According to Maori tradition, all humans are descended from the primordial pair Rangi (Heaven) and Papa (Earth), who were closely joined together in the beginning, leaving the world in darkness. Rangi and Papa had six sons: Tane Mahuta, who was the father of forests; Tawahiri-ma-tea, father of winds and storms; Tangaroa, father of fish and reptiles; Tu-matauguenga, father of fierce humans; Haumia-tikitiki, father of uncultivated food; and Rongo-ma-tane, father of cultivated food. In the beginning, these sons and all other beings lived for an extremely long time in