Mahuika
Mahuika
5 min read
Mahuika is the goddess of fire in the Māori mythology of New Zealand. Guardian of the flames she carries in her fingernails, she is famous for her confrontation with the hero Māui, to whom she ultimately yields the secret of fire.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Goddess of fire in Māori mythology, she keeps fire in her fingernails (or her fingers)
- In the most famous myth, the hero Māui tricks her into giving up her flaming fingernails one by one
- When she throws her last fingernail in anger, she sets the forest ablaze; the fire then takes refuge in the trees (kaikōmako), explaining why fire can be produced by rubbing wood together
- She is related to Mahuea and belongs to the body of Polynesian fire deities
- Her figure belongs to the Māori oral tradition, with no historical dating (a timeless myth)
Works & Achievements
By giving up her flaming fingernails, Mahuika allows humanity to possess fire for cooking, warmth and light.
Her anger against Māui triggers a cosmic fire, explaining the destructive and sacred power of flame.
Before vanishing, she places the last sparks in the kaikōmako tree, founding the Māori technique of making fire by friction.
Her confrontation with Māui forms one of the great episodes of the heroic cycle passed down throughout the Pacific.
Embedded in the whakapapa (sacred genealogy), she links fire to the ancestors and to the primordial Māori forces.
Anecdotes
In the most famous Māori myth, the hero Māui puts out all the fires in the village to force his grandmother Mahuika to reveal where fire comes from. She then pulls out one of her flaming fingernails and gives it to him, but Māui throws it into the water and keeps coming back to ask for more.
The Māori say that Mahuika carried fire in her nails: each of her fingers and toes was a living flame. That is why, in the story, she can give away fire one nail at a time until she has almost none left.
When Mahuika realizes that Māui is making fun of her, she hurls her last nail in anger and sets the whole earth ablaze. To escape the flames, Māui turns into an eagle and then calls on the gods Tāwhirimātea and Whaitiri to send rain to put out the fire.
According to tradition, before she died Mahuika hid the last sparks of fire inside certain trees, such as the kaikōmako. This is why the Māori make fire by rubbing sticks of these woods together: Mahuika's fire still sleeps within them.
Mahuika is often described as the sister (or a relative) of Hine-nui-te-pō, the goddess of night and death, which places her within the great family of primordial Māori deities descended from Ranginui (the Sky) and Papatūānuku (the Earth).
Primary Sources
Māui asked Mahuika to give him fire; she pulled out one of her fingernails, from which a flame burst forth, and handed it to him.
Fire was kept within the body of Mahuika, guardian of the flames, until it was distributed among the trees from which fire is drawn by friction.
The ancient accounts teach that fire was stolen from the fire deity and hidden in the wood of the kaikōmako, from which men call it back forth.
Key Places
Land of the Māori, where the tales of Mahuika and Māui unfold and are passed down.
Subterranean realm of Māori mythology, associated with the inner fire of the earth and the primordial deities.
Sacred woods where Mahuika's fire took refuge, and from which humans draw fire by friction.
Regions of geysers and volcanoes (such as Rotorua and the Tongariro) where one senses the underground heat tied to the mythical fire.
