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In Maori mythology
Maori mythology

Maori mythology and Maori traditions are the two major categories into which the legends of the Maori of New Zealand may usefully be divided....
, Rongo is a major god, the god of cultivated food, especially the kumara
Sweet potato

The 'sweet potato' is a dicotyledonous plant which belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Amongst the approximately 50 genera and more than 1000 species of this family, only I....
, a vital food crop. Other food crops cultivated by Maori in traditional times include taro
Taro

Taro , more rarely kalo , gabi in The Philippines and dalo in Fiji is a tropical plant grown primarily as a root vegetable for its edible corm, and secondarily as a leaf vegetable....
, yams (uwhi), cordyline
Cordyline

Cordyline is a genus of about 15 species of woody monocotyledonous flowering plants classified in Asparagaceae or alternatively the segregate family Laxmanniaceae, in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, but placed by other authors in Agavaceae or Lomandraceae....
 (ti), and gourds (hue). Because of their tropical origin, most of these crops were difficult to grow except in the far north of New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
.






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Taro Leaves By Tom Burke
In Maori mythology
Maori mythology

Maori mythology and Maori traditions are the two major categories into which the legends of the Maori of New Zealand may usefully be divided....
, Rongo is a major god, the god of cultivated food, especially the kumara
Sweet potato

The 'sweet potato' is a dicotyledonous plant which belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Amongst the approximately 50 genera and more than 1000 species of this family, only I....
, a vital food crop. Other food crops cultivated by Maori in traditional times include taro
Taro

Taro , more rarely kalo , gabi in The Philippines and dalo in Fiji is a tropical plant grown primarily as a root vegetable for its edible corm, and secondarily as a leaf vegetable....
, yams (uwhi), cordyline
Cordyline

Cordyline is a genus of about 15 species of woody monocotyledonous flowering plants classified in Asparagaceae or alternatively the segregate family Laxmanniaceae, in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, but placed by other authors in Agavaceae or Lomandraceae....
 (ti), and gourds (hue). Because of their tropical origin, most of these crops were difficult to grow except in the far north of New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
. Hence the importance of Rongo.

Rongo, with his brothers Tu
Tumatauenga

In Maori mythology, Tu or Tumatauenga is one of the great gods, and the origin of war. All war-parties were dedicated to him, and he was treated with the greatest respect and awe....
, Tane
Tane

In Maori mythology, Tane is the god of forests and of birds, and the son of Rangi and Papa, the sky father and the earth mother, who lie in a tight embrace....
, Tawhirimatea
Tawhirimatea

In Maori mythology, Tawhirimatea is the god of weather, including thunder and lightning, wind, clouds and storms. He is a son of Rangi and Papa and Ranginui ....
, Tangaroa
Tangaroa

In Maori mythology, Tangaroa is one of the great gods, the god of the sea. He is a son of Rangi and Papa, Sky and Earth. After he joins his brothers Rongo, Tu, Haumia, and Tane in the forcible separation of their parents, he is attacked by his brother Tawhirimatea, the god of storms, and forced to hide in the sea....
, and Haumia-tiketike
Haumia-tiketike

In Maori mythology, Haumia-tiketike is the god of wild or uncultivated foods. Haumia was a son of Rangi and Papa, and agreed to the forced separation of his parents....
, he separated the primordial parents Rangi and Papa
Rangi and Papa

In Maori mythology the primal couple Rangi and Papa appear in a creation myth explaining the origin of the world....
 to allow daylight into the world. Tawhirimatea, the god of storms did not consent to this plan and afterwards attacked his brothers with unrelenting fury. Rongo and Haumia, the god of wild food, took refuge in the body of Papa, mother earth, who hid them until the storm passed (Grey 1956:7, Tregear 1891:424,Orbell 1998:121).

In the Maori language, ‘rongo’ means peace. Rongo is generally portrayed as the creator of the kumara, a plant associated with peace (probably because the intense cultivation it needed was best performed in times of peace). In Ngati Awa traditions, Rongo is a son of Tane and father of the kumara, but a man named Rongo-maui travels to the star Whanui, obtains the kumara and returns to Earth with it.

Names and epithets

  • Kumara
    Rongo-ma-tane


See also

  • The Hawaiian
    Hawaii

    File:Pahoehoe and Aa flows at Hawaii.jpgThe State of Hawaii is a U.S. state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia....
     god Lono
    Lono

    In Hawaiian mythology, Lono is a fertility and music god who descended to Earth on a rainbow to marry Laka. In agricultural and planting traditions, Lono was identified with rain and food plants....