Editing Māui (section)

== Māori mythology ==
{{Further|Māui (Māori mythology)}}
In [[Māori mythology]], as in other [[Polynesian mythology|Polynesian traditions]], Māui is a [[culture hero]] and a trickster, famous for his exploits and cleverness. Māori names of Māui include ''Māui-tikitiki'' ("Māui the top-knot"), ''Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga'' ("Māui the top-knot of [[Taranga (Māori mythology)|Taranga]]"), ''Māui-pōtiki'' ("Māui the last born"), and ''Māui te whare kino'' ("Māui the house of trouble").{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}

=== Islands of New Zealand ===
Māui's older brothers always refused to let him come fishing with them. One night, he wove for himself a flax fishing line and enchanted it with a [[karakia]] to give it strength; to this he attached the magic fish-hook made from the jawbone that his grandmother Murirangawhenua had given him. Then he stowed away in the hull of his brothers' [[waka (canoe)]]. The next morning, when the waka was too far from land to return, he emerged from his hiding place. His brothers would not lend him any bait, so he struck himself on the nose and baited the hook with his blood. He pulled up a giant fish which would become the [[North Island]] of New Zealand, known as ''Te Ika-a-Māui''; the valleys and mountains of the island were made by his brothers chopping up the fish for themselves. In some traditions his waka became the [[South Island]], known as ''[[Te Waka a Māui]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eng.mataurangamaori.tki.org.nz/Support-materials/Te-Reo-Maori/Maori-Myths-Legends-and-Contemporary-Stories/Maui-and-the-giant-fish|title=Māui and the giant fish|first=Wiremu|last=Grace|date=2016|website=Te Kete Ipurangi|publisher=Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga|access-date=19 January 2019}}</ref> (Other traditions make the South Island the waka of [[Aoraki / Mount Cook#Māori history, legends and traditions|Aoraki]].)

=== Māui brings fire to the world ===
Māui wanted to know where fire came from, so one night he went among the villages of his people and put all the fires out. Māui's mother Taranga, who was their [[rangatira]], said that someone would have to ask [[Mahuika]], the goddess of fire, for more. So Māui (a grandson of Mahuika) offered to go and find her. Mahuika lived in a cave in a burning mountain at the end of the earth. She gave Māui one of her burning fingernails to relight the fires, but Māui extinguished fingernail after fingernail until Mahuika became angry and sent fire to pursue Māui, who survived only by calling upon [[Tāwhirimātea]], the god of weather, to put it out with his rain. Mahuika threw her last nail at Māui, but it missed him and flew into some trees including the [[māhoe]] and the [[kaikōmako]]. Māui brought back dry sticks of these trees to his village and showed his people how to rub the sticks together and make fire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eng.mataurangamaori.tki.org.nz/Support-materials/Te-Reo-Maori/Maori-Myths-Legends-and-Contemporary-Stories/How-Maui-brought-fire-to-the-world|title=How Māui brought fire to the world|first=Wiremu|last=Grace|date=2016|website=Te Kete Ipurangi|publisher=Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga|access-date=19 January 2019}}</ref>

=== Māui slows the sun ===
In former days, the sun used to travel quickly across the sky, leaving not enough daylight time for working and eating. Māui proposed to catch the sun and slow it down. Armed with Murirangawhenua's magic jawbone and a large amount of rope, Māui and his brothers journeyed to the east and found the pit where the sun-god [[Tama-nui-te-rā]] slept during the night-time. There they tied the ropes into a noose around the pit and built a wall of clay to shelter behind. Tama-nui-te-rā was caught in the noose and Māui struck him with the jawbone until he surrendered and agreed to travel slowly across the sky.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eng.mataurangamaori.tki.org.nz/Support-materials/Te-Reo-Maori/Maori-Myths-Legends-and-Contemporary-Stories/How-Maui-slowed-the-sun|title=How Māui slowed the sun|first=Wiremu|last=Grace|date=2016|website=Te Kete Ipurangi|publisher=Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga|access-date=19 January 2019}}</ref>

=== The death of Māui ===
Māui's last trick led to his death and involved [[Hine-nui-te-pō]], the goddess of death and the underworld. In an attempt to make mankind [[Immortality|immortal]] by reversing the natural birth process, he transformed into a worm and entered Hine-nui-te-pō's [[vagina]], intending to leave through her mouth while she slept.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mercer |first=Erin |chapter=The Gothic in Oceania |editor-last=Jackson |editor-first=Anna |title=New Directions in Children's Gothic: Debatable Lands |date=27 March 2017 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-1-315-69587-7 |edition=1 |url=https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315695877 |page=123 |doi=10.4324/9781315695877 |quotation=In the original myth, when Māui attempted to reverse the natural birth process by entering Hine-nui-te-pō's vagina and exiting via her mouth he was crushed to death between the obsidian teeth of Hine-nui-te-pō's vagina{{nbsp}}...}}</ref> However, she was awoken by {{lang|mi|pīwakawaka}} ([[New Zealand fantail|fantails]]) who had burst into laughter at the sight of Māui entering her vagina.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Lewis |title=Indigenous Intergenerational Resilience: Confronting Cultural and Ecological Crisis |date=4 November 2021 |publisher=Routledge |page=20 |isbn=978-1-000-47233-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HehEEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> Angered, Hine-nui-te-pō crushed Māui to death with the [[obsidian]] [[Vagina dentata|teeth in her vagina]]. The story now serves as a [[cautionary tale]] against [[rape]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Streiff |first1=Madeline |last2=Dundes |first2=Lauren |title=From Shapeshifter to Lava Monster: Gender Stereotypes in Disney's Moana |journal=Social Sciences |date=September 2017 |volume=6 |issue=3 |page=91 |doi=10.3390/socsci6030091 |doi-access=free |language=en |issn=2076-0760 |quotation=Disney's story is a twist on traditional lore in which Maui shapeshifts into a worm and then enters the toothed vagina of Hine-nui-te-pō. Maui's invasion prompts her to crush him with obsidian teeth lining her vagina, an object lesson discouraging rape.}}</ref>