Editing Maero

{{Short description|Supernatural people in Māori mythology}}
{{For|the American baritone|Philip Maero}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{no footnotes|date=October 2016}}

In [[Māori mythology|Māori tradition]], the '''Maero''' (or '''Mohoao''') are an iwi-atua or supernatural people from [[New Zealand]]. They are sometimes described as giants or [[wild men]] of the woods, and inhabit mountains and forest, particularly in the [[South Island]] and [[Tararua Range]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cowan |first1=James |title=Legends of the Maori |date=1987 |publisher=Southern Reprints |location=New Zealand |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Pom01Lege-t1-body-d11.html |access-date=6 October 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Richard |title=A Leaf from the Natural History of New Zealand |publisher=Robert Stokes |location=Wellington |date=1848 |page=viii |url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-TayALea-t1-body-d1.html#n13 |via=[[New Zealand Electronic Text Collection|NZETC]]}}</ref> Maero are characterised as wild, malevolent and often violent, carrying stone [[Club (weapon)|clubs]] as weapons. They are covered in dark body hair and have long, bony fingers with sharp fingernails. They kill and eat humans and other animals.

The Maero are said to harbour anger towards the Māori, who arrived from [[Hawaiki]], and are thought to have displaced them and ruined the [[Tapu (Polynesian culture)|tapu]] (sacredness) of their homes, forcing them to dwell in inhospitable alpine regions.

==In traditional Māori stories==

In a story from the [[Whanganui]] area told by Tuao, chief of Upper [[Whanganui River|Whanganui]], [[Tukoio]], a mortal man, once found a maero, a [[Moehau|''mohoao'']] (wild man), and attacked it, cutting off its arms, legs and head. He brought the head back, but it was still alive and called for help. Tukoio did not want to fight a whole clan of maero, so he dropped it and came back later with reinforcements, only to find the maero had put itself back together and returned to the forest.<ref name="Tukoio">{{cite journal |last=Gudgeon |first=Walter Edward |title=The Tipua-kura, and Other Manifestations of the Spirit World |journal=Journal of the Polynesian Society |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=43–44 |date=1906 |url=https://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_15_1906/Volume_15%2C_No._1/The_tipua-kura%2C_and_other_manifestations_of_the_spirit_world%2C_by_Lieut.-Col._Gudgeon%2C_p_27-57/p1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bacon |first1=Ronald |title=Mohoao, the Fierce Fairy Person: a story from the forests of Whanganui |date=2004 |publisher=Waiatarua Publishing |location=Auckland, New Zealand}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Moehau]]
*[[Patupaiarehe]]
* [[Human cannibalism]]
* [[Wild man|Wild man of the woods]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Maori-myth-stub}}
[[Category:Māori legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Forest spirits]]
[[Category:Giants]]
[[Category:Wild men]]