Poster Presentation Astronomical Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting including HWWS 2013

Māori Astronomical Traditions of Meteors (#208)

Tui Britton 1 , Duane Hamacher 2
  1. Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

We examine Māori astronomical traditions for representations of meteors.

We find that religion, story, and ceremony highlight the broad perception of meteors found throughout the Māori culture.

Meteors were often personified as gods but were also seen as omens of death and destruction.

This research contributes to the Meteor Beliefs Project and is featured in WGN – Journal of the International Meteor Organization.