PHENOMENON OF THE CULTURE HERO IN POLYNESIAN MYTHOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

• Authors: Bučková Martina
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The article deals with the phenomenon of the culture hero Māui in Polynesian mythological systems. A culture hero is a mythical being found in the mythologies of many archaic societies. He is a culture bringer, demiurg. The most famous is Greek Prometheus which has much in common with Polynesian Māui. He is characterized by several common features: he often invents new cultural goods or tools, for example, making fire or cultivating crops; he teaches people to make tools, provide food and perform arts. He introduces social structure, law, rules of marriage, magic, ceremonies and holidays. The article is divided into four blocks. The first focused with the culture hero in world mythology overall. The second with dissemination of the Māui´s myths in Oceania, the third is on origin of Polynesian culture hero and the last deals with the most important actions of Māui like fishing islands, snaring the sun and stealing of fire.

Keywords

EN

MĀUI; CULTURE HERO; DEMIURG; POLYNESIAN MYTHOLOGY

• Publisher: Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Asian and African Studies
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 220 – 239

Contributors

author

Bučková Martina

• Ústav orientalistiky SAV, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic