Polynesian myths. Maui, Polynesian Sun God 2019-01-07

Polynesian narrative

When Rongo appeared before the people of Tahiti during the great war between the native people of Tahiti and the migrating Hawaiian Ancestors, Tohunga recorded in carved Whakairo - Shiloh, That on the morning of the great battle, a ship of unusual make entered into a Tahitian Bay, upon it there were many men, the ship had multiple decks and masts. In these islands breadfruit was allowed to become overripe and was then beaten into a pulp, wrapped in hibiscus-leaf bundles, and stored in large, well-drained pits in the ground. Tangaroa is here a sort of world soul; a self-evolving, self-existent, creative deity, who alone is ultimately responsible for the origin of the universe. Then, at last, slowly uprises Tane-mahuta, the god and father of forests, of birds, and of insects, and he struggles with his parents; in vain he strives to rend them apart with his hands and arms. By Rua-haku's advice, the fisherman took refuge on an islet with a friend, a hog, a dog, and a couple of hens, and the sea then began to rise, continuing so to do until all the world was overflowed, and all the people had perished, after which the waters retired to their former level.

Polynesian Mythology

The following day, there was feasting and the Net of Maoleha, a large meshed net full of food, was shaken out. Turi went up and told her father that she had found but one spot on which she could rest. We may, perhaps, regard this as a survival of the older New Zealand belief, which would thus seem to have lacked the evolutionary element, and we should thus be led tentatively to assume that this latter and more philosophic feature represents a later development. The divine messenger again descended and lo, there was land which thus had fallen from the skies. Your Homework for Today… Let your skepticism and your modern world views take the day off.

RANGI AND PAPA (a Polynesian creation myth), Tell Me a Story

According to the Samoan tale, after Tangaroa had created the world by casting down a rock from heaven and had sent earth and creeping plants to cover it and give it shade, these vines died or were killed, and from the worms which killed them or into which their rotting stalks were changed man either developed or was made. In addition, a host of gods of varying degrees of importance existed. And after a while, the space between Papa and Rangi grew wide enough so that the earth and sky no longer seemed as one. The others watched in wonder as slowly, ever so slowly, Rangi's grip on Papa seemed to loosen. Tuli complained of the lack of shade in these islands and Tangaloa gave him a vine to plant called the peopling vine, from which man was made. Some say she was driven out by her elder sister whose husband she stole, or that she was driven towards Hawaii by a flood. Haumia created wild foods, while his brother Tangaroa, god of the rolling sea, led the cool waters to lick the shores of this lush land.

Maori mythology and history

The conception of a primeval sea has been shown to be especially prevalent in central and western Polynesia, where we also find belief in the origin of the ocean from the sweat of Taaroa in his labours of creation. Next he made the other islands of the group, then Tonga and Fiji. Fine-grained basalt stone was the hardest material available to Polynesians and was used to produce a variety of adzes. The Polynesians lived in a world created by their gods and heroes and felt a close involvement with them. As the population there expanded, people probably filtered east across the Malayan, Philippine and Indonesian archipelagos and Melanesia. With the end of testing in 1996, the French Polynesian government sought ways to diversify the local economy, aided by several years of financial assistance from the French government.

polynesian

The antecedents of the existing universe comprise a bewildering series of abstract and partially personified, contrasted qualities; and there is an evident attempt to carry these, on the one hand, backward to an original, negative void, and on the other, forward to an ultimate, primitive substance. Lower trunk This area goes from the thighs to the navel. Various customs controlled and repressed the direct physical expression of within the kin group and the tribe up to a point, but there were definite boundaries of behaviour beyond which only violence could restore status or injured pride. Each brother set to work, the elders shaping a body of the clay, the younger ones adding flesh and muscles and blood. We must follow this concept onward and trace the further experiences of the divine pair. The many tales about his adventures reveal a cunning and determined hero who performed many great and wondrous deeds, including creating the Pacific islands with a magical hook and providing humans with more hours of daylight by slowing the sun's passage across the sky. The lullaby for the baby, the story for the curious child, the idle tale to pass the time, all drew on the familiar themes.

Moana and Polynesian Myths and Culture

The account does not harmonize well with any of the preceding beliefs, almost its only point of contact being the union of Vatea associated with the light or bright sky and Papa, and their consequent begetting of the gods. You need not hold him so closely. The relationship between Tane and his daughter resulted in the arrival of death for humans. Maui is common heroic demi-god character in Polynesian mythology. Each tattoo artist, or tufaga, was said to have learned the craft over many years of serving as an apprentice. Still another origin-myth, which is particularly interesting because of its similarities, is that of the cosmic egg. Originally published in 1915, this book provides an abundance of attractive nature myths and a cycle of legends recounting the exploits of the wonder-working demigod Maui.

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Courtesy of the Bernice P. Settlement patterns and housing Two major settlement patterns were used in Polynesia prior to European contact: and villages. In Tahiti Hina is a moon goddess and Tuna is her pet eel. In the beginning there was only the darkness, Te Ponui, Te Poroa the Great Night, the Long Night. Her offspring was the rusty water of mountains, and the monster reptiles common to mountains. When they were satisfied with their creation, Tane took the figure of the woman in his arms, pressed his nose to hers, and breathed into her nostrils. Invocations, charms and spells use words in formula so powerful that if any were omitted or misplaced disaster and death follows.

A Guide to the Best Books on Hawaiian Myths and Legends

Fine carving was done with stone, shell, or animal teeth, particularly those of rats or sharks. Io said, 'Kei reira, Te Papa-tu-a-nuku' 'It is there, 'The-Land-that-stands-afar-off' Papatuanuku was not named on Earth. The decoration of heads and faces in various combinations is unquestionably symbolic, but the precise meaning of the various figures is unknown. Easter Island: petroglyph Petroglyphs on Easter Island. There are many tales of both triumph and tragedy about her. On that theory it is evident that this type of cosmogonic myth would be said to be a strictly local product of the environment in which the Polynesians dwelt; but, on the other hand, there is not a little evidence that the germs, at least, of this type were present among the original immigrants. There are a few elements that are related to specific meanings based on where they are placed.

RANGI AND PAPA (a Polynesian creation myth), Tell Me a Story

So was night distinguished from day. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exists countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained. Nature was not only alive… it was filled with spirits and personality. Ocean The stylisations of the ocean can often represent ideas such as life, change and continuity through change. Robert, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989, Greenwood Press.