Māori mythology Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern fantastic tales relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the p ...

, Rongomai refers to several entities: * a deity by whose assistance Haungaroa traveled from

Hawaiki In Polynesian mythology, (also rendered as in Cook Islands Māori, in Samoan, in Tahitian, in Hawaiian) is the original home of the Polynesians, before dispersal across Polynesia. It also features as the underworld in many Māori stories. ...

to New Zealand as she went to tell Ngātoro-i-rangi that he had been cursed by Manaia. * a being in whale form which attacked and almost wiped out the war-party of Maru. * a god of comet. * the war

god In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

of the tribes in the Lake Taupo region. * a celebrated demi-god ancestor of some

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori culture, Māori society. In Māori-language, Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and ...

. He went with Ihinga and others of his friends to visit the dread

Miru Miru may refer to: * Miru (goddess), a death goddess in Polynesian mythology * Miru, Iran, a village in Bandar Abbas County, Hormozgan Province, Iran * Miru River, a river of Romania *Miru, a character from the Pac-Man originally called ''Pu ...

in her abode in the underworld. There they were taught incantations, witchcraft, religious songs, dances, and certain games. One of Rongomai's men was caught, and was claimed by Miru in sacrifice, as payment for having imparted the sacred knowledge, but Rongomai and the others got safely back to the world again. * the chief of the Mahuhu canoe in its voyage from Hawaiki to New Zealand. He was drowned when the canoe overturned, and his body was eaten by the araara fish, since held sacred by the Ngā Puhi and Rarawa iwi, who claim descent from Rongomai. Until they embraced Christianity, those iwi would not eat the araara (or trevally, ''Caranx georianus'') . * a

meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mic ...

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...

, seen in the full light of day when in comparatively recent times, the Ngāti Hau tribe were besieging the fortress named Rangiuru at Ōtaki, occupied by the

Ngāti Awa Ngāti Awa is a Māori iwi (tribe) centred in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand. It is made of 22 hapū (subtribes), with 15,258 people claiming affiliation to the iwi in 2006. The Ngāti Awa people are primarily located in town ...

.Ronngomai can mean princess or sunshine said in many Māori dictionaries and the big book of names.

Notes

References

*E. Shortland, ''Traditions & Superstitions of the New Zealanders'' ( Longman, Brown: London), 1856, 25. *

E. R. Tregear Edward Robert Tregear , Ordre des Palmes académiques (1846–1931) was a New Zealand public servant and scholar. He was an architect of New Zealand's advanced social reforms and progressive labour legislation during the 1890s. Biography He was ...

, ''Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary'' (

Lyon and Blair John Rutherfurd Blair (8 February 1843 – 25 November 1914) was the Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand from 1898 to 1899. Biography Blair was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and was a paper merchant. His career started with a large Glasgo ...

: Lambton Quay, 1891), 425 * J. White, ''The Ancient History of the Maori'', Vol I (Government Printer: Wellington, 1887), 108-109 Māori gods Moriori mythology War gods {{Deity-stub