Maero, the shaggy primal people of the South Island forests
By Ralf Ittermann · last reviewed on
The Maero are spirits of Maori tradition.
Wild, hairy forest people with long claw-like nails.
Maero, also Maeroero, are wild, hairy, human-like beings of the Maori who live deep in the forests and mountains, especially of New Zealand’s South Island. Covered in long, shaggy body hair and armed with long claw-like nails, they either fear or hunt humans.
They are regarded as iwi-atua, a supernatural people, and according to tradition as arch-enemies of the Maori, with whom they were almost constantly in conflict: wild primal forest people who were pushed further and further into the most inhospitable forests.
Type: Wild, hairy human-like beings, an iwi-atua
Origin: Regional Maori tradition, especially the South Island
Texts: Best, Orbell, Beattie
Period: classical tradition through to modern cryptid reception
Appearance: large, wild, with long shaggy hair, bony fingers and sharp nails
Traditional context
Period of the Texts
Regional Maori tradition, especially of the South Island; the evidence is thinner and more local than for other Maori beings.
Area of Diffusion
The most remote forests and mountains of New Zealand, especially the South Island, as well as the Tararua Range.
Sources
Thin and local: the collections of Best, Orbell and Beattie from Murihiku; the Bigfoot parallel stems mainly from modern cryptid reception.
Name and variants
Maori: maero or maeroero, also mohoao. The Maero are regarded as iwi-atua, a supernatural people, not as a single being.
Appearance
Appearance
The Maero are large, wild, hairy beings, covered rather than clothed in long, shaggy, black body hair, with long, bony fingers and sharp, long fingernails. Hairiness, nakedness, claw-like nails and the stone club embody the raw, pre-civilised and untamed nature of the deep forest.
Effect
The Maero are hostile and dangerous; they hunt and kill, in some traditions in a cannibalistic manner, carrying stone clubs while their fingernails serve as weapons. They embody the threat posed by the wilderness beyond the inhabited world.
Profile: Maero
The most important aspects of the wild forest people at a glance.
An iwi-atua of Maori tradition: wild primal forest people, arch-enemies of the Maori, pushed into the most inhospitable forests.
People in the deep forest and mountains: whoever enters the most remote regions enters the realm of the Maero.
Large and wild, covered in shaggy black hair, with bony fingers, sharp long nails and a stone club.
Hunting humans and raw violence, in some traditions cannibalism; the symbol of untamed wilderness.
Avoidance of the deepest forest and mountain regions as their realm, as well as caution and respect towards the tapu areas of the wilderness.
The fair, seductive Patupaiarehe and the guarding Hakuturi: quite different Maori forest peoples.
Arch-enemies at the edge of the inhabited world
The name is Maori maero or maeroero, also mohoao; the Maero are regarded as iwi-atua, a supernatural people. According to tradition, they were arch-enemies of the Maori, with whom they were almost constantly in conflict, and who were thereby pushed further and further into the most inhospitable forests.
Thus the Maero became wild primal forest people of the most remote regions, especially the South Island and the Tararua Range. Their form tells of this displacement: naked but for their shaggy hair, armed with stone club and claw-like nails, the counter-image to the ordered, inhabited world of the villages.
From iwi-atua to New Zealand's Bigfoot
In modern reception, the Maero are discussed above all as New Zealand’s Bigfoot and cryptid; related is the Moehau motif of the Coromandel Peninsula. It is important to clarify that this Bigfoot parallel stems mainly from modern cryptid reception, not from the tradition itself.
In terms of religious studies, the Maero are a Wild Man motif and a wild primal forest people, an iwi-atua, embodying the boundary and threat of the untamed wilderness. The source material is regional and thin, relating mainly to the South Island.
Avoidance as the only protection
What is firmly attested is above all the avoidance of the deepest, most remote forest and mountain regions as the realm of the Maero, as well as the general caution and respect towards the tapu areas of the wilderness, which are treated with restraint here. Tradition knows no ritual against the Maero: whoever does not enter their territory does not encounter them. Protection lies in the boundary itself, drawn between the inhabited world and the wilderness.
Wild men of the forests worldwide
The Maero correspond to the Wild Man of the European motif and are often called New Zealand’s Bigfoot; related are the Basque Basajaun and the Yeti. Within the Maori world, a sharp distinction applies: Maero are wild, dark-haired and violent, whereas the Patupaiarehe are fair, fairy-like and seductive, and the Hakuturi are keepers who only punish breaches of ritual.
Frequently asked questions about the Maero
What distinguishes Maero from the Patupaiarehe?
Maero are wild, dark-haired and violent; Patupaiarehe are fair, fairy-like and seductive.
Where do they live?
In the most remote forests and mountains, especially of the South Island.
Are they comparable to Bigfoot?
Yes, they are regarded as the New Zealand counterpart to the wild man or Bigfoot; however, this parallel stems mainly from modern cryptid reception.
Further links
Further reading:
- Patupaiarehe – the fair fairy folk, for comparison
- Hakuturi – the forest guardians of the Maori
- Basajaun, Wild Man – related wild-man figures
- Amulet, Iron, Salt – traditional protective means
- Protection Compass – protective means at a glance
Literature (selection)
Further standard works in the bibliography.
The Maero, also called Maeroero, is regarded as a wild forest man of Maori New Zealand: the shaggy primal people of the deepest forests, a reminder that the wilderness was never fully tamed.
