The hook of Māui

Māui is an ancestor, a demigod, who features in the mythology of several Pacific cultures, including New Zealand, Hawai‘i, Tahiti, and Tonga. He is usually characterised as a maverick and a trickster.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, the hei matau (pendant in the form of a fish hook) is symbolic of the legend of Māui fishing up the North Island – Te Ika-a-Māui (the great fish of Māui).The Māui legends were an important way of communicating cultural values in some Polynesian societies.