Maori legends

The redemption of Hine-nui-te-pō

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An extract from Witi Ihimaera’s new book Navigating the Stars: Māori creation myths. This is an abridged passage of a deeply empathetic section analysing the life story of Hine-nui-te-pō, who crushed Māui to death with her vulva. At the end of the book, Ihimaera argues that Hine-nui-te-pō should be instated to her “rightful place among … Read more

What marks out our Māui from all the Māui? It’s partly down to vagina dentata

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With the debut of Disney’s Moana in the Hawaiian language, Simon Perris looks at at pan-Pacific representations of Maui, and the atua wahine Disney conveniently ignored.  I’m guessing Hawaiian Disney superfans are pretty excited about the ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi version of Moana, hot on the heels of last year’s reo Māori version. Moana and the demigod … Read more