Legendary Polynesian people

Māui or Maui is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity (demigod) and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main exploits remain relatively similar. Comparative scholarship notes that Māui’s origins differ widely across Polynesia, with variation in his parentage, divine status, and the specific form of several major myths. Bucková’s survey of Eastern Polynesian traditions documents that core motifs, such as acquiring fire or manipulating the sun, appear throughout the

"supreme chief" of Easter Island

thumb|Detail of Kupe and his wife Kūrāmarotini from the statue on the Wellington waterfront Kupe was a legendary Polynesian explorer who, according to Māori oral history, was the first person to discover New Zealand. He is generally held to have been born to a father from Rarotonga and a mother from Raiatea, and probably spoke a Māori proto-language similar to Cook Islands Māori or Tahitian. His voyage to New Zealand ensured that the land was known to the Polynesians, and he would therefore be responsible for the genesis of the Māori people.

In Tongan mythology, or oral history, Ahoeitu is a son of the god Eitumātupua and a mortal woman, Ilaheva Vaepopua. He became the first king of the Tui Tonga (Tonga king) dynasty in the early 10th century, dethroning the previous one with the same name but originating from the uanga (maggots) instead of divine; see Kohai, Koau, mo Momo.

thumbnail|Example of tiputa (shirt), similar to the one worn by Nafanua during the wars Nafanua was a historical aliʻi (Paramount Chief/Queen) and toa (warrior) of Samoa from the Sā Tonumaipeʻa clan, who took the four pāpā (district) titles, the leading aliʻi titles of Samoa. After her death she became a goddess in Polynesian religion.

In the mythology of Tonga, Ilaheva Vaepopua (Ilaheva, living at Vaepopua) was a mortal woman, the daughter of Seketoa. Seketo'a was either a chief of Tongatapu, or perhaps a god from Niuatoputapu, depending on the source. All accounts, however, agree that 'Ilaheva became the wife of Tangaloa and mother of Ahoeitu, the first divine king of the Tui Tonga dynasty in Tonga, around 900 AD.