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Tongan Mythology
Tongan narrative (or Tongan mythology) is a variant of a more general Polynesian narrative in Tonga. Creation myth In the beginning there was just the sea and the spirit world, Pulotu, and between them was a rock called Touiao Futuna. On the rock lived Biki and his twin sister, Kele, Atungaki and his twin sister, Maimoao Longona, Fonua'uta and his twin sister, Fonuavai, and Hemoana and his twin sister, Lupe. Biki lay with his own sister and she bore him two children, a son, Taufulifonua, and a daughter, Havea Lolofonua; Atungaki also lay with his sister, who bore him a daughter, Velelahi; and Fonuauta lay with his sister and she bore him a daughter, Velesii. When Taufulifonua grew to manhood, his sister, Havea Lolofonua, bore him a son, Hikuleʻo, Tangaloa and Maui divided the creation between them. Hikuleo took as his portion, Pulotu, Tangaloa took the sky and Maui the underworld. Hemoana, whose form was the sea snake, and Lupe, whose form was a dove, then divided the remainder ...
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ʻAta
Ata is a depopulated island in the far southern end of the Tonga archipelago, situated approximately south-southwest of Tongatapu. It is distinct from Atā, an uninhabited, low coral island in the string of small atolls along the Piha passage along the north side of Tongatapu. An unrelated traditional chiefly title from Kolovai is "Ata". Although superficially spelled in similar ways, Ata means ''reflection'' in Tongan; Ata means ''dawn'' and is the title of a chief; and Atā means more room or expanding. Myths Although Ata must have been known to Tongans from times immemorial, as it features in old myths, it may have been confused with Atā, and it is alleged not to have been remembered until the Tongans were told about it by the Europeans. According to Tongan myths it was, together with Eua, the first island hauled up by the Maui brothers from the bottom of the sea. It originally had seven hills, but Maui stamped on the highest mountain until it was flattened into its s ...
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Polynesian Narrative
The Polynesian narrative or Polynesian mythology encompasses the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia (a grouping of Central and South Pacific Ocean island archipelagos in the Polynesian Triangle) together with those of the scattered cultures known as the Polynesian outliers. Polynesians speak languages that descend from a language reconstructed as Proto-Polynesian - probably spoken in the Tonga - Samoa area around 1000 BC. Description Prior to the 15th century AD, Polynesian peoples fanned out to the east, to the Cook Islands, and from there to other groups such as Tahiti and the Marquesas. Their descendants later discovered the islands from Tahiti to Rapa Nui, and later Hawai‘i and New Zealand. The latest research puts the settlement of New Zealand at about 1300 AD. The various Polynesian languages are all part of the Austronesian language family. Many are close enough in terms of vocabulary and grammar to permit communication between some other language speakers ...
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Taufa
In Tongan mythology, Taufa was a sea god worshipped by chief Tungi of East Tongatapu and by the royal family of Tonga because he cured the Tongan king George I George I or 1 may refer to: People * Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631) * George I of Constantinople (d. 686) * George I of Antioch (d. 790) * George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9) * George I of Georgia (d. 1027) * Yuri Dolgor ... (ruled 1845–1893). He also protects gardens. In order for a homeowner to gain this protection, they had to braid a coconut leaf into a shark shape. Taufa is both a sea and a land god. As a sea god he appears as a shark. References *R.D. Craig, ''Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology'' (Greenwood Press: New York, 1989), 267. Collocot, E. E.V. "Notes on Tongan Religion." The Journal of the Polynesian Society. N.p., n.d. Web. Tongan deities Sea and river gods Earth gods {{Oceania-myth-stub ...
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Tamapo'uli'alamafoa
In the Polynesian mythology of the Tongan island of ʻAta, the god Tamapoulialamafoa is the king of the heavens. He is the one who ordered (through his servants all called Tangaloa Tangaloa was an important family of gods in Tongan mythology. The first Tangaloa was the cousin of Havea Hikuleo and Maui, or in some sources the brother or son or father of them. He was Tangaloa Eiki (''T. lord''), and was assigned by his father, ... (Tangaloa Eiki, Tangaloa Tufunga, and Tangaloa Atulongolongo)) the sub-god Laufakanaa to become ruler of that island. According to others, however, Tangaloa Eiki was the ancestor god and Tangaloa Tamapoulialamafoa, Tangaloa Eitumātupua, Tangaloa Atulongolongo, and Tangaloa Tufunga his offspring. Notes References *O. Māhina, ''Ko e Ngaahi Ata mei he Histōlia mo e Kalatua o Tongá: Ke Tufungai ha Lea Tonga Fakaako'', AU 2006, {{ISBN, 978-0-908959-09-9 Tongan deities ...
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Tafahi
Tafahi is a small () island in the north of the Tonga archipelago, in fact closer to Savaii (Samoa) than to the main islands of Tonga. It is only north-northeast away from Niuatoputapu, and fishermen commute in small outboard motorboats almost daily between the two. The island has a population of 14 (in 2021). Other names for Tafahi are Cocos Eylant (coconut island) or Boscawen island. Geography Tafahi is a volcanic island and has the typical cone shape of a stratovolcano. The mountain is called Piu-o-Tafahi (fanpalm of Tafahi) and is high. (The island, , is smaller than Niuatoputapu, but higher). The soil is extremely suited for growing kava and vanilla, whose exports to the rest of Tonga and beyond is the main occupation of the population. The harbour (merely an opening in the fringing reef, only passable by small boats) is at the northwest of the island. A steep staircase leads up to the village, with about 69 residents at the census of 2001, located on a plateau on the nor ...
