name of several Polynesian goddesses
Hina
Hina is the name given to several goddesses and powerful female figures in Polynesian mythology, linked to the moon, fishing and the sea. Her stories are found across the Pacific, with versions in Hawaii, New Zealand, Mangaia and Tahiti.
The myth
In Māori mythology of New Zealand, Hina is usually either the elder sister or the wife of Māui. In the most common tale, as Māui's wife, she is pestered by Te Tunaroa, the father of all eels, who rubs against her while she bathes in a pool. Māui attacks him and cuts his body to pieces: the tail becomes the conger eel, the rest become freshwater eels, and smaller pieces become lampreys and hagfish.
As elder sister, Hina is said to have taught Māui to plait the ropes he used to snare the sun, strengthening them with a strand of her sacred hair. She is also linked to the phases of the moon, under the names Hinatea (Fair Hina) and Hinauri (Dark Hina). In another tale, Hinatea is married to Irawaru, whom Māui badly injures after a quarrel on a fishing trip. Hina throws herself into the sea and is carried to Motutapu, where she becomes the wife of the chief Tinirau under the name Hinauri.
On Mangaia, a girl called Hina-moe-aitu falls in love with an eel that turns into the young man Tuna. When he asks her to cut off his head and bury it, two coconut palms grow from the grave, the first ones humanity knew. In Tuamotu and Tahiti, Hina leaves Tuna, the eel god, for Māui; Tuna challenges Māui to a duel, which Māui wins, burying Tuna's head, from which another coconut tree grows.
In Hawaii, the name is paired with epithets that define her role, such as Hina-puku-i'a, goddess of fishermen, or Hina-'opu-hala-ko'a, who gave birth to all reef life. Hina of Hilo is the mother of the hero Māui, while Hina, wife of Akalana, is the goddess of the moon, and the Hawaiian word for moon, mahina, derives from her name.
Worship and religion
In Hawaii, Hina has been worshipped for a long time across several islands. Archaeologists have found remains of a heiau dedicated to her in Kalaupapa National Historical Park, on the island of Molokai. She remains a figure in many Polynesian religions today.
Legacy
Hina's name lives on in the Hawaiian language: mahina, the word for moon, derives from the goddess.
Ancient sources: The main sources are oral traditions recorded by 19th-century scholars and missionaries, such as those cited by Grey and Tregear for New Zealand.
In art
