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List of Māori deities

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of Māori deities, known in Māori as atua.

Note: there are two Mythologies relating Tangaroa, Papatuanuku and Ranginui (Raki)

Major departmental deities

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  • Haumiatiketike, the god of uncultivated food, particularly bracken fern.
  • Papatūānuku, the primordial earth mother.
  • Ranginui, the primordial sky father.
  • Rongomātāne, the god of cultivated foods, particularly sweet potato / Kumara.
  • Tānemahuta, the god of forests and birds.
  • Tangaroa, the god of the ocean and the creatures within. (Original Father in the Main Mythology)
  • Tāwhirimātea, the god of storms and violent weather.
  • Tūmatauenga, the god of war, hunting, cooking, fishing, and food cultivation.
  • Whiro, the lord of darkness and embodiment of all evil and death.
  • Aituā, the god of death, unhappiness, and misfortune.
  • Ao, a personification of light.
  • Auahitūroa, the personification of comets, and the origin of fire.
  • Haere, several personifications of the rainbow.
  • Ikatere, a fish god and father of all sea creatures.
  • Io Matua Kore, the supreme being; personification of light and the world of the living and the forest.
  • Kahukura, a war god who appears as the upper bow of a double rainbow.
  • Kiwa, one of several divine guardians of the ocean.
  • Makeatutara, the father of Māui and guardian of the underworld.
  • Maru, the god of freshwater, southern god of war.
  • Mataaho, a god of earthquakes and volcanoes from the Tāmaki Makaurau Region (Auckland).
  • Māui, a demigod, culture hero, and trickster.
  • Motoro
  • Ngahue or Kahue, the god or discoverer of pounamu, the taniwha Poutini is his guardian.
  • Pūhaorangi, a celestial being who descended from the heavens to sleep with the beautiful maiden Te Kuraimonoa.
  • Punga or Hairi, the ancestor of sharks, lizards, rays, and all deformed, ugly things.
  • Rehua, the star god with the power of healing.
  • Rongomai, the name of a number of separate beings.
  • Rongo, the god of crops and peace
  • Ruaumoko, the god of volcanoes, earthquakes, and seasons.
  • Tamanuiterā, the personification of the sun.
  • Tane-rore, the personification of shimmering air.
  • Tāwhaki, a semi-supernatural being associated with thunder and lightning.
  • Te Uira, the personification of lightning.
  • Tiki, the first human, but sometimes is a child of Rangi and Papa, and creates the first human.
  • Tinirau, a guardian of fish.
  • Tūtewehiwehi, the father of all reptiles.
  • Uenuku, a god of the rainbow, associated with war. Also a deified ancestor.
  • Urutengangana, the god of the light.

Female atua

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  • Ārohirohi, the goddess of mirages and shimmering heat.
  • Hinauri, sister, or uncommonly, wife of Māui, associated with the moon.
  • Hinekapea, the goddess of loyalty.
  • Hinehōaka, the goddess of sandstone, the taniwha Whatipū is her guardian.
  • Hinenuitepō, the goddess of night and death, and ruler of the underworld.
  • Hinepūkohurangi, the goddess of the mist
  • Hineteiwaiwa, the goddess of childbirth, te whare pora and the arts
  • Hinemoana, the goddess of the ocean
  • Ikaroa, the long fish that gave birth to all the stars in the Milky Way.
  • Kohara
  • Kui, the chthonic demigod.
  • Mahuika, the goddess of fire.
  • Moekahu, a lesser known goddess (or god) of Tūhoe whose form was of a dog (kurī), and a sibling of Haere.
  • Rohe, the goddess of the spirit world.
  • Tangotango, a celestial woman who fell in love with the great hero Tāwhaki and came to earth to become his wife.
  • Tūāwhiorangi, the wife of Kahukura who manifests as the lower bow during a double rainbow.
  • Whaitiri, the personification of thunder.

See also

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