In the Māori creation pūrākau (story), Tāne’s quest was to ascend to the heavenly realms to retrieve three kete (baskets) of knowledge to help humankind. The baskets, or kete were:
- the kete-aronui which held all the knowledge that could help mankind
- the kete-tuauri which held the knowledge of ritual, memory and prayer
- the kete-tuatea which contained knowledge of evil or makutu, which was harmful to mankind.