1. Aho means radiant light (from the sun)
Light and Maori people
Aho means radiant light
(from the sun)

2. Light has a central role in the Māori understanding of the universe.
According to Māori stories of creation, the world was once in darkness (Te Pō). Then Tāne, god of the forests, forced apart his parents Rangi, the sky father, and Papatūānuku, the earth mother, and light flooded into the world.

3. Maori Legend of how the Universe and NZ was created
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4. Te Ao Marama
This primal moment of illumination, the entry into the world of light (Te Ao Marama), is often referred to on the marae.

5. Aotearoa
The Māori word for New Zealand, ‘Aotearoa’ (usually translated as ‘land of the long white cloud’) may mean ‘long bright world’ or ‘land of abiding day’, referring to the distinctive qualities of New Zealand light.

6. Clear NZ light
Most 19th-century immigrants came from Britain, a land known for its soft, gentle light and its mists, where the black coal smoke of industrial factories must have added to the gloom and haze. Settlers noted the clarity of New Zealand light. In Mary Robinson, an English immigrant living in Temuka, wrote to her parents in Bedfordshire: ‘We can sit in our house and see the mountains with the tops all covered with snow, although they are about 60 miles off.’ 2