View source for Whaitiri

{{Short description|Māori goddesses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=May 2020}}
{{for|the politician|Meka Whaitiri}}
{{No footnotes|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox deity
| type         = Polynesian
| name         = Whaitiri
| god_of       = [[Atua]] of thunder
| image        = 
| caption      = 
| other_names  = 
| cult_centre  = 
| symbol       = <!-- or | symbols = -->
| consort      = [[Kaitangata (mythology)|Kaitangata]]
| parents      = 
| siblings     = 
| offspring    = [[Hemā (mythology)|Hemā]]
| gender       = Female
| equivalent1_type = 
| equivalent1 =
| equivalent2_type = 
| equivalent2 =
| region       = [[New Zealand]]
| ethnic_group = [[Māori people|Māori]]
}}
'''Whaitiri''' is a female [[atua]] and personification of [[thunder]] in [[Māori mythology]]. She is the grandmother of [[Tāwhaki]] and [[Karihi]]. Whaitiri is the granddaughter of Te Kanapu, son of [[Te Uira]], both of whom are personified forms of [[lightning]] (Reed 1963:158). Another more primary atua of thunder, a male, is [[Tāwhirimātea]].

==Marries Kaitangata==
Whaitiri is a fearsome figure, fond of [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]]. When she hears of a mortal named [[Kaitangata (mythology)|Kaitangata]] ([[man]]-eater), she is certain he will make a fine husband for her. She comes down to [[earth]] and marries him, but is disappointed to learn that he is a gentle person, nothing like his name suggests. Whaitiri kills her favourite slave, Anonokia, takes out her [[heart]] and [[liver]], and offers them to Kaitangata as a sign of her affection. He is horrified at the grisly offering (Reed 1963:158-159).

Kaitangata is a hard worker, spending a lot of time [[fish]]ing to feed his family. Unfortunately, he has never learned how to make hooks with a barb, and so most of his fish escape. Whaitiri gives him a barbed hook, and he catches a grouper, which she offers to the gods. Whaitiri quickly tires of a diet of fish, so when her husband is away fishing, she takes a net and catches two of her husband's relatives, Tupeke-ti and Tupeke-ta. When Kaitangata returns, she asks him to perform the incantations that are used when human flesh is offered to the gods. He does not know the chants, so she tries to perform them herself, not willing to confess that she is ignorant of the correct words to use. She mumbles nonsense words, before cooking the bodies, cutting them up and gorging herself on the flesh, to the disgust of the villagers. Only the [[bone]]s are left (Reed 1963:158-9).

Later, Kaitangata uses the bones to make barbed hooks, and goes fishing. He catches grouper, and gives them to Whaitiri. He does not tell her that he used hooks made from the bones of Tupeke-ti and Tupeke-ta. She eats the fish, and because the fish is infused with the ''tapu'' (sacredness) from the bodies of the two men, Whaitiri gradually begins to go blind. At first she is mystified at the reason for this, but eventually she is visited by a woman from the underworld who tells her what has happened (Reed 1963:159).

==Returns to the sky==
[[Image:Lightning02.jpg|thumb|[[Thunder]]s and [[lightning]]s are signs of Whaitiri]]
One day, Whaitiri overhears her husband describe her to two strangers. She is offended when she hears him say that his wife's [[skin]] is like the [[wind]], and her heart is as cold as [[snow]]. On another occasion, she is ashamed when Kaitangata complains that their children are dirty. She explains to her husband that she is unable to wash her children because she is a sacred being from the [[heaven]]s, and she tells him for the first time that her [[name]] is thunder. She prepares to return to her true home in the heavens, and foretells that her children will follow her one day. She departs in a [[cloud]], leaving her children, one of whom is [[Hemā (mythology)|Hemā]] (Reed 1963:159-160).

==Found by her grandsons==
This is fulfilled when Tāwhaki and Karihi, Hemā's sons, set off to climb up to the [[sky]]. At the foot of the ascent they find their grandmother, Whaitiri, now blind, who sits continually counting the tubers of [[sweet potato]] or [[taro]] that are her only food. The brothers tease her by snatching them away, one by one, and upsetting her count. Eventually, they reveal themselves to her and restore her sight. In return, she gives them advice about how best to make the climb into the sky. Karihi tries first, but makes the error of climbing up the ''aka taepa'', or hanging vine. He is blown violently around by the winds of heaven, and falls to his death. Tāwhaki climbs by the ''aka matua'', or parent [[vine]], recites the right incantations, and reaches the highest of the 10 heavens. There he learns many spells from Tama-i-waho, and marries a woman named Hāpai, or as others say, Maikuku-makaka. They have a son, and according to some versions of the story it is this child who is named [[Wahieroa]] (Biggs 1966:450).

==Names and epithets==
*Waitiri (thunder, thundering water, dialectal)
*Whaitiri (thunder)
*Whaitiri-mātakataka (crashing thunder)
*Waitiri Station, a large Central Otago New Zealand high country [[ranch]]. Named after the thundering waters of the [[Kawarau River]]. Waitiri Station is the major ranch of the Kawarau Gorge and runs from the Bungy Bridge to the Roaring Meg on SH6. It is a merino sheep station and is run in conjunction with Eastburn Station.
* Waitiri Run (Citroen Rapids) A Grade IV at less than {{convert|11000|cuft/s|m3/s}} and Grade V over {{convert|11000|cuft/s|m3/s}}. Length 2 miles (3&nbsp;km) BIG water, technically simple but intimidating. Waitiri Station provides put and exit access.

==See also==
* [[Matakerepō]], who is linked with Whaitiri

==References==
* B.G. Biggs, 'Maori Myths and Traditions' in [[Alexander Hare McLintock|A. H. McLintock]] (editor), ''Encyclopaedia of New Zealand'', 3 Volumes. (Government Printer: Wellington), 1966, II:447-454.
* A.W. Reed, ''Treasury of Maori Folklore'' (A.H. & A.W. Reed:Wellington), 1963.
* A. Cook, 'The Gibbston Story'

[[Category:Māori goddesses]]
[[Category:Sky and weather goddesses]]
[[Category:Thunder goddesses]]
[[Category:Mythological anthropophages]]