Io Matua Kore is often understood as the supreme being in
Polynesian narrative
The Polynesian narrative or Polynesian mythology encompasses the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia (a grouping of Central and South Pacific Ocean island archipelagos in the Polynesian Triangle) together with those of the scattered cul ...
, particularly of the
Māori people
The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several c ...
.
Io does seem to be present in the mythologies of other Polynesian islands including
Hawai‘i, the
Society Islands
The Society Islands (french: Îles de la Société, officially ''Archipel de la Société;'' ty, Tōtaiete mā) are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the ...
, and the
Cook Islands
)
, image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, capital = Avarua
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Avarua
, official_languages =
, lan ...
.
He, or somebody else with his name, appears as a great-grandson of
Tiki
In Māori mythology, Tiki is the first man created by either Tūmatauenga or Tāne. He found the first woman, Marikoriko, in a pond; she seduced him and he became the father of Hine-kau-ataata. By extension, a tiki is a large or small wooden, ...
, and a father of another Io-rangi in
Moriori
The Moriori are the native Polynesian people of the Chatham Islands (''Rēkohu'' in Moriori; ' in Māori), New Zealand. Moriori originated from Māori settlers from the New Zealand mainland around 1500 CE. This was near the time of th ...
mythology.
Controversy
Io was first known generally with the publication in 1913 of
Hoani Te Whatahoro Jury's book, translated by
Percy Smith as ''The Lore of the Whāre-wananga''. The idea that the Io represented a pre-Christian understanding of "God" much like the
Christian God would be propagated by
Elsdon Best
Elsdon Best (30 June 1856 – 9 September 1931) was an ethnographer who made important contributions to the study of the Māori of New Zealand.
Early years
Elsdon Best was born 30 June 1856 at Tawa Flat, New Zealand, to William Best and the for ...
in his ''Maori Religion and Mythology.''
The Io tradition was initially rejected by scholars including prominent Māori scholar
Te Rangi Hīroa
Sir Peter Henry Buck (ca. October 1877 – 1 December 1951), also known as Te Rangi Hīroa or Te Rangihīroa, was a New Zealand doctor, military leader, health administrator, politician, anthropologist and museum director. He was a prominen ...
(Peter Buck), who wrote, "The discovery of a supreme God named Io in New Zealand was a surprise to
Māori and
Pākehā
Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non- Māori New Z ...
alike." Buck believed that the Io tradition was restricted to the
Ngāti Kahungunu as a response to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
.
Jonathan Z. Smith
Jonathan Zittell Smith (November 21, 1938 – December 30, 2017), also known as J. Z. Smith, was an American historian of religions. He was based at the University of Chicago for most of his career. His research includes work on such diverse ...
questions the motives behind the existence of such a book, seeing this as a questionable emphasis of the idea around the Io.
Others such as James Cox argues that this "pre-Christian" understanding of a supreme god may in fact be due to the earlier
Mormon missionary activities.
See also
*
Ao (mythology)
*
Kiho-tumu In the mythology of the Tuamotu archipelago, Kiho-tumu (or Kiho) represents the supreme god (Sykes and Kendall 2003:108).
The Milky Way is said to be his 'sacred ocean' and the dark rift within the Milky Way is referred to as his sacred ship, call ...
*
Mataaho
Mataaho (also known as Mataaoho and Mataoho) is a Māori deity. Variously considered a god of earthquakes and eruptions, the guardian of the earth's secrets, the god of volcanic forces, or a giant, Mataaho is associated with many of the volcan ...
*
Tagaloa
In Samoan mythology, Tagaloa (also known as Tagaloa-Lagi or Tagaloa, Lagi of the Heavens/Skies) is generally accepted as the supreme ruler, paramount deity in Samoan mythology
*
Taaroa paramount deity in Tahitian mythology
References
{{reflist
Māori gods
Creator gods