Hina

Hina (also known under the variants Sina in Samoa and Tonga, Ina in the Cook Islands, and Hine-te-iwaiwa among the Māori of Aotearoa) is the archetypal primordial female deity of the moon, of reproductive cycles, of the making of sacred bark cloth (kapa or tapa), of childbirth and of coastal reefs throughout the Polynesian triangle. Embodying the dignity and autonomy of women of high lineage, Hina appears in multiple mythological cycles: in Hawaiʻi, under the name Hina-hanaia-i-ka-malama ('The Woman Who Works on the Moon'), she escaped earthly restrictions and taboos by climbing the rainbow to the moon, where she established her eternal dwelling by rhythmically beating paper-mulberry bark to line the firmament with luminous clouds. In shared narratives from Rarotonga, Mangareva and New Zealand, she is associated with the origin myth of the coconut palm, which grew from the decapitated head of the eel-god Tuna, who had fallen in love with her. Among the Māori, under the sacred title Hine-te-iwaiwa, she is venerated as the foremost protective goddess of safe childbirth, of women's rites of passage and of the ceremonial art of weaving flax (harakeke) cloaks, presiding over the sphere of restoration and welcome for mothers and newborns.

8 min read · Reviewed on September 28, 2026 · How we research

The moon, the tapa-beating mallet, the tide and the gourd

Primary sources

• Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology. translation: New Haven: Yale University Press, 1940 (reprinted Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970). read
• Westervelt, William Drake, Legends of Ma-ui — a Demi God of Polynesia, and of His Mother Hina. translation: Honolulu: The Hawaiian Gazette Co., 1910. read
• Grey, Sir George, Polynesian Mythology, and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race. translation: London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1855. read
• Shortland, Edward, Maori Religion and Mythology: With Notes on the Land Tenure of the New Zealanders. translation: London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1882. read

Studies

• Tregear, Edward, The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary. Wellington, N.Z.: Lyon and Blair, Lambton Quay, 1891. open
• Best, Elsdon (Dominion Museum), The Maori As He Was: Early Culture. Wellington: Dominion Museum, 1924. open