The Maori have several legends about the geothermal activity of the area from Taupo, via Rotorua to Whakaari (White Island) outside the eastern shores of the North Island. And I do like Maori legends, so I try to discover them whenever I can. Here are two legends we found about the volcanic activity of the area.
All of the Maori of New Zealand consider themselves descendants of 7 big wakas (canoes) that arrived in different places in Aotearoa from Hawaiki, in a movement called the big migration. There are several known wakas, one of which is 'Te Arawa'. The people in the area of Taupo believe they are descedants of Ngatoroirangi, who was the great navigator piloting the waka 'Te Arawa'.
He landed at a place called Maketu and made his way inland looking for a place to settle. But in order to claim the lands of Tongariro, he had to stand on the summit of the mountain. While atop the mountain, a southerly wind whipped his face, icy gales chiselled the warmth from his body and the frozen volcano cut painfully into his feet. As he lay dying he called to his sisters Kuiwai and Haungaroa back in Hawaiki to send fire to warm him. The sisters dispatched the heat with the fire gods Te Pupu and Te Hoata, who travelled beneath sea and land and surfaced at Whakaari, Rotorua, Orakei Korako (north of Lake Taupo) and at Wairakei (close to where the spa terraces we went were). Where they surfaced they sent spontaneous bursts of steam and billowing clouds skyward, showing the energy existing beneath the earth, in the world of Ruaumoko - the guardian of volcanoes.
He landed at a place called Maketu and made his way inland looking for a place to settle. But in order to claim the lands of Tongariro, he had to stand on the summit of the mountain. While atop the mountain, a southerly wind whipped his face, icy gales chiselled the warmth from his body and the frozen volcano cut painfully into his feet. As he lay dying he called to his sisters Kuiwai and Haungaroa back in Hawaiki to send fire to warm him. The sisters dispatched the heat with the fire gods Te Pupu and Te Hoata, who travelled beneath sea and land and surfaced at Whakaari, Rotorua, Orakei Korako (north of Lake Taupo) and at Wairakei (close to where the spa terraces we went were). Where they surfaced they sent spontaneous bursts of steam and billowing clouds skyward, showing the energy existing beneath the earth, in the world of Ruaumoko - the guardian of volcanoes.
The second legend we heard is also the funniest so far! It involves some of the most famous volcanoes of the North Island and it takes place in the Taupo area. The legend says that there has been a tribe of volcanoes here in the middle of the North Island, including the ones we saw in the Tongariro National Park (Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and of course sacred Tongariro), but also Mount Taranaki (the one now on the west edge of the island). Taranaki fell in love with Pihanga, the beautiful volcano near Lake Taupo. But Pihanga was the lover of Tongariro, so when Taranaki was caught with her, he was forced to flee towards the south, some say in disgrace, others say to keep the peace. On his way he gouged out a wide scar in the earth (what is today the Whanganui River) and finally settled in the west, in his current position. So sacred was Tongariro and poor Taranaki!