Maori Mythology

The Gods and Spirits of New Zealand

RONGO

Maori Agriculture God

Also known as Rongo-Ma-Tane, Rongomatane

God of Peace and Root Vegetables

His name means ‘peace’ – and what symbolizes peace better than a root vegetable?

Agriculture is more or less the opposite of war if you think about it. Instead of trampling over a battlefield trying to kill things, farmers tend their fields to encourage life and growth.

We have it on good authority that Rongo particularly likes a nice plate of tasty kumara, a colorful sweet potato-like vegetable.

Talking of food, one of his brothers is Haumia-tiketike, the God of Wild Food. They probably go well together. So if you need a lovely bunch of coconuts, call on him and you can’t go rong.

Slightly oddly, he is also known as Rongo-mā-Tāne, which means ‘Rongo and Tāne’. Could this be some form of godly double act starring Rongo and Tane?

Meanwhile, over in Hawaii, Rongo is known as Lono.

Rongo Facts and Figures

Name: Rongo
Pronunciation: Coming soon
Alternative names: Rongo-Ma-Tane, Rongomatane

Gender: Male
Type: God
Area or people: Polynesia
Celebration or Feast Day: Unknown at present

Role:
In charge of: Agriculture and Farming
Area of expertise: Agriculture, Farming

Good/Evil Rating: Unknown at present
Popularity index: 13829

Copy this link to share with anyone:



Share this page on social media:


Link to this page:

HTML: To link to this page, just copy and paste the link below into your blog, web page or email.

BBCODE: To link to this page in a forum post or comment box, just copy and paste the link code below:

Cite this article

Here's the info you need to cite this page. Just copy the text in the box below.


Article last revised on April 30, 2019 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

Permissions page


Oh woe. Javascript is switched off in your browser.
Some bits of this website may not work unless you switch it on.