself (the recited genealogy). Taonga (treasures — including greenstone/pounamu, cloaks, and carvings) that carry mana and connect generations. The waka (canoe). The carved meeting house (wharenui), which embodies an ancestor. The mauri (life-force) and objects that hold it.
Sacred Places. The marae (the communal meeting ground and its buildings, the center of Māori community life). The whenua (the land, to which Māori are connected by whakapapa — Papatūānuku is the Earth Mother). Maunga (mountains), awa (rivers), and other features connected to iwi identity. Hawaiki (the ancestral homeland). Te Rerenga Wairua (the spirits' leaping place).
Sacred Practices. The recitation of whakapapa. Whaikōrero (formal oratory) and the pōwhiri (welcome ceremony) on the marae. Karakia (incantation/prayer). Waiata (song). The tangihanga (funeral rites). The maintenance of mana, tapu, and the relationships of the web. The honoring of ancestors and the connection to the land.
Sacred Prohibitions. Tapu (the sacred/restricted) must be respected and not violated; breaches of tapu have serious consequences and require restoration to noa. Mana must be maintained and not diminished through wrong action; the mana of persons, groups, and places is to be respected. The whakapapa and the relationships of the web must be honored. The proper protocols (tikanga) of the marae and of relationship must be observed. ---
`web`
The Māori worldview is fundamentally a web of relationship — whakapapa, the genealogical connection binding all things, from the primal void through the gods to the natural world and human beings. Nothing stands alone; everything has whakapapa, everything is related. Story moves not toward the defeat of an enemy but through the weaving and tracing of the web: situating its subject within the genealogical connections, extending the web from the origins to the present, strengthening the relationships and the mana that flow through them. A story in this architecture unfolds the web — from the potential of the void, through the establishing of connection and the separation that makes relationship possible, through the extending of the web by the culture-heroes, to the location of the present within the whole related web, and the mana that flows through it. The web is traced, woven, and honored.
The unfolding, tracing, and strengthening of a web of genealogical relationship. The movement is not conflict-to-resolution but the weaving of connection — from the origins (the void, the potential), through the establishing of the web (the separation that makes relationship and light possible), through its extension (the deeds that shape the world and connect it), to the location of the subject within the whole web and the mana that flows through the connections.
Te Kore (the void, the potential — the origin of the web) → Te Pō (the long night — the web latent in darkness) → the Separation (Rangi and Papa parted — relationship and light made possible, the web able to unfold) → the Web of Connection (whakapapa established — all things related, the connections traced) → the Deeds of Māui (the web extended — the culture-hero's deeds shaping and connecting the world) → Whenua (the land and belonging — the subject located within the web, connected to ancestors and land) → Mana (the authority and life flowing through the web — the strengthened connections, the mana of the whole). ---