Rakauism

Rakauism is a polytheistic religion centered around the gods of nature. Rakauists mainly believe in Rakau, the tree god who is the progenitor of everything.

Gods
Rakauist believe in the following gods:

Rakau - Progenitor god of all nature.

Kararehe - God of animals.

Huarere - God of wather.

Wai - God of water.

Rā - God of the Sun.

Marama - God of the Moon.

Kino - God of Evil.

Hau - God of Air.

Documentation
The beliefs of Rakauism are documented in these books.

Pukapuka Rakau
Pukapuka I

Introduction
Rakauism is a polytheist religion that revolves around worshiping the gods of nature, with a special focus on Rakau. We believe in natural preservation and frequent temples which have a strong connection with natural elements.

Tumuaki
There once was a land of nothing. No water, no air, no life. It was just a wasteland of nothing. It’s not possible to even comprehend the amount of time the world has been in that state, but at some point it all changed. In the middle of nothing, a seed, dormant until that moment, started to grow. As the seed grew, air spread through every single empty space. Water flowed through the cracks on the ground. Grass started growing as well. The seed was slowly turning into an adult tree, germinating the world with life.

From the tree, which has come to be known as Rakau, seeds started falling, those seeds looked identical, but grew into different types of tree. The Birch tree and the Oak tree. From around the Birch tree, living beings started to rise. Wolves, monkeys, bunnies, etc. On top of the Oak tree, rain started falling. Lightning struck the ground around it, lightning strikes which made the ground tremble and form mountains. The Birch tree, after finishing its job, takes the form of Kararehe, the god of animals. The Oak tree also did that, transforming into Huarere, the god of weather. As the first primordial gods were rising, Wai took form from the water created by Rakau.

Rakau, Kararehe, Huarere and Wai lived in the now alive world for thousands of years. They got bored, eventually, and created 2 more gods, Rā and Marama. Rā created the Sun, and Marama created the Moon. The god of Sun decided to create fire, to represent his power. The god of Moon got jealous, and started to pull the world towards the Moon. He was not powerful enough to pull the entire world, but accomplished to pull the oceans, creating waves.

Rakau, seeing the fruit of his creation, thought to himself that something was missing. The world didn’t seem “alive”, even though it was full of life. Rakau decided to create something that would try to corrupt the world he created. For his creation to feel alive, it would have to fight for its own existence. Because of that, Rakau created evil, in the form of Kino.

Kino was the one god responsible for creating humans. In the beginning, people were purely evil. The problem with that was that they would completely destroy life around them. Rakau thought they were too dangerous, so he germinated humanity with his seed, making humanity have empathy, faith and be kind, this was done by giving the humans the holy apple.

Humanity became the favorite creation of Rakau. Humans were the most dynamic beings in the world. The other gods weren’t that fond of humans, and still aren’t to this day, that’s why there are thunderstorms, sea storms, volcanos, etc. When the gods are specially angry, they unleash their natural power upon humanity.

Wa Pirau
Kino didn’t like that Rakau had purified the humans, he corrupted them and other animals again, creating Zombies, Skeletons, Spiders, Creepers, etc. The other gods didn’t approve of those actions, so they banished Kino, together, to another dimension, which would be called “Nether”. There, Kino created other abominations like Wither Skeletons and Blazes with the help of Rā, who was seduced by Kino. The god of evil also created his own kinds of trees in the Nether, to mimic and distort the vegetation in the overworld. This whole period is known as “Wa Pirau”.

In the overworld, the gods started being worshiped by humanity. People built temples and other structures to venerate the divine being. It was in this era that Huarere was divided into 2 gods: Huarere, still for the weather, and Hau, the god of air. They worked together and sometimes had small conflicts. Those conflicts still happen to this day, creating tornadoes and hurricanes.

The other gods were furious with Kino because of his creations. There were many divine wars between them, but in the end, Kino was banished once again to another dimension, called “The End”. In this dimension, his powers were diminished, so the age of evil created by him was over. As the time went on, an infection took place in The End. In the beginning, there was nothing, but as the infection grew stronger, land was created in the middle of the void. The connection to the overworld grew stronger, and Kino was able to regain a portion of his power, he took the form of a dragon. Legends say that those who follow the way of Kino go to The End in the afterlife, turning into “Endermen”.

Tikanga Whakataki
To follow the way of Rakau, the person shall go through a ritual and shall practise Rakauism every day.

The initiation ritual involves the person who wants to seek the words of Rakau and a priest. The ritual must be done in a Rakau temple. The priest will recite the communion text, the person will kneel and say “Mai i taku wairua kei te whakaae ahau.”. After that, the priest will give the person the holy apple, which shall be eaten, to seal the pact between transcendent and follower of the religion.

After that, the person will be already recognized as a Rakauist. The Rakauist shall meditate in the meditation chambers, to better comprehend the meaning of becoming a follower of Rakau. A meditation instructor shall be in the chambers to guide the new Rakauist.

The communion text reads “Ka whakapono koe ki te Rakau, hei whaea mo te taiao? Ka oati koe ka koropiko koe ki nga atua o te taiao me te kore e taka ki nga mahi hara ki te taiao?”.

Mahi Karakia
A Rakauist shall practise activities daily to prove their faith in the way of Rakau. Reading one of the books of Rakau (Pukapuka Rakau, for example) at home should be done daily. Every sunday, the Rakauist shall visit a Rakau temple and listen to the holy liturgy, the schedule can vary from temple to temple.

To put their faith into action, the Rakauist must plant at least 30 saplings every month.

A Rakauist can (and shall) worship the other gods of nature, considering it’s not Kino. Those who worship Kino practise sinful actions and are against the nature of the divines.

The use of the word “Hauora” (which means “Health”) is emphasized as a farewell. It is also used to demonstrate you are grateful when something happens.

Pukapuka Kermit
Pukapuka II

Mōhio
I’ve been a simple person since I was only a child. My parents were fishers and we lived in a small town. I used to feel comfort when my mother read me tales of heroes and dragons. For most of my life, I never gave much thought to the origin of our world and the beings who dwell in it. My family was mostly atheist, so I wasn’t doctrinated into believing in anything religious.

When I grew up, I became a fisherman just like my parents were before me. I would fish for hours every day and would always think about random things. I’d sometimes think about philosophical questions, sometimes I’d think of jokes, or even think about useless facts. I lived like that for a long time. Nothing special would happen in my life.

One day, I went to a river to fish, like always, but something that would change my life was going to happen. While I looked at the water, waiting for a fish to bite my bait, someone approached me. I wasn’t paying much attention, and just said “Howdy mister.”. The figure, then, sat next to me, and watched the river flow, without saying a word. I turned my head, but I saw no one. I looked backwards to see if the person had gotten up. All I saw was a blurred face, and a knife to my back. Turns out the man was a bandit, and wanted to rob the little money I had.

After that, I only remember waking up by the shore of the sea. I was in a place far from my home. “The river may have carried me here.” I said. I looked at my back and there was no wound whatsoever. I checked my pockets to see if my money was there. My money was gone, but I found a note between my fingers. The note read: “Rakau”. I didn’t understand what was going on at first, so I stood up and looked around to see if there was anyone close by.

I looked around for about 2 minutes, then I noticed there was a tree which I had never seen before. I walked to it and found a book, leaning on its roots. The book was named “Pukapuka Rakau”. I opened it and started reading it. Page after page, I didn’t even pay attention to the time passing by, I only knew that when I stopped reading, it was already night.

I closed the book and went home as quickly as possible. I slept the best night of my life that day. When I woke up, I continued to read the book. I started to read the Pukapuka Rakau every day, and I noticed my life changing. I was becoming happier and happier as I started practising what was described in the texts.

Kohatu Koura
It was another normal day. I got to the market district to buy vegetables, and when I was coming back home, I found someone in front of my house. The man was staring at nothing while I walked in his direction. I asked “Who are you?”. The man suddenly looked in my direction and said “Are you the jam seller?”. “No.” I replied “This is my home and I don’t sell jam.”. “I was told you sold jam.” the person said as I walked a bit to the right. I noticed his eyes did not follow my movement. “You might have mistaken me for someone else.” I said. He gave me a pouch and said “From the lord of heart and eye.” and left.

I opened the pouch and found a small rock in it, I quickly turned around and couldn’t find the man anywhere nearby. I continued doing what I normally do, and when night came and I was going to sleep, I felt the need to open that pouch again. When I opened it, there was a golden nugget there instead of a rock. I went to sleep.

When I woke up, the golden nugget was still there. “That’s odd” I thought. I spent the entire day thinking about what happened, but I decided to not do anything with that pouch. 3 day passed, and the man was back again, that time he was in front of my home when I left. He didn’t say a word, so I took the pouch from my pocket and gave it to him, with the golden nugget inside. “You gave me this three days ago, you can have it back.” I said. The man then closed his hands and said “Thank you kind sir, now I’ll be able to buy some jam.”. He walked away with the pouch within his hands.

I got back home because I had forgotten my money in my room. When I opened my cabinet, It looked like there was more money than before. I grabbed the golden coins and counted. My coins had tripled.

Tapatapahia
There was a lumberjack in our town. His name was Stephanus. He would always go to the woods to get timber and sell a part of it, the other part would be used to heaten his house when winter came. You could clearly tell the places Stephanus chopped wood, because they quickly became wastelands. While other lumberjacks would replant the trees they cut, Stephanus wouldn’t.

One day, a bunch of people were gathering around Stephanus’ house. The wood that held it together was completely rotten and falling apart. Stephanus stepped outside of his house. “Who did that?” he yelled. Everyone started looking at each other whispering to themselves. Stephanus then suddenly passed out.

I haven’t heard of Stephanus since then, but I’ve noticed that an oak tree started growing where once was his house. I also noticed that people started to replant the trees in the place where he used to gather wood.

Kaiwhaiwhai
The food in our town came mostly from fishing, although there was a hunter who sold fresh meat every day. The hunter didn’t care about the animal ecosystem which he was invading. He killed every single deer and boar he could find.

One day, the hunter saw a white deer in the forest. He tried shooting it but lost every single shot. He then followed the deer for days, fascinated with the money he could get for that white shining pelt. He followed the deer through forests, hills, taigas, rivers, until he found himself next to a lake. The deer had finally stopped. When the hunter tried to get close to butcher the animal, he tripped over a stone and fell into the lake. No one has seen him since that day.

Hau
One day I went to the market to buy some bread. The baker said he couldn’t sell any bread, because the wheat supply was low. He said that they couldn’t grind the raw wheat because there was no wind powering the mills for days.

I passed through the fields where the mills were located very often, but I didn’t realise the wind vanes weren’t spinning. When I took a walk near the mills, I noticed the air was completely still. After a while, the air started moving and I heard a voice echoing through the winds: “They harvest my power to grind their wheat and to move their ships, yet I get nothing for helping them.” I said “That’s true. People may not realise that they need the winds for a lot of things, but why would you be helping them if that’s the case?” Then I heard “I wasn’t trying to help you all. All this time I was fighting my brother, the weather, pushing him around.” I said “What if the people recognized you as an important element of nature? Would you be willing to continue helping us? We need you to move the clouds away to bring the sunlight, and to bring them back so the rain can get to our crops.” The air echoed “You speak true, tangata. As long as people remember me, I will be spreading myself through the world.” The winds have been blowing again since that day.