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| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| 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 "Ranginui" | Polynesian / including Maori | sky god. The socalled sky father of the Polynesian culture whose consort is PAPATUANUKU, the earth mother. During a prolonged period of inseparable intercourse they became the prime parents of the Polynesian pantheon of gods. The children found life between the bodies of the parents too cramped and conspired to force them apart. Though one offspring, TUMATAUENGA, wanted to slay them, the advice of TANEMAHUTA, the Forest god, prevailed and RANGINUI and Papatuanuku were merely forced apart.... |
| Goddess name "Ruamoko" | Polynesian / Maori | God of volcanoes and earthquakes. According to tradition, Ruamoko is the youngest son of RANGINUI and PAPATUANUXU and is possessed by a formidable temper. When his older siblings set about separating the prime parents from their eternal lovemaking in order to allow light into the space between sky and earth, he was enraged and his boisterous tantrum became revealed in the violence of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Ruamoko is of less importance than PELE, the chief volcano goddess of Polynesia, who is revered mainly in Hawaii.... |
| God name "Salevao" | Polynesian | Primordial god of rocks. He is the brother of SAVEA SI'ULEO, god of the dead, and the consort of PAPATUANUKA, the earth mother, who became pregnant and gave birth to Moa in the center of the earth. (Moa may have been the ancestor of mankind, roughly equating to Adam.)... |
| Goddess name "Tane(mahuta)" | Polynesian / including Maori | God of light. One of the children of the prime parents RANGINUI and PAPATUANUKU. Also god of trees, Forests and boat-builders, his consort is the goddess HINEAHU-ONE and he is the father of HINE-ATA-UIRA who descended to the underworld to become the goddess of death, HINE-NUI-TE-PO. In other traditions he is the consort of Hine-Nui-Te-Po, whom he joins each evening when he descends to the underworld. It was he who proposed that his parents should be pushed apart rather than slaughtered. In Maori culture Tanemahuta, 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. Also KANE (Hawaiian).... |
| God name "Taumata-Atua" | Polynesia | vegetation god who presides over the fields Polynesia |
| Deities name "Taumata-Atua" | Polynesian / including Maori | vegetation god. He presides over the fields and may be the god Rongomatane under an alternative name. In Maori culture Taumata-Atua, 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.... |
| 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 "Tifenua (lord of the land)" | Polynesian / Tikopia | Chthonic fertility god. He is linked with the sea god FAIVARONGO and with the sky god ATUA I KAFIKA. His father is Pusiuraura, a powerful deity personified by the reef eel, and his mother is one of the Sa-Nguti-Te-Moana. Also Pu-I-Te-Moana.... |
| Deities name "Tiki" | Polynesian / including Maori | Creator god. One of the children of RANGINUI and PAPATUANUKU who created mankind. In some Polynesian traditions he is represented as the first man, akin to Adam. The word is also incorporated in tikiwananga or god stick, which describes the wooden or stone images of deities that are usually minimally worked and stand about 19.5 inches tall. Only thirty or so examples of these are known, most having been destroyed by Christian missions. The celebrated large Maori totems are depictions of ancestors who appear as human / bird or reptile hybrids. Also Ki'i (Hawaiian).... |
"Timaiti-Ngava Ringavari (soft-bodied)" | Polynesian / Hervey Islands | Primordial being. The female principle which, with TIMATEKORE, engendered the earth mother PAPATUANUKU.... |
"Timatekore (nothing more)" | Polynesian / Hervey Islands | Primordial being. The male principle which, with TIMAITI-NGAVA RINGAVARI, engendered the earth mother PAPATUANUKU.... |
| God name "Tumatauenga" | Polynesian / including Maori | God of war. One of the children of the prime parents RANGINUI and PAPATUANUKU, he proposed the slaughter of his parents when it was decided to separate them as sky and earth. He was subsequently given charge over mankind (tangata), which he imbued with his lust for the warfare and violence that was a characteristic part of Maori culture. Also Kumatauenga (Hawaiian).... |
| Deities name "Whiro" | Polynesian / Maori | God of death. Regarded as an errant son of the creator deities, RANGINUI and PAPATUANUKU, Whiro stands as the chief antagonist of TANEMAHUTA, the creator god of light. He is, therefore, the personification of darkness and evil. During the time of creation from chaos, Whiro is said to have fought an epic battle against Tanemahuta in the newly formed heavens. He was vanquished and forced to descend into the underworld where he became ruler over the dead and chief among the lesser underworld deities who are responsible for various forms of disease and sickness. In the temporal world the lizard, a symbol of death, embodies him, and various creatures of the night, including the owl and the bat, are earthly representatives from his kingdom, as are such malignant insect pests as the mosquito. This deity is not to be confused with the legendary human voyager and adventurer of the same name whose traditions have, in the past, often been muddled with those of the god.... |
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