Mataaho


Mataaho is a Māori deity. Variously considered a god of earthquakes and eruptions, the guardian of the earth's secrets, the god of volcanic forces, or a giant, Mataaho is associated with many of the volcanic features in the Tāmaki Makaurau Region. In traditional Tāmaki Māori myths, Mataaho either creates the volcanic features of the landscape, or requests the gods to create them. Mataaho holds traditional significance for Te Kawerau ā Maki and Waiohua iwi, and is considered a tupuna of Te Ākitai Waiohua and Ngaati Te Ata Waiohua iwi.

Myths

Myths of Mataaho are closely associated with many of the features of the Auckland volcanic field. The features were the creation of Mataaho and his brother Rūaumoko, made as punishment against a tribe of patupaiarehe, supernatural beings living in the Waitākere Ranges, who used deadly magic from the earth to defeat a war party of patupaiarehe from the Hunua Ranges. Ceremonies were held by Tāmaki Māori in the crater of Maungawhau / Mount Eden, in order to placate Mataaho and stop him from releasing volcanic forces. The crater is known as Te Ipu a Mataaho or Te Kapua Kai o Mataaho. In one tradition, the crater was where Mataaho lived with his wife. After his wife left him and took all of his clothes, the fire goddess Mahuika sent fire down to the earth to warm Mataaho, which formed Ngā Huinga-a-Mataaho.
Mataaho is associated with some of the myths surround the creation of Rangitoto. In the Ngāi Tai story of Te Riri a Mataaho, two tupua, Ohomatakamokamo and his wife Matakerepo, lived on Te Rua Maunga, a mountain located at Lake Pupuke. The couple argued over some flax clothing that Matakerepo had made for her husband, an argument that became so heated that the fire outside their dwelling died out. Ohomatakamokamo cursed Mahuika, Goddess of the Fire, for allowing this to happen. Mahuika was furious at the couple, and asked Mataaho to punish them. Mataaho destroyed their mountain home, and in its place left Pupuke Moana, while at the same time he formed the mountain Rangitoto. The couple fled to the newly formed island, where Mataaho formed three peaks on the mountain, so that the couple can view the ruins of their former home. It is said that when mists surround Rangitoto, it is the tears of these tupua crying for their former home. In some versions of the story, the couple return to the mainland, and are punished further by Mataaho, turning them to stone and forming the craters Onepoto and Te Kopua o Matakamokamo where they stood.
Mataaho is also involved in the stories of Rangi and Papa. After Ranginui and Papatūānuku were separated, causing them grief and their children to war. Due to the leadership of Mataaho during this war, it was decided that Papatūānuku should be turned over to face Rarohenga, so that she would no longer feel grief at seeing her husband, a series of events that can be called Te Hurihanga a Mataaho.

List of locations named after Mataaho

The Auckland volcanic field can be collectively referred to as Ngā Maunga a Mataaho, or Ngā Huinga-a-Mataaho. Among these, several features also reference Mataaho: