Hine-nui-te-Pó
So, usually when it come to Hine-nui; I associate Her with Winter wholeheartedly - especially snow. Lately though, even though it's still officially Winter - it feels,like Spring and I'm still feeling Her. Especially the walks home from work at night, whether it's cold or mild. Hine-nui all the way. Which makes sense with Her being 'Great Lady of the Night'. She is always the night Sky for me; even if Rangi is the Sky, the night sky is Hine-nui-te-Pò.
In fact in the old stories from the tribes of my Island (Te Wai pounamu), She and Ranginui were a couple before Rangi and Papatūanuku. So my UPG of Her taking over the the sky at Night makes perfect sense mythologically, to me at least. Old stories of te Pó (Dark/Night) being personified and having children in the creation myths that we have, play this out for me also (will link to the stories, or the quotes when I have more time), with Rangi being Light/Day sky.
She also has some interesting associations with Papatūanuku also. In the well known myths when Papa and Rangi are torn from each others embrace, Their sons turn Papa to face te Pó, to face the underworld that Hine-nui fled too, so Papa couldn't see Rangi. It makes me wonder whether there are more connections between Earth and She who will watch over us after we die, other than sharing a husband.














