Auahitūroa, the comet that brought fire

Auahitūroa is god of the Maori tradition of Polynesia.

The comet that brought fire down from the sky to humankind.

GodPolynesia

Auahitūroa

Auahitūroa, in simplified spelling Auahituroa, is the Maori personification of comets and the fire bringer. As the son of the sun god Tama-nui-te-rā, he was sent to bring fire to humankind.

With the fire goddess Mahuika he fathered the five fire children, the Ngā Mānawa, whose fire lives in Mahuika’s fingernails. His visible sign in the sky is the comet with its long trail of smoke; no anthropomorphic iconography has been passed down.

At a glance: Auahitūroa

Type: Fire bringer and personification of comets
Origin: Maori tradition, especially the eastern Bay of Plenty
Texts: Maori ethnography by Best and Tregear
Period: Maori tradition, recorded ethnographically
Appearance: comet with a long trail of smoke

Area of origin and sources

Period of the Texts

The tradition belongs to the oral tradition of the Maori and was recorded ethnographically by Elsdon Best and Edward Tregear.

Area of Diffusion

New Zealand, especially the eastern Bay of Plenty: there the story of the sent fire bringer is anchored in the Mātaatua and Ngāti Awa tradition.

Sources

Moderately attested: the main sources are Elsdon Best’s Maori ethnography and Tregear’s comparative dictionary.

Name and variants

Maori: auahi means smoke or fire, roa long, tūroa long-standing or enduring. Auahitūroa is thus the long trail of smoke, that is, the comet itself; the name describes the celestial phenomenon that the god embodies.

Appearance and symbolism

Appearance

Auahitūroa appears as a comet with a long trail of smoke; no fixed anthropomorphic iconography has been passed down. He embodies the celestial fire that comes to earth in the form of the comet.

Effect

Auahitūroa brings fire from the sky. He marries the fire goddess Mahuika and fathers with her the five fire children, the Ngā Mānawa, called the five fingers, whose fire lives in Mahuika’s fingernails. Comets were also seen as omens, often of misfortune, which gives the otherwise benevolent fire bringer a slight ambivalence.

Profile: Auahitūroa

The key aspects of the fire bringer at a glance.

Cultural Context

Son of the sun god Tama-nui-te-rā; the story is especially anchored in the Mātaatua and Ngāti Awa tradition of the eastern Bay of Plenty.

Responsible for

The celestial fire and the comets: Auahitūroa was sent by the sun to bring fire to humankind.

Depiction

Comet with a long trail of smoke; there is no fixed anthropomorphic iconography, the celestial body itself is his form.

Function

Fire bringer and father of the five fire children, the Ngā Mānawa, whose fire lives in the fingernails of his wife Mahuika.

Dealing with it

No cult: comets were seen as omens, often of misfortune; dealing with them meant interpretation and divination, not offerings.

Mahuika as his wife and Rūaumoko within the same circle of gods; typologically, this reflects the Prometheus motif of fire being brought.

From son of the sun to fire for humankind

The name explains the form: auahi, smoke or fire, and tūroa, long-standing or enduring, together give the long trail of smoke, the comet. Auahitūroa is regarded as the son of the sun god Tama-nui-te-rā, who sent him to bring fire to humankind; this tradition is especially anchored in the Mātaatua and Ngāti Awa tradition of the eastern Bay of Plenty.

On earth he married the fire goddess Mahuika and fathered with her the five fire children, the Ngā Mānawa, called the five fingers. Their fire lives in Mahuika’s fingernails; thus the myth links the celestial fire of the comet with the earthly fire that people use.

Afterlife and interpretation

The name Auahitūroa is used in modern New Zealand for comets, for instance in the media on the occasion of bright comets. Overall, he is less well known than Mahuika or Rūaumoko.

From a religious-studies perspective, Auahitūroa shows the link between a celestial phenomenon and the origin of fire: the comet is the fire bringer. It is important to clarify that he is not identical with Mahuika but her husband; the fire children are the shared legacy of the pair.

Interpretation instead of cult

No dedicated sacrificial cult is documented for Auahitūroa, which is typical for the personification of an abstract force of nature. Comets were seen as omens, often of misfortune; the traditional way of dealing with them was interpretation and divination, not cult worship. Whoever saw the long trail of smoke in the sky read it as a sign, rather than offering it gifts.

Fire bringers in comparison

Auahitūroa stands as a fire bringer alongside other culture-bringer figures; the motif of fire brought from the sky resembles the Prometheus motif typologically, though not genetically. Within Polynesia, he belongs to the sphere of the Mahuika and Mafuike fire traditions, at the centre of which stands his wife Mahuika.

Frequently asked questions about Auahitūroa

What does Auahitūroa mean?

Roughly long trail of smoke, that is, the comet; auahi means smoke or fire, tūroa long-standing or enduring.

What does he have to do with fire?

He brought fire from the sky to humankind and is the father of the five fire children, the Ngā Mānawa.

Is he the same as Mahuika?

No. He is her husband; the fire children are the shared legacy of the pair.

Further links

Literature (selection)

Further standard works in the bibliography.

Among the Māori, Auahitūroa is fire-bringer and personification of comets in a single form: the long trail of smoke in the sky and humankind’s first spark go back, in this tradition, to the same son of the sun.