| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
"Atea" | Marquesas Isl | The giver of light |
| Supreme god name "Atea" | Polynesian | Supreme god. The father of the gods depicted as a hybrid, his body divided vertically, the left half being fishy and the right half of human form. In the tradition of the Hervey Islands, he is the firstborn son of the primordial mother VARI-MA-TE-TAKERE. After a short existence low down in the world coconut living immediately above his mother, he moved to the opening of the upper world. He is largely comparable to TANE, the god of light. Also AVATEA, Vatea, Wakea.... |
| God name "Avatea" | Hervy Is | A moon god |
| God name "Avatea" | Polynesian / Hervey Islands | moon god. The firstborn offspring of the great mother VARI-MATE-TAKERE and the elder sibling of TINIRAU. According to tradition, Vari-Ma-Te-Takere plucked a piece from her right side to engender Avatea, who is half man, half fish. He is divided vertically with his left side fishy and his right side human.... |
"Catillus" | Greek | There are two Catilli in Roman legend: Catillus the Arcadian, son of Amphiaraus. Catillus, his son. Catillus the Arcadian and his sons Catillus, Tiburtus and Coras escaped the slaughter at Thebes and arrived at the Aniene Plateau. They drove away the Sicilians who lived there and founded a city named Tibur (now Tivoli) in honour of Tiburtius. Greek |
| Nymph name "Galatea" | Greek | A sea-nymph, beloved by Polypheme, but herself in love with Acis. Acis was crushed under a huge rock by the jealous giant, and Galatea threw herself into the sea, where she joined her sister nymphs. Greek |
| God name "Haumia" | Maori | The god of wild or uncultivated foods. Haumia was a son of Rangi and Papa, and agreed to the forced separation of his parents. Because of this he was subjected to the fury of his brother Tawhirimatea, god of winds and storms, who would have killed him if their mother had not hidden him in her body. Maori |
| God name "Ika ere" | Polynesian | Fish god. The son of Punga and grandson of TANGAROA, the sea and creator god, he is revered in various regions of Polynesia as the progenitor of all life in the sea, especially fish. His brother is Tu-Te-Wanawana, the deity responsible for the well-being of lizards, snakes and other reptiles. When fierce storms arose at the time of creation under the control of TAWHIRIMATEA, the god of winds, mythology records that Tu-Te-Wanawana went inland to escape the devastation while Ikatere took to the safety of the sea. The incident became known as the schism of Tawhirimatea and has resulted in an eternal conflict between TANE(MAHUTA) the Forest god and Tangaroa, the sea god.... |
| God name "Kahukura aka Rongo" | Maori | A major god, the god of cultivated food. He separated the primordial parents Rangi and Papa to allow daylight into the world. Tawhirimatea, the god of storms did not consent to this plan 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 påśśed. Maori |
| God name "Kane" | Polynesian / Hawaii | God of light. A sky god comparable with the more widely known Polynesian deity ATEA. Considered to be part of a primordial trinity with KU (stability) and LONO (sound).See also TANE(MAHUTA).... |
| Goddess name "Papatuanuku" | Polynesian / including Maori | Chthonic mother goddess. According to tradition she evolved spontaneously in the cosmic night personified by TE PO and became the apotheosis of papa, the earth. In other traditions she was engendered, with the sky god RANGINUI, by a primordial androgynous being, ATEA. Paptuanuku and Ranginui are regarded as the primal parents of the pantheon who, through a prolonged period of intercourse, produced at least ten major deities as their children. In Maori culture Papatuanuku, like all deities, is represented only by inconspicuous, slightly worked stones or pieces of wood and not by the large totems, which are depictions of ancestors.... |
| God name "Rongo" | Maori | God of cultivated plants. Rongo, with his brothers Tu, Tane, Tawhirimatea, Tangaroa, and Haumia-tiketike, separated the primordial parents Rangi and Papa to allow daylight into the world. Maori |
| Goddess name "Rongomatane" | Polynesian / including Maori | God of Agriculture. He is the father of cultivated food and the special gardener of the kumara or sweet potato which is a vital crop in Polynesia. In New Zealand the first sweet potatoes are offered to Rongomatane. In the traditions of the Hervey Islands, Rongo is one of the five sons of the moon god, Vatea, and the mother goddess, Papa.... |
| Deities name "Tangaroa" | Polynesian / including Maori | Sea and creator god. The deity responsible for the oceans (moana) and the fish (ika) within them. In Hawaiian belief he was the primordial being who took the form of a bird and laid an egg on the surface of the primeval waters which, when it broke, formed the earth and sky. He then engendered the god of light, ATEA (cf. TANE). According to Tahitian legend, he fashioned the world inside a gigantic mussel shell. In a separate tradition Tangaroa went fishing and hauled the Tongan group of islands from the depths of the ocean on a hook and line. He is the progenitor of mankind (as distinct from TUMATAUENGA who has authority over mankind). His son Pili married SINA, the tropic bird and they produced five children from whom the rest of the Polynesian race was born. In Maori culture Tangaroa, like all deities, is represented only by inconspicuous, slightly worked stones or pieces of wood and not by the large totems which are depictions of ancestors.... |
| God name "Tawhirimatea" | Maori | God of winds. Maori |
| Deities name "Tawhirimatea" | Polynesian / including Maori | God of winds. One of the children of the prime parents RANGINUI and PAPATUANUKU. He was uniquely opposed to the separation of his mother and father, sky and earth, at the time of the creation of the cosmos, and in consequence spends his time haråśśing and troubling mankind. In Maori culture Papatuanuku, like all deities, is represented only by inconspicuous, slightly worked stones or pieces of wood and not by the large totems, which are depictions of ancestors.... |
| God name "Tinirau (innumerable)" | Polynesian / Hervey Islands | Fish god. The second offspring of the great mother VARI-MA-TETAKERE and the younger sibling of AVATEA. He is said to live in the coconut of the world on a sacred isle called Motu-Tapu immediately below the home of Avatea and to own ponds full of all kinds of fish. He is depicted as half man (right side) and half fish (left side) in the form of a sprat.... |
| Goddess name "Vari-Ma-Te-Takere (the very beginning)" | Polynesian / Hervey Islands | Mother goddess. The creator being who lives at the very bottom of the world coconut, sitting in a cramped space with her knees and chin touching. She lives in Te-Enua-Te-Ki (mute land) in eternal silence and is the mother of six children, all deities, three of which she plucked from her right side and three from her left.See also AVATEA, TINIRAU, TANGO, TUMUTEANAOA, RAKA and TU-METUA.... |
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