Who Is Māui in Polynesian Mythology?

Few figures loom larger in Polynesian mythology than Māui. The heroic exploits of this trickster demigod have been passed on through oral traditions for centuries across Polynesia, from Tonga and Samoa to Hawaii and Aotearoa—the Indigenous Māori name for New Zealand.

While the details of Māui's legend shift from culture to culture, the core of his story endures across thousands of miles of ocean. Māui is the son of a god and a mortal woman; he has several older brothers who lack his power; and he uses his cunning and magic to make life better for ordinary people.

The Māui myth traces back to the Polynesian peoples who first settled Tonga and Samoa around the start of the first millennium B.C. When their descendants spread eastward over the subsequent centuries—settling Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti and other Pacific islands—they carried Māui's stories with them. Each culture reshaped the legend to fit different landscapes and mythologies.

In Hawaii, the details of Māui’s birth, parentage and feats even differ between islands, reflecting how the various Hawaiian Islands were independent kingdoms before King Kamehameha I unified them in 1810.

One of the oldest recorded versions of the Māui legend comes from the Polynesian culture the Māori of Aotearoa. It appears in an 1855 anthology of Māori mythology published by New Zealand’s third British governor, Sir George Grey. He largely sourced his text from manuscripts provided by the chief Te Rangikāheke, along with oral stories he gathered from multiple tribes.

One of Māui’s most famous feats involves hauling islands up from the ocean floor with an enchanted fishhook. In Hawaiian accounts, Māui was teased as the worst fisherman among his brothers, so he secretly crafted a magic fishhook and pulled the Hawaiian Islands up from the ocean.

The Māori tell a very similar story. Māui uses a magical fishhook to pull Te Ika-a-Māui (Māui's Fish)—New Zealand's North Island—from the seafloor while standing on Te Waka-a-Māui (Māui's Canoe), now known as the South Island.

Slowing down the sun to provide people with more daylight is another one of Māui’s major triumphs. In various versions of this tale, Māui lassos the sun and beats it until it agrees to move slower. In another version, he snares the sun and breaks off its longest rays, slowing its journey across the sky.

Like Prometheus in ancient Greek mythology, Māui brings fire to humanity. The details vary across Polynesian traditions: In Hawaiian stories, he obtains it from sacred mud-hens. In Tongan tales, it is from his fire-guarding grandfather. And in Samoan myths, it is taken from an underworld giant.

Given his incredible impact on Pacific Island mythology, it’s no wonder that Māui plays a significant role in Disney’s Moana, which even includes an entire song about Māui’s many heroic deeds for humankind.