| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| Goddess name "Hine-Nui-Te-Po (great woman of the night)" | Polynesian / including Maori | Chthonic underworld goddess. Originally she was HINE-ATAUIRA, the daughter of TANE and HINE-AHUONE, but she descended to rule over the underworld. She is depicted in human form but with eyes of jade, hair of seaweed and teeth like those of a predatory fish.... |
| God name "Ihoiho" | Polynesian / Society Islands | Creator god. Before Ihoiho there was nothing. He created the primeval waters on which floated TINO TAATA, the creator of mankind.... |
| God name "Ika ere" | Polynesian | Fish god. The son of Punga and grandson of TANGAROA, the sea and creator god, he is revered in various regions of Polynesia as the progenitor of all life in the sea, especially fish. His brother is Tu-Te-Wanawana, the deity responsible for the well-being of lizards, snakes and other reptiles. When fierce storms arose at the time of creation under the control of TAWHIRIMATEA, the god of winds, mythology records that Tu-Te-Wanawana went inland to escape the devastation while Ikatere took to the safety of the sea. The incident became known as the schism of Tawhirimatea and has resulted in an eternal conflict between TANE(MAHUTA) the Forest god and Tangaroa, the sea god.... |
| God name "Kahukura" | Polynesian / Maori | God of Agriculture and creator of the Rainbow. The son of RONGOMAI, Kahukura is invoked for the well-being of crops and in some regions the name appears to be synonymous with that of RONGOMATANE, the god of Agriculture. Kahukura is particularly åśśociated with a staple vegetable of the Maori, the kumara, a root tuber that was introduced to New Zealand by man and is said to possess many magical properties. Kahukura is not to be confused with a legendary character of the same name, a mortal hero who, in antiquity, learned the art of making fish nets.... |
| God name "Kane" | Polynesian / Hawaii | God of light. A sky god comparable with the more widely known Polynesian deity ATEA. Considered to be part of a primordial trinity with KU (stability) and LONO (sound).See also TANE(MAHUTA).... |
| Deity name "Ku" | Polynesian / Hawaii | Primordial being. An aspect of a tripartite deity which also includes KANE, the light, and LONO, sound. They existed in chaos and darkness, which they broke into pieces to allow the light to come in.... |
| Goddess name "Laka" | Polynesian / Hawaii | Goddess of dancing. A minor deity who is nonetheless greatly revered by islanders in a hedonistic cult of song, dance and sexual liberality.... |
| God name "Lono (sound)" | Polynesian / Hawaii | Primordial being. An aspect of a tripartite god which also includes KANE, the light, and KU, stability. They first existed in chaos and night which they broke into pieces, allowing light to come in. Also Ono (Marquesas Islands).... |
| Goddess name "Mahuikez" | Polynesian | Fire god. Identified with earthquakes and possibly paralleling TOUIA FATUNA (iron stone goddess) in Tongan belief.... |
| God name "Make Make" | Polynesian / Easter Island | Sea god. The tutelary deity of the Easter Islanders, he created mankind and animals. His sacred animal is the sea swallow and the huge anthropomorphic stone figures which characterize the island's archaeology form part of his cult.... |
"Malamanganga'e (light eastward)" | Polynesian | Creator being. One of the two personifications of light who, with MALAMANGANGAIFO, engendered Lupe, the dove, whose consort is rock. From these primordial principles came several generations of supernatural beings whose descendants engendered mankind.... |
"Malamangangaifo (light westward)" | Polynesian | Creator being. See also MALAMANGANGA'E.... |
| Goddess name "Marama" | Polynesian / Maori | moon goddess. She equates with the Tahitian goddess HINA, daughter of TANGAROA. Tradition has it that her body wastes away with each lunar cycle but is restored when she bathes in the sea from which all life springs.... |
| Demon name "Maru" | Polynesian / Maori | God of war. One of the important deities revered by Maori clans in New Zealand in times of war, he may be represented in totems as an aggressive face with a prominent tuft of hair, staring eyes and tongue protruding, though these totems generally represent ancestors rather than deities. Maru may be invoked in the familiar Maori war dances and chants demonstrated popularly by the All Blacks before rugby matches all over the world.... |
| Goddess name "Maui" | Polynesian / Maori / New Zealand | Tutelary god. Not a creator god but one who åśśists mankind in various supernatural ways. According to tradition he was aborted at birth and cast into the sea by his mother, who thought he was dead. He was rescued entangled in seaweed. He is the deity who drew the islands of New Zealand from the floor of the ocean in a net. Maui caught the Sun and beat it into submission, making it travel more slowly across the sky so that the days became longer. He also brought fire from the underworld for mankind and tried, unsuccessfully, to harness immortality for him by entering the vulva of the underworld goddess HINE-NUI-TE-PO while she was asleep. She awoke and crushed him to death. Though a deity, he had been made vulnerable to death by a mistake during his rites of birth (see also Balder). Also Mawi.... |
"Mories" | Polynesian | Places of worship and sacrifice, could never be entered by women. Polynesian |
| God name "Oro" | Polynesian / Tahiti | God of war. One of the sons of TANGAROA.... |
| Goddess name "Papatuanuku" | Polynesian / including Maori | Chthonic mother goddess. According to tradition she evolved spontaneously in the cosmic night personified by TE PO and became the apotheosis of papa, the earth. In other traditions she was engendered, with the sky god RANGINUI, by a primordial androgynous being, ATEA. Paptuanuku and Ranginui are regarded as the primal parents of the pantheon who, through a prolonged period of intercourse, produced at least ten major deities as their children. In Maori culture Papatuanuku, like all deities, is represented only by inconspicuous, slightly worked stones or pieces of wood and not by the large totems, which are depictions of ancestors.... |
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