Mahuika and Māui's theft of fire
By Ralf Ittermann · last reviewed on
Mahuika is a goddess of Māori tradition in Polynesia.
The fire goddess who carries fire in her fingernails.
Mahuika is the fire goddess of the Māori and wider Polynesia; her fire resides in her finger- and toenails. She is the keeper and giver of fire and the consort of the fire-bringer Auahitūroa.
In the well-known Māui myth, the culture hero coaxes fire from her, whereupon she in her rage nearly sets the world ablaze; the rescued fire is preserved in the kaikōmako tree, from which people have ever since obtained it by friction.
Type: Fire goddess, keeper and giver of fire
Origin: Māori and Polynesian tradition
Texts: Best, Craig and the Māui cycle
Period: ethnographically documented tradition
Appearance: figure with fire in her finger- and toenails
Textual history
Period of the Texts
Māori and Polynesian tradition, ethnographically documented; the main sources are Best, Craig’s dictionary of Polynesian mythology and the Māui cycle.
Area of Diffusion
New Zealand and wider Polynesia: the name of the fire deity is pan-Polynesian and appears in variants from Samoa to Aotearoa.
Sources
Well documented: Best and Craig as ethnographic foundations, together with the tales of the Māui cycle in Stimson.
Name and variants
Polynesian: Mahuika, with variants Mahuea, Mafuike or Mahuiʻe, is the pan-Polynesian name of the fire deity; no reliably established literal meaning of the name is well documented. The variants denote the same being, not different deities.
Nature and effect
Appearance
Mahuika carries fire in her finger- and toenails and dwells in a cave or underworld. She embodies the keeper and source of earthly fire.
Effect
In the Māui myth, Māui has all the fires of the world extinguished and then asks Mahuika, nail by nail, for her fire, secretly putting out each one. Enraged, she hurls the last nail to the ground, unleashing a world-conflagration; Māui is saved only by the weather gods. The last sparks take refuge in the kaikōmako tree, which is why fire is produced by friction with this and other woods.
Profile: Mahuika
The key aspects of the fire goddess at a glance.
Pan-Polynesian fire deity; linked as consort of Auahitūroa, in some accounts younger sister of the death goddess Hine-nui-te-pō, and relative or ancestress of Māui.
Humankind as the recipient of fire: fire came from her nails and has since been preserved in the woods of the world.
A figure with fire in her finger- and toenails, dwelling in a cave or underworld; the nail-fire is her fixed attribute.
Keeper and giver of fire; in her rage, potential for world-conflagration, as shown by the last nail hurled down in the Māui myth.
No documented cult of offerings; her legacy is the fire-friction technique, hika ahi, using the wood of the kaikōmako tree.
Mafuiʻe in Samoa as a direct counterpart, the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele in her fire aspect, and typologically the Prometheus theme.
Māui's theft of fire
The tale begins with a ruse: Māui has all the fires of the world extinguished and then goes to Mahuika to ask for new fire. Nail by nail the goddess gives him her fire, and nail by nail he secretly puts it out, until she detects the deception. Enraged, she hurls the last nail to the ground, a world-conflagration breaks out, and Māui escapes only because the weather gods save him.
The last sparks take refuge in the kaikōmako tree; this is why the Māori produce fire by friction with this and other woods. In the genealogy of the tradition, Mahuika is the consort of the fire-bringer Auahitūroa, in some accounts the younger sister of the death goddess Hine-nui-te-pō, and relative or ancestress of the culture hero Māui.
Reception and classification
The theft of fire is among the best-known Māori tales. Mahuika appears on a New Zealand coin from 2019, and a character in a video game was named after her.
From a religious-studies perspective, Mahuika is a prime example of the fire goddess as both giver and dangerous power at once. Important clarifications: she is not consistently female, in Tuamotu, the Marquesas and parts of New Zealand Mahu-ika is male. Mahuea and Mafuike are name variants of the same being. And Māui obtains fire through cunning, not mere theft.
Hika ahi: the legacy of fire-friction
No cult of offerings for Mahuika is documented. Her legacy is the fire-making technique itself, fire-friction, hika ahi, which is ethnographically documented. The preservation of fire in the kaikōmako tree is the practical core of the tradition: whoever creates fire by friction repeats the ending of the myth and retrieves the goddess’s sheltered sparks from the wood.
From Mafuiʻe to Pele: related fire powers
Mahuika has direct pan-Polynesian counterparts such as Mafuiʻe in Samoa, in some accounts conceived as male. Typologically she is close to the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele in her fire aspect, and the motif of the fire theft to the Prometheus theme. Within Māori tradition, her consort Auahitūroa and the earthquake god Rūaumoko belong to the same circle of fire and earth powers.
Frequently asked questions about Mahuika
Where does Mahuika carry her fire?
In her finger- and toenails, from which Māui coaxes it.
Is Mahuika always female?
No. In Tuamotu, the Marquesas and parts of New Zealand, Mahu-ika is male.
Why is fire made by friction from the kaikōmako tree?
Because the last sparks were preserved in this tree after the world-conflagration.
Further links
Further reading:
- Auahitūroa – the fire-bringer and consort of the goddess
- Pele – the Hawaiian volcano goddess as a parallel
- Rūaumoko – the Māori god of earthquakes and volcanoes
- Protective candle, amulet, salt – recommended protective means
- Protection Compass – protective means at a glance
Literature (selection)
Further standard works in the bibliography.
For the Maori, Mahuika is both fire goddess and warning power: the fire in her fingernails makes her the giver of the most useful of all goods, and the same spark, hurled in anger, can set the world ablaze.
