Mahuika is a
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
fire deity. Generally, Mahuika is female and wife of the god
Auahitūroa.
Myths
In some versions, she is the younger sister of
Hine-nui-te-pō, goddess of death. It was from her that
Māui (in some versions he is her grandson) obtained the secret of making
fire.
She married Auahitūroa and together they had five children, named for the five fingers on the human hand, called collectively
Ngā Mānawa
Ngā Mānawa, in a tradition of the Ngāti Awa, a Māori tribe of the eastern Bay of Plenty in New Zealand's North Island, was the collective name for the Fire Children, the five sons of Mahuika and Auahitūroa. The names of the Fire Children ar ...
. The symbolism of this connection between toropuku (fingers) and fire is revealed in the stories where Māui obtains fire from Mahuika by tricking her into giving him her fingernails one by one.
She is also said to have played a role in the formation of
Rangitoto Island, asking
Ruaumoko, god of earthquakes and eruptions, to destroy a couple that had cursed her.
In some parts of New Zealand, Mahuika is a male deity. This is also the case in some parts of tropical Polynesia; for instance, in the
Tuamotu archipelago and the
Marquesas, Mahu-ika is the fire god who lives in the underworld in addition to being the grandfather of Maui. Maui wrestled him in order to win the secret of making fire.
In other parts of Polynesia, similar deities are known as Mafui'e, Mafuike, Mahui'e or Mahuike.
References
* E. Best, ''Maori Religion and Mythology, Part 2'' (Dominion Museum Bulletin No.11. Museum of New Zealand: Wellington, 1982), 244–245.
* R.D. Craig, ''Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology'' (Greenwood Press: New York, 1989), 148.
* J.F. Stimson, ''Legends of Maui and Tahaki'' (Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum Press, 1934), 17–23.
Polynesian goddesses
Fire goddesses
Māori goddesses
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