Te taiao
Tatū ki ēnei rā, tīkina ai e te Māori ngā āhuatanga o te taiao hei tauira i ngā whanonga o te tangata.
I tātaria te whānau mārama mō ngā wā tika ki te ahuwhenua, ki te hī ika, ki te mahi kai. Hei tauira, ka puta a Matariki i te marama o Pipiri, he tohu ki te tau hōu, me hauhake ngā kai. Tērā tērā kōrero, ‘Matariki ahunga nui’.
Ki te Māori, he wāhi nui te moana, hei mahinga ika, hei ara. Nō te kitenga atu he marino atu te moana i te rāwhiti o Te Ika-a-Māui, ka kīia tērā ko te tai tamawahine. Nā te pūkeri o ngā moana o te hauāuru, kīia ai tērā ko te tai tamatāne. Ka whakahuatia te kaikai a te moana i te whenua ko ‘te ngaungau a Hinemoana’.
He kupu whakarite mō te wāhi tino nui rawa atu o te whenua ki te Maori, ‘Te toto o te tangata he kai; te oranga o te tangata he whenua’.
Ngā tōpūtanga tāngata
Ka tīkina e te Māori ngā tauira o te taiao hei whakaatu i te āhua o te noho ā-whānau, ā-hapū, ā-iwi. Mehemea kei te kī te wharenui i te tangata ka kīia, ‘Me he tumu kuku’. Arā te kōrero ka whakarite i te nui tangata ki te waipuke, ‘He pukenga wai, he pukenga tangata’. He whakataukī mō te tira nui rawa, inā, ‘Tēnā te ngaoko nā me te onepū moana’.
Kīia ai te ope e rere mōrehu ana, ‘Me he pīngao i te tuauru e rere ana i te one’. Ki te muia tētahi rangatira nui e te iwi, ka kīia, ‘E tupu atu kūmara, e ohu e te anuhe’.
Ātaahua
He kupu whakarite anō ā te Māori mō te ātaahua, ka tangohia i te taiao. Mēnā he pīata ngā niho menemene, ka kīia ‘me te pōhoi toroa tērā, pūaho ana’.
Mā te huruhuru te manu ka rere
Ka rite te whatu pūreke ki te hanga a te mātuhi i tōna kōhanga ki te repo harakeke. Waihoki, whakaritea ai te raranga tarahau kiekie ki te hanga a te tīeke i tōna kōhanga i te harakeke.
Mēnā he karu kānapanapa ō te wahine, ka kīia ko Ōturu, arā, te marama hua. He pērā anō mō te wahine pūrotu, inā, ‘Mehemea ko Kōpū e rere ana i te pae’.
He mahi ngaio te raranga, whai anō ka kīia te kōrero mōna, ‘He whare pūngāwerewere’. He kupu whakarite mō te tangata pākira, arā, ‘He horo ki tūparimaunga, he hewa ki te tangata kotahi’.
