Story: Te whānau tamariki – pregnancy and birth

The baby Māui is brought ashore by his grandfather Tama-nui-ki-te-rangi, still wrapped in his mother's topknot. In one tradition Māui was stillborn, or miscarried, and his mother Taranga wrapped him in her tikitiki (topknot) – this is how he got his name, Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga. Stillborn children were believed to become malignant spirits (atua kahukahu). Given the circumstances surrounding his birth it is not surprising that Māui was renowned for his supernatural feats.