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In Māori mythology, Rongo or Rongo-mā-Tāne (also Rongo-hīrea, Rongo-marae-roa, and Rongo-marae-roa-a-Rangi) is a major god (atua) of cultivated plants, especially kumara (spelled kūmara in Māori), a vital crop. Other crops cultivated by Māori in traditional times included taro, yams (uwhi), cordyline (tī), and gourds (hue). Because of their tropical origin, most of these crops were difficult to grow except in the far north of the North Island, hence the importance of Rongo in New Zealand. He was also an important god of agriculture and god of war in the southern Cook Islands, especially on Mangaia where the Akaoro marae and Orongo marae were centres of his worship; where cooked taro and human sacrifices were offered to him to assure success in battle and the fertility of land. A legend concerning Rongo flying the first kite is told in the waiting room of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, in which Rongo is voiced by Ernest Tavares. == Separation of the primordial parents == In the creation story of the tribes of the Arawa canoe, Rongo, with his brothers Tū, Tāne, Tangaroa, and Haumia-tiketike, agreed that the primordial parents Rangi and Papa needed to be separated to allow daylight into the world. A sixth brother, Tāwhirimātea, the god of storms, did not consent to this and afterwards attacked his brothers with unrelenting fury. Rongo and Haumia, the god of wild food, took refuge in the body of Papa, mother earth, who hid them until the storm passed (Grey 1956:7, Tregear 1891:424, Orbell 1998:121). == Kumara == He would have had more of an association with the small, yellow-skin, finger-sized variety known as hutihuti, rekamaroa, and taputini, which the Māori had brought with them from eastern Polynesia, rather than larger varieties brought by later sealers, traders, and whalers in the early 19th century. In the Māori language, rongo can mean 'peace' (after war). SOURCESWikipedia