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Seketo'a
Seketoa was a fish god from Niuatoputapu and Tafahi in Tongan mythology. Originally Seketoa was a mortal, the grandson of Puakatefisi, the first of the traditional line of rulers of Niuatoputapu island, the Māatu dynasty. Puakatefisi had a son by a concubine of his, named Falefehi. That son had two sons, the oldest with the name Moimoi, and the younger was called Seketoa. As common in Polynesia, the older son could command the younger in executing the orders of their father. Still Seketoa was more beloved by his father than Moimoi. Or so the latter believed, and he planned to kill his younger brother. Moimoi ordered Seketoa to come to his house. The latter obeyed, and sat down outside the former's house, crosslegged with his head bowed and his hands clasped in front, awaiting orders as required by custom. Moimoi told him to come in. But Seketoa was suspicious and said that any commands could be given to him here. Soon Moimoi became angry, went inside and came out with a ''pōvai'' ...
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Sangone
Sāngone ( Samoan: , 'tribe', Fijian: , 'child'), was the name of a turtle from divine origin and featuring in Tongan myths about the Tui Tonga king named Tuitātui in the beginning of the 12th century AD. Part of the history features prominently in a famous lakalaka written by queen Sālote somewhere around 1940, when the shell, claimed to be the original one from Sāngone herself, was transferred to the Tupou College museum. Preamble Version 1 The beautiful goddess Hinahengi from Pulotu came to Mokotuu, a tract near Longoteme on Tongatapu, to wash her hair with the clay and then to dry it. She fell asleep. Then a Samoan named Lekapai came along, saw her, and tied her hair to the trees. He woke her up, but she could not get up because her head was immovable in the bonds. Hina begged to be liberated, and Lekapai agreed if she would become his wife. They were married and lived together for a very long time. Version 2 One day a great storm destroyed the plantation of Lek ...
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Niuatoputapu
Niuatoputapu is a high island in the island nation of Tonga, Pacific Ocean. Its highest point is , and its area is . Its name means ''sacred island''. Older European names for the island are Traitors Island or Keppel Island. Niuatoputapu is located in the north of the Tonga island group, away from Vavau near the border with Samoa. Its closest neighbours are the small island of Tafahi, which is only to the north-northeast, and the island of Niuafo'ou. Those three islands together form the administrative division of the Niuas. Niuatoputapu Airport accepts international flights. The population was 719 in 2021. Until several centuries ago, the inhabitants spoke the Niuatoputapu language, but it was replaced by the Tongan language and went extinct. Nevertheless, the variety of Tongan spoken on Niuatoputapu contains elements of Samoan, Uvean, and Futunan. Geography Niuatoputapu’s highest central area, just beside Vaipoa, is a hill only high. It is the eroded remnant of a ...
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Laufakana'a
In the Polynesian mythology of Tonga, Laufakanaa (speak to silence; i.e.: command he windsto calm down) was a primordial creator god his home was Ata. In Tongan cosmogony, the sky and the sea, and the land of Pulotu (the dark underworld, the home of the souls of departed chiefs) existed from the earliest times. All other lands were created later. Either they were thrown down from the sky by Havea Hikuleo or, subsequently, they were fished up by Maui from the bottom of the ocean. All the ''makafonua'' (landstones) of Hikuleo were full of unevenness, and tended to jump around (that is, they were the source of earthquakes) and were full of holes and pits (that is, volcanoes), while Maui's lands were smooth (coral islands and atolls). ʻAta and ʻEua, the islands which were fished up first, were quite hilly, as Maui apparently was not an expert fisherman yet. His next catch, (Tongatapu) he kept much smoother. The first people of Ata came forth directly from the same ''uanga'' (fly ...
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Kae And Longopoa
The story cycle around Kae and Sinilau is well known in Polynesian mythology, found in several places (see notes). This article describes the Tongan version, of which the main source is an old poem (Ko e folau ʻa Kae – The voyage of Kae) published in 1876, and some other, incomplete manuscripts. The third player Longopoa in this respect is an outsider. Loau It starts with Loau from Haamea, one of the many Loau known in Tongan history. Haamea may be the place of his ''lepa'' in central Tongatapu, or it may be an alternative name for Samoa (Haamoa in Tongan). He ran a famous navigation school on an artificial lake (''lepa'') near Fualu. Loau's boat was either a tongiaki (an old sailing boat of Tongan design) or a kalia (a better, more modern design originating from Fiji). One day Loau got tired of people taunting him all the time about when he would go for a real trip. So he had his big canoe dragged to the sea and told his ''matāpule'' (chief attendants) Kae and Longopoa, to ac ...
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'Ilaheva
In the mythology of Tonga, Ilaheva Vaepopua (Ilaheva, living at Vaepopua) was a mortal woman, the daughter of Seketoa. Seketo'a was either a chief of Tongatapu, or perhaps a god from Niuatoputapu, depending on the source. All accounts, however, agree that 'Ilaheