Whaitiri
Maori sky-goddess of thunder; the cannibalistic-grandmother-deity of the Tāwhaki cycle. Descended from the sky to marry the mortal Kaitangata on the mistaken assumption that his name ("man-eater") signified shared cannibalistic appetite; after the births of their two sons Hemā and Punga, returned to the sky on discovering the misnomer. Subsequently went blind in the sky; her grandsons Tāwhaki and Karihi encountered her on their canonical-Polynesian sky-ascent at the foot of the vines of ascent, restored her sight, and received from her the advice for the correct vine-climb (the aka matua parent-vine versus the aka taepa hanging-vine that destroyed Karihi). Cross-traditionally identified with Hapai in some Hawaiian recensions per Fornander 1878.
Children
Powers
- Sit blind in the sky counting her taro and kūmara
- Works spells by incantation
- Produces thunder and thunderclaps
Epithets
- Hine-whaitiri Thunder MaidE. R. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (1891), 'Whaitiri' (secondary)
Relations
- spouse: KaitangataGrey 1855; Tregear 1891 (primary)
- mother of: HemāGrey 1855; Tregear 1891 (primary)
Sources
- existence: Grey, Polynesian Mythology (1855) (primary); White, The Ancient History of the Maori (1887-1890) (primary); Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (1891) (primary); Best, Maori Religion and Mythology (Dominion Museum Bulletin 10, 1924) (primary); Maori, Hawaiian, and Tahitian oral tradition (the canonical pan-Polynesian Tāwhaki cycle) (primary)