Tū-huruhuru

A son of Ihuatamai and Hina. He was generally known as Tinirau's son, because Tinirau had married Hina before the child was born.1 Tū-huruhuru married Apakura and by her he begat a son, Tū-whakararo, then a girl, Mairatea, then other children, and lastly the youngest (the Reimatua), the celebrated Whakatau-pōtiki.2 When Tū-huruhuru was a baby his mother, Hina-uri, or Hine-i-te-iwaiwa, deserted him, flying away with her brother Rupe (Māui-mua), but she let the infant drop into the arms of Tinirau, who became its foster-father. When the boy was old enough he was taught by Tinirau how to find the mother who had left him, and by his ministrations Hina was induced to return to her husband.

Tū-huruhuru is mentioned in the celebrated childbirth karakia of Hine-i-te-iwaiwa used by Māori women at the time of parturition.3

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References

Notes

  1. Grey, Sir George. (1855). Polynesian Mythology. London: John Murray, p. 50.
  2. ibid., p. 61.
  3. Shortland, Edward. (1882). Maori Religion and Mythology. London: Longmans Green, p. 30.

Sources

  • Tregear, Edward. (1891). Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary. Wellington: Government Printer, p. 546.
  • White, John. (1887). Ancient History of the Maori. 6 vols. Wellington: G. Didsbury, Government Printer, p. 2:143.

This article incorporates text from Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (1891) by Edward Tregear, which is in the public domain.