Information AboutMaui (mythology) |
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Māui (Maui) is the great hero of Polynesian Mythology . Stories about his exploits are told in nearly every Polynesian land. Maui in most cases is regarded as a demi-god, or as fully divine; in some places, he regarded as merely human (Tregear 1891:233). MāORI (NEW ZEALAND) In Māori tradition, Māui is the son of Taranga , the wife of Makeatutara . He has a miraculous birth: his mother throws her premature infant into the sea, wrapped in a tress of hair from her top-knot (tikitiki); hence Māui is known as Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga. Ocean spirits find and wrap the child in sea-weed. Māui's divine ancestor, Tama-nui-ki-te-rangi then takes the child and nourishes it to adolescence. Māui emerges from the sea, and goes to his mother's house, finding there his four brothers, Māui-taha, Māui-roto, Māui-pae, and Māui-waho, and also his sister, Hina. Māui's brothers at first are wary of the new-comer, but after he performs several feats, such as transforming himself into different kinds of birds, they acknowledge his power, and admire him. At first Taranga does not recognise Māui as her child. He then recounts the circumstances of his birth and she remembers and accepts him. (Tregear 1891:233). Finds his father Māui stays with his mother and brothers. Each morning, Taranga disappears. Taking the shape of a Kererū (wood pigeon), Māui descends after her and finds her with his father, Makeatutara. When Māui’s father is performing the baptismal ceremonies for him, he makes a mistake in the incantations, and this ill omen leads in the end to the death of Māui. Māui carries off the daughter of Maru-i-te-where-aitu, and destroys his crops; soon after this he begins to assume his supernatural character (Tregear 1891:233). Restrains the sun Māui takes the jaw-bone of his ancestress Muri-ranga-whenua and uses it as a weapon in his first expedition. This is to snare the Sun, and make it go slower because the days were too short for people to get their work done. With the help of his brothers, Māui nooses the Sun, and beats him severely with the jaw-bone club, until he promises to go slower in future (Tregear 1891:233-234). Hauls up the North Island His next exploit is to haul up the land from the depth of the ocean: here he again uses the jaw-bone, this time as a fish-hook. Māui, using Blood from his Nose for bait, hauls the great fish up from the depths. When it emerges from the water, Māui goes to find a priest to perform the appropriate ceremonies and prayers. In the meanwhile leaving the fish has been left in charge of his brothers. They, however, do not wait for Māui to return, but began to cut up the fish, which immediately begind to writhe in agony, causing the mountains and valleys to appear. If the brothers had listened to Māui the island would have been a level plain and people would have been able to travel with ease on its surface. Thus the North Island of New Zealand is known as Te Ika-a-Māui (The Fish of Māui) (Tregear 1891:234). Discovers the secret of fire Māui, finding that fire has been lost on the earth, resolves to find Mahuika , the Fire-goddess, and learn the secret art of obtaining fire. He visits her, but his tricks make her furious, and although he obtains the secret of fire, he barely escapes with his life. He transforms himself into a hawk but to no avail, for Mahuika sets both land and sea on fire. Māui prays to his great ancestors, Tāwhirimātea and Whatiri-matakataka , who answer with pouring rain, and extinguish the fire. Māui soon after goes out fishing with Irawaru, the husband of Hina, Maui's sister. They disagree when their fishing lines get tangled, and when they return to shore, Māui turns Irawaru into a dog. Hina is distraught, and throws herself into the sea, but she does not die. (Tregear 1891:234). Seeks immortality Māui now considers himself ready to win immortality for humankind. His father tries to dissuade him, predicting that he will fail because of the mistakes in his baptismal ceremony. Māui, undaunted, sets out to the home of Hine-nui-te-pō (Great woman of the nightworld). He finds her in deep sleep, and begins his attempt to to crawl into the goddess, and pass safely through, causing her to die. He warns the birds, his companions, that they must keep quiet, or the old lady will wake up and destroy him him for ever. At first, the little birds are able to screw up their tiny cheeks to prevent themselves laughing, but just as Māui is about to emerge, the fantail (tiwakawaka) cannot contain himself and bursts into laughter. The old lady of death wakes, and crushes Māui to death (Tregear 1891:234). Māui and Rohe In a rare version, a goddess named Rohe is Māui's wife. He mistreats her in a cruel and unusual way. He wishes her to exchange faces with him, because she is beautiful and he is ugly. When she objects he gets his way by reciting an incantation over her as she is sleeping. When she awakes and realises what has happened, she leaves this world and goes down into the underworld where she becomes a goddess of death (Tregear 1891:421). His canoe the South Island In Māori traditions from the South Island of New Zealand, Māui’s became the South Island, with Banks Peninsula marking the place supporting his foot as he pulled up the extremely heavy fish. Therefore, besides Te Wai Pounamu , another Māori name for the South Island is 'Te Waka a Māui' (''The canoe of Māui''). Names and epithets Alternative names in Aotearoa :
HAWAII In Hawaii, Maui appears in several different genealogies: In the Ulu line he is the son of Akalana and his wife Hinakawea ( Hina ). This couple has four sons, Maui-mua, Maui-hope, Maui-ki’iki’i and Maui-a-kalana. Maui-a-kalana's wife is named Hinakealohaila; and his son is Nanamaoa. Maui is one of the Kupua . Hauls up islands The great fish-hook of Maui is called Manaiakalani; and it is baited with the wing of Hina's pet bird, the alae. Maui is said to have created the Hawaiian Islands by tricking his brothers. He convinces them to take him out fishing, but catches his hook upon the ocean floor. He tells his brothers that he has caught a big fish, and tells them to paddle as hard as they can. His brothers paddle with all their might, and being intent with their effort, did not notice the Island rising behind them. Maui repeats this trick several times, creating the Hawaiian Islands (Tregear 1891:236). Another tradition states that as Maui plants his hook at Hamakua, to fish up the god of fishes, Pimoe, Maui orders his brethren not to look back, or the expedition will fail. Hina, in the shape of a baling-gourd, appears at the surface of the water, and Maui, unwittingly, grasps the gourd and places it in front of his seat. Suddenly there appears a beautiful woman whose beauty none can resist; and so the brothers look behind them to watch the beautiful water-goddess. The line parts, Hina disappears, and the effort to unite the chain of islands into one solid unit fails. Restrains the sun Maui’s next feat is to stop the sun from moving so fast. Hina sends him to a big wiliwili tree where he finds his old blind grandmother cooking bananas and steals them one by one until she recognises him and agrees to help him. He sits by the trunk of the tree and lassoes the sun’s rays as the sun comes up. The sun pleads for life and agrees that the days shall be long in summer and short in winter (Beckwith 1970:230). The Island of Maui and the Constellation ''Maui's fishhook'' are named after this legend. TAHITI In Tahiti , Maui was a wise man, or prophet. He was a priest, but was afterwards deified. Being at one time engaged at the marae (sacred place), and the sun getting low while Maui's work was unfinished, he laid hold of the hihi, or sun-rays, and stopped his course for some time. As the discoverer of fire, Maui was named Ao-ao-ma-ra'i-a because he taught the art of obtaining fire by friction of wood. Before this time people ate their food raw. (Tregear 1891, 194, 235). See also Mahui'e , Tahitian guardian of fire. MANGAREVA In Mangareva , Maui hauls the land up from the sea, and ties the sun with tresses of hair. His father was Ataraga; his mother, Uaega. There were eight Maui: Maui-mua, Maui-muri, Maui-toere-mataroa, Tumei-hauhia, Maui-tikitiki-toga, Maui-matavaru, Maui-taha, Maui-roto. Maui the eight-eyed (matavaru) is the hero. He is born from his mother's navel, and is raised by his grandfather, Te Rupe, who gives him a magic staff named Atua-tane, and a hatchet named Iraiapatapata (Tregear 1891:236). SAMOA In Samoa n legend, Ti'iti'i is the son of Talaga. He goes down to the earthquake-god, Mafui’e , who dwells in the underworld, and, receiving some fire from him, takes it back to the world, and begins to cook. Mafui’e then comes and blows on the fire, scattering it, and breaking up the oven. Ti'iti'i angrily seizes Mafui’e, and they have a wrestling match, in which Ti'iti'i is victorious. As the price of freedom, Mafui’e reveals the secret of fire, telling Maui that he will find it in every piece of wood he cut. Since then people have had cooked food. A woman called Mangamangai becomes pregnant by looking at the rising Sun, and a child is born, who is called “Child of the Sun.” He and his mother are dismayed by the rapidity of the Sun's journey, so he makes a noose, catches the Sun, and makes him promise to go more slowly (Tregear 1891:235). TONGA In Tonga, Maui drew up the Tongan Islands from the deep: first appeared Ata, then Tonga, then Lofaga and the other Haapai Islands, and finally Vavau. Maui then dwelt in Tonga. Maui had two sons: the eldest, Maui Atalaga, and the younger Kisikisi. The latter discovered the secret of fire, and taught people the art of cooking food: he made fire dwell in certain kinds of wood. Maui bears the earth on his shoulders, and when he nods in sleep it causes earthquakes, therefore the people have to stamp on the ground to waken him. Hikuleo , the deity presiding over the underworld, is Maui's younger brother. Houga is pointed out as the spot where Maui's fish-hook caught (Tregear 1891:235-236). (Other sources say that in Tonga there were three Maui brothers: Maui-motu`a (old Maui), Maui-atalanga, and Maui-kisikisi (dragonfly Maui), the last one being the trickster. He also got the name Maui-fusi-fonua (Maui land puller) when he begged the magic fishhook from the old fisherman Tongafusifonua, who lived in Manuka . Tongafusifonua allowed him to take the fishhook, under the condition that he could find it in his collection of countless hooks. But his wife, Tavatava betrayed the secret, allowing Maui to pick the right hook. And so he was able to fish up the coral islands from the bottom of the ocean. (Volcanic islands are supposed to have fallen down from heavens.) EXTERNAL LINKS REFERENCES
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