who is maui?

A charismatic demi-god of ancient Polynesian oral tradition, Maui's feats rival those of Hercules, the most comparable figure in Greek mythology. Of all the Polynesian ancestors, Maui is the most celebrated and recognised figure, featuring in legends from island-groups that span the Pacific Ocean. Peoples as geographically removed from each other as New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii, Tahiti, the Cook Islands and even Thailand all tell stories about Maui, proving just how great the ancient Polynesians were at crossing the seas.

Among these various oral traditions, some stories are exactly the same from island to island, while others differ to a greater or lesser extent. In Hawaii, for example, Maui is said to have fished up many islands, including the one that bears his name to this day; while the oral tradition of the Maori people records the North Island of New Zealand as being the land he fished from the sea. Hence, in the Maori language, the North Island is generally know as Te-Ika-a-Maui (“The Great Fish of Maui”).

His presence in stories found across the Pacific also strongly suggests that Maui is a figures of significant antiquity, given that the stories of his feats must have existed before the prehistoric Polynesians scattered across the Pacific Ocean. While this mean that precise origin of his legends is forever lost in the mists of time, there is no questioning his ongoing significance to the descendants of the ancient Polynesians who carried his spirit with them as they journeyed so far and wide. In Aotearoa (New Zealand), Maui is a central character of Maori mythology, remembered as the main ancestor of various tribes and celebrated as a mythic embodiment of Maori culture.