Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. According to legend, the various groups who became the Aztecs arrived from the North into the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco. The location of this valley and lake of destination is clear – it is the heart of modern Mexico City – but little can be known with certainty about the origin of the Aztec. There are different accounts of their origin. In the myth, the ancestors of the Mexica/Aztec came from a place in the north called Aztlan, the last of seven nahuatlacas to make the journey southward, hence their name "Azteca." Other accounts cite their origin in Chicomoztoc, "the place of the seven caves", or at Tamoanchan.
In Māori mythology, Rongo or Rongo-mā-Tāne is a major god (atua) of cultivated plants, especially kumara, a vital crop. Other crops cultivated by Māori in traditional times included taro, yams (uwhi), cordyline (tī), and gourds (hue). Because of their tropical origin, most of these crops were difficult to grow except in the far north of the North Island, hence the importance of Rongo in New Zealand.
In Māori mythology the primal couple Rangi and Papa appear in a creation myth explaining the origin of the world and the Māori people. In some South Island dialects, Rangi is called Raki or Rakinui.
Tangaroa is the great atua 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 as a whale.
In Polynesian languages the word aitu refers to ghosts or spirits, often malevolent. The word is common to many languages of Western and Eastern Polynesia. In the mythology of Tonga, for example, ʻaitu or ʻeitu are lesser gods, many being patrons of specific villages and families. They often take the form of plants or animals, and are often more cruel than other gods. These trouble-making gods are regarded as having come from Samoa. The Tongan word tangi lauʻaitu means to cry from grief, to lament.
In a tradition of the Moriori people of the Chatham Islands, Rohe is the wife of the demi-god Māui. Beautiful Rohe was a sister of the sun, and her face shone. A quarrel arose after Rohe remarked that Māui's face was ugly. Māui then decided that they should change faces.
Miru is a goddess in the Polynesian mythology of the Cook Islands who lives in Avaiki beneath Mangaia. She is known to feast on the souls of dead people. One way she eats the souls is by putting them into a bowl of live centipedes, causing them to writhe in agony. Miru then encourages them to seek relief by diving into a lake, where they drown. They then can be cooked and eaten at her leisure.
Avaiki is one of the many names by which the peoples of Polynesia refer to their ancestral and spiritual homelands.
In Cook Islands mythology, Avatea was a lunar deity and the father of gods and men in Mangaian myth of origin. His eyes were thought to be the Sun and the Moon; he was also known as the god of light.
Ngaru is a mythological hero from Avaiki (Hawaiki) in the mythology of Mangaia in the Cook Islands. Ngaru's mother was Vaiare and his grandfather the great lizard Moko. His wife was the beautiful Tongatea. To prove his prowess, he battles Tikokura and the shark Tumuitearetoka, who he outwits with the aid of Moko. he later descends to the underworld and returns to the land of the living where he subsequently defeats the sky fairies and Amai-te-rangi, a sky demon.
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 another land in search of him; sometimes he treats his wife badly, or she rejects him; while he is guardian of fish, it is his wife who gives the fish their individual characteristics. Sometimes their anxious or jealous relatives try to separate the lovers.
In Polynesian Folklore, Hawaiki is the original home of the Polynesians, before dispersal across Polynesia. It also features as the underworld in many Māori stories.
In Cook Islands mythology of the southern Cook Islands group, the earth goddess Papa was created when Varima-te-takere, the primordial mother goddess, plucked her out from the left side of her body. Papa married her brother, the sky god Vatea. They had twin sons, the sea god Tangaroa and the vegetation god Rongo.
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the pre-European Māori, often involving gods and demigods. Māori tradition concerns more folkloric legends often involving historical or semi-historical forebears. Both categories merge in whakapapa to explain the overall origin of the Māori and their connections to the world which they lived in.
Cook Islands mythology comprises historical myths, legends, and folklore passed down by the ancient Cook Islanders over many generations. Many of the Cook Islands legends were recited through ancient songs and chants. The Cook Islands myths and legends have similarities to general Polynesian mythology, which developed over the centuries into its own unique character.
In Cook Islands mythology, Tumu-te-ana-oa was the female personification of Echo. She was the fourth child of Vari, the primordial mother goddess. Both her name and the land she occupied had to do with the production of echoes. Her name means "the cause (tumu) of the call or voice (oa) heard from caves (ana)". The term oa is used by people when calling out to evoke an echo. Her land was Te Parae-tea, which Gill translates, "The-hollow-gray-rocks". Mamae gives no more detail, but Gill recounts that Tumu-te-ana-oa frequented the caves of Mangaia, where she was seen by Rangi, one of the first inhabitants. The cave in which she was first seen was Aitu-mamaoa.
In Cook Islands mythology, Tu-metua was the sixth child and most beloved daughter of the mother goddess, Vari. Tu-metua lived in Te-enua-te-ki "The-mute-land". This was a place said to have no spoken language, but communication only by signs—such as nods, raised eyebrows, grimaces, and smiles. Gill states that Vari and Tu-metua lived together in Enua-te-ki, but he was in error in treating Te Aiti as a descriptive word and not as Vari's own distinct land. Mamae's native text, however, shows that the two lands were close together. It also explains the meaning of Tu-metua's name, which differs from Gill's translation as "Stick-to-the-parent".
In Cook Islands mythology, Raka (Trouble) was the god of winds and storms. He was the fifth child of the Great Mother, Vari. Raka found a congenial home in Moana-Irakau. According to Gill, Raka received from Vari a great basket, in which contained the hidden winds, as well as the knowledge of many useful inventions. The children of Raka are the numerous winds and storms which distress mankind. Each child was assigned a hole in the horizon through which he blew at pleasure. Gill's informant, Mamae, gives his wife and children but not the parents of the wife, Takatipa; whoever they were, they formed additional contemporaries of Vari.
In Cook Islands mythology, Tango (Support) was the third child of the primordial mother goddess, Varima-te-takere. He was assigned to live at Enua-kura. According to Mamae, Gill's informant, Tango was the progenitor of a skilled fishing family. That the six grandsons of Tango were good workers is shown in the native text. The enclosure (akeke) for fish mentioned in a chant has not been retained in the local culture of the people.
In antiquity, Cook Islanders practiced Cook Islands mythology, before widespread conversion by the London Missionary Society during the nineteenth century. In modern times, the Cook Islands are predominantly Christian, with the largest denomination being the Cook Islands Christian Church.
