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Maero: in Traditional Māori Stories
Maero: in Traditional Māori Stories
Maero: in Traditional Māori Stories
In Māori tradition, the Maero (or Mohoao) are an iwi-atua or supernatural people from Aotearoa. They are
sometimes described as giants and they inhabit mountains and forest, particularly in Te Wai Pounamu.[1]
Maero are characterised as wild, malevolent and often violent, carrying stone clubs as weapons. They are
covered in dark body hair and have long, bony fingers with sharp fingernails. They kill and eat humans and
other animals.
The Maero are said to harbour anger towards the Māori, who arrived from Hawaiki, displaced them and
ruined the tapu (sacredness) of their homes, forcing them to dwell in inhospitable alpine regions.
See also
Moehau
Patupaiarehe
References
1. Cowan, James (1987). Legends of the Maori (http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Pom01L
ege-t1-body-d11.html). New Zealand: Southern Reprints. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
2. Tukoio, A chief of the upper Whanganui. Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol 15:43-44, 1906.
3. Bacon, Ronald (2004). Mohoao, the Fierce Fairy Person: a story from the forests of Whanganui.
Auckland, New Zealand: Waiatarua Publishing.
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