This is a list of Māori deities, known in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

as .

Major departmental deities

* Haumiatiketike, the god of uncultivated food, particularly bracken fern. * Papatūānuku, the primordial

earth mother A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility goddess, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or t ...

. *

Ranginui In Māori mythology the primal couple Rangi and Papa (or Ranginui and Papatūānuku) appear in a creation myth explaining the origin of the world (though there are many different versions). In some South Island dialects, Rangi is called Raki or Ra ...

, the primordial sky father. * Rongomātāne, the god of cultivated foods, particularly

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato ('' Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young ...

. * Tānemahuta, the god of forests and birds. *

Tangaroa Tangaroa (Takaroa in the South Island) is the great of the sea, lakes, rivers, and creatures that live within them, especially fish, in Māori mythology. As Tangaroa-whakamau-tai he exercises control over the tides. He is sometimes depicted a ...

, the god of the Ocean and the creatures within. *

Tāwhirimātea In Māori mythology, Tāwhirimātea (or Tāwhiri) is the god of weather, including thunder and lightning, wind, clouds and storms. He is a son of Papatūānuku (earth mother) and Ranginui ( sky father). Tawhirimatea is the second oldest of 7 chi ...

, the god of storms and violent weather. *

Tūmatauenga Tūmatauenga (''Tū of the angry face'') is the primary god () of war and human activities such as hunting, food cultivation, fishing, and cooking in Māori mythology. In creation stories, Tū suggests to kill his parents to allow light into th ...

, the god of war, hunting, cooking, fishing, and food cultivation. * Whiro, the lord of darkness and embodiment of all evil and death. * Aituā, the god of death, happiness, and misfortune. * Ao, a personification of light. *

Auahitūroa Auahitūroa is a male Māori deity, personification of comets, and the origin of fire. His consort is Mahuika, the goddess of fire. See also *Māori mythology Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the r ...

, the personification of comets, and the origin of the fire. * Haere, several personifications of the rainbow. *

Ikatere In Māori and Polynesian mythology, Ikatere, also spelled Ika-tere, ('fast fish') is a fish god, the father of all sea creatures, including mermaids. He is a son of Punga, and a grandson of Tangaroa, and his brother is Tū-te-wehiwehi (Grey 1 ...

, a fish god and father of all sea creatures. *

Io Matua Kore Io Matua Kore is often understood as the supreme being in Polynesian narrative, particularly of the Māori people. Io does seem to be present in the mythologies of other Polynesian islands including Hawai‘i, the Society Islands, and the Coo ...

, the supreme being; personification of light and the world of the living and the forest. * Kahukura, a war god who appears as the upper bow of a double rainbow. * Kiwa, one of several divine guardians of the ocean. * Makeatutara, the father of Māui and guardian of the underworld. * Maru, the god of freshwater, southern god of war. *

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 volca ...

, a God of earthquakes and volcanoes from the Tāmaki Makaurau Region (Auckland). * Māui, a demigod, culture hero, and

trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story ( god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwi ...

. * Ngahue / Kahue, the god or discoverer of , the Poutini is his guardian. * Pūhaorangi, a celestial being who descended from the heavens to sleep with the beautiful maiden Te Kuraimonoa. * Punga / Hairi, the ancestor of sharks, lizards, rays, and all deformed, ugly things. *

Rehua In Māori mythology, Rehua is a very sacred personage, who lives in Te Putahi-nui-o-Rehua in Rangi-tuarea, the tenth and highest of the heavens in some versions of Māori lore. Rehua is identified with certain stars. To the Tūhoe people of the ...

, the star god with the power of healing. *

Rongomai In Māori mythology, Rongomai refers to several entities: * a deity by whose assistance Haungaroa traveled from Hawaiki 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 ...

, the name of a number of separate beings. *

Rongo In Māori mythology, Rongo or Rongo-mā-Tāne (also Rongo-hīrea, Rongo-marae-roa, and Rongo-marae-roa-a-Rangi) is a major god (''atua'') of cultivated plants, especially kumara (spelled ''kūmara'' in Māori), a vital crop. Other crops cult ...

, the god of

crops A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponi ...

and peace * Ruaumoko, the god of volcanoes, earthquakes, and seasons. * Tamanuiterā, the personification of the

sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

. * Tane-rore, the personification of shimmering air. *

Tāwhaki In Māori mythology, Tāwhaki is a semi-supernatural being associated with lightning and thunder. Genealogy The genealogy of Tāwhaki varies somewhat in different accounts. In general, Tāwhaki is a grandson of Whaitiri, a cannibalistic goddess wh ...

, a semi-supernatural being associated with thunder and lightning. *

Te Uira Te Uira is an who personifies lightning in Māori mythology. Te Uira's child Te Kanapu, grandparent of Whaitiri, is also a personification of lightning. See also * Tāwhaki * Tāwhirimātea References

Māori gods Thunder gods { ...

, the personification of lightning. * Tiki, the first human, but sometimes is a child of Rangi and Papa, and creates the first human. *

Tinirau In Polynesian mythology, stories about Tinirau are found throughout the islands of Polynesia. He is a guardian of fish. Many themes recur in the various versions. Often he travels to another land in search of his wife, or his wife travels to anot ...

, a guardian of fish. * Tūtewehiwehi, the father of all reptiles. *

Uenuku Uenuku (or Uenuku-Kōpako, also given to some who are named after him) is an atua of rainbows and a prominent ancestor in Māori tradition. Māori believed that the rainbow's appearance represented an omen, and one kind of yearly offering mad ...

, a god of the rainbow, associated with war. Also a deified ancestor. * Urutengangana, the god of the light.

Female Atua

* Ārohirohi, the goddess of mirages and shimmering heat. *

Hina Hina may refer to: People and deities * Hina (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Hina (chiefess), a name given to several noble ladies who lived in ancient Hawaii * Hina (goddess), the name assigned to ...

, sister, or uncommonly, wife of Māui, associated with the moon. * Hinekapea, the goddess of loyalty. * Hinehōaka, the goddess of sandstone, the Whatipū is her guardian. * Hinenuitepō, the goddess of night and death, and ruler of the underworld. * Hinepūkohurangi, the goddess of the mist * Ikaroa, the long fish that gave birth to all the stars in the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. ...

. * Kui, the chthonic demigod. *

Mahuika Mahuika is a Māori fire deity. Generally, Mahuika is female and wife of the god Auahitūroa. Myths In some versions, she is the younger sister of Hine-nui-te-pō, goddess of death. It was from her that Māui (in some versions he is her grands ...

, the goddess of fire. * Moekahu, a lesser known goddess (or god) of Tūhoe whose form was of a dog (), and a sibling of Haere. *

Rohe The Māori people of New Zealand use the word ''rohe'' to describe the territory or boundaries of '' iwi'' (tribes), although some divide their rohe into several ''takiwā''. The areas shown on the map (right) are indicative only, and some iw ...

, the goddess of the spirit world. * Tangotango, a celestial woman who fell in love with the great hero Tāwhaki and came to earth to become his wife. * Tūāwhiorangi, the wife of Kahukura who manifests as the lower bow during a double rainbow. *

Whaitiri Whaitiri is a female atua and personification of thunder in Māori mythology. She is the grandmother of Tāwhaki and Karihi. Whaitiri is the granddaughter of Te Kanapu, son of Te Uira, both of whom are personified forms of lightning (Reed 19 ...

, the personification of thunder.