Maui Kisikisi

Entered as a demigod, the culture-hero Maui of Tonga. Wired as son of Maui 'Atalanga and Hina (parentIds), following the dominant three-generation reading (Maui Motu'a -> Maui 'Atalanga -> Maui Kisikisi); a variant tradition instead makes 'Atalanga and Kisikisi brothers (both sons of Maui Motu'a) — noted, not adopted. The fish-hook came from Tonga-fusi-fonua of Manuka, his wife Tavatava revealing the right hook among many; the hook bears no proper name in the Tongan sources. The volcanic islands (Kao, Tofua, the Hunga islands, Late, Fonualei) are NOT among those fished up. Which Maui brought fire varies (Kisikisi dominant, 'Atalanga in some tellings), and the Tongan fire is taken from the underworld/old Maui — no named 'Mafuike' fire-keeper is asserted for the Tongan recension. Sex male; immortal.

Parentage

Recorded default; alternative parentage accounts are listed separately below.

• parent: Maui 'Atalanga
• parent: Hina

Parentage accounts

Each account is a separate source claim. The parentage and children listed outside these accounts use the recorded default. Selecting an account in the interactive app updates its lineage, descent classification and inherited-power candidates. Linked pedigree accounts are selected together; other records retain their recorded parentage. Claims of ancestry are not proof of biological descent or attested powers.

• Mesake lomu (Gifford)

  deity by descent in this account.

  • father: MalekulauluaE. W. Gifford, Tongan Myths and Tales (1924), pp. 19–20 (primary)
  • mother: HeimoanaE. W. Gifford, Tongan Myths and Tales (1924), pp. 19–20 (primary)
  E. W. Gifford, Tongan Myths and Tales (1924), pp. 19–20 (primary)

Children in alternative accounts

• Afulunga: Mesake lomu (Gifford)E. W. Gifford, Tongan Myths and Tales (1924), pp. 19–20 (primary)
• Io (Lomu’s account): Mesake lomu (Gifford)E. W. Gifford, Tongan Myths and Tales (1924), pp. 19–20 (primary)
• Kohai (Lomu’s account): Mesake lomu (Gifford)E. W. Gifford, Tongan Myths and Tales (1924), pp. 19–20 (primary)
• Tangaloa (Lomu’s account): Mesake lomu (Gifford)E. W. Gifford, Tongan Myths and Tales (1924), pp. 19–20 (primary)

Domains

• creation of land and islands
• fire
• trickery and culture heroism

Powers

• fishes up the islands of Tonga with the magic hook
• brings fire up from the underworld and lodges it in wood

Relations

• equated with: Māui-tikitiki-a-TarangaReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Māui), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
• equated with: MāuiReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Māui), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
• equated with: MauiReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Māui), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
• equated with: Maui-tikitikiReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Māui), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
• equated with: MahuiReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Māui), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
• father: MalekulauluaE. W. Gifford, Tongan Myths and Tales (1924), pp. 19–20 (primary)
• mother: HeimoanaE. W. Gifford, Tongan Myths and Tales (1924), pp. 19–20 (primary)

Sources

• Maui Kisikisi ('Dragonfly Maui'; also Maui-fusi-fonua, 'the land-puller'), the trickster youngest of the three Tongan Maui, fished up the islands of Tonga — Tongatapu first, then the Ha'apai islands and Vava'u — with a magic fish-hook won from the old fisherman Tonga-fusi-fonua of Manuka, and brought fire up from the underworld, lodging it in the fire-making woods for humankind.: Gifford, E. W. Tongan Myths and Tales (Bishop Museum Bulletin 8, 1924) (secondary); Collocott, E. E. V. Tales and Poems of Tonga (Bishop Museum Bulletin 46, 1928) (secondary)