Hine-nui-te-pō
Hine-nui-te-pō
Māori goddess
Hine-nui-te-pō ("Great woman of night") in Māori legends, is a goddess of night and she receives the spirits of humans when they die. She is the daughter of Tāne Mahuta / Tāne Tuturi and Hine-ahuone. It is believed among Māori that the colour red in the sky comes from her. Hine-nui-te-pō shepherds the wairua/souls into the first level of Rarohenga to ready them for the next stage of their journey. Before she was Hine-nui-te-po her name was Hine-ti-tama.[citation needed] Her father Tane Mahuta took her virginity; she then felt ashamed, hiding herself in internal darkness to hide from her father and became Hine-nui-te-po, goddess of the night.