Rohe- Polynesian GodDeity

The Exchange of Faces

Rohe was known in Māori tradition as a woman of extraordinary beauty who became the wife of Māui. Māui himself was far less attractive than his wife, and the contrast between them was a matter of common remark. In John White's collection, Māui proposed that they exchange their faces. Rohe refused. But Māui was a trickster, and he performed the swap while she was unaware.

When Rohe discovered what had happened, she saw her own face gone and Māui's plain features where hers had been. The shame of it was unbearable.

Descent to Te Pō

Rohe left Māui. She left the world of light entirely and descended to Te Pō, the realm of darkness and the dead. She chose it. The underworld was preferable to living with a stolen face in a world that remembered what she had looked like before.

In Te Pō, Rohe became a ruler of departed spirits, governing the dead in the darkness she had chosen. She did not return.