"Hine-nui-te-pō" - Victoria Olt

Hine-nui-te-pō ("the great woman of the night") in Māori legends, is a goddess of night who receives the spirits of humans when they die. 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. Without Hine-ti-Tama knowing their connection to each other, her father Tāne Mahuta pursued then married his daughter. Upon discovering that her husband was in fact her father, the betrayal and trauma compelled her to leave the world of the living and descend into the underworld. There, she became Hine-nui-te-pō, goddess of the night, and the guardian and mother of spirits.