Māori mythology
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Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two types of New Zealand Māori oral history regarding the remote past. Māori myths are tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of the observable w
Six major departmental atua represented by wooden godsticks: left to right, Tūmatauenga, Tāwhirimātea, Tāne Mahuta, Tangaroa, Rongo-mā-Tāne, and Haumia-tiketike
Detail from a ridgepole (tāhūhū) in a Ngāti Awa wharenui. Believed to represent one of two ancestors: Tūwharetoa or Kahungunu.
First European impression of (Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri) Māori, at Murderers' Bay, 1642.
Māui (Māori mythology)
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In Māori mythology, as in other Polynesian traditions, Māui is a culture hero, demigod and a trickster, famous for his exploits and cleverness. He possessed superhuman strength, and was capable of sha
Māori mythology
…corpus of Māori mythology are represented as unfolding in three story complexes or cycles, which include the world's origin, the stories of the demigod Māui, and the Tāwhaki myths. In one generalised telling of the universe's creation: in the beginning, there was Te Kore (The Nothing; Void) which became Te…
Maui Snaring the Sun, circa 1927.
Dawn Chorus on the Fish of Māui, Paul Dibble (2019).
A pou representing Maui attempting to enter Hine-nui-te-po, set between tukutuku panels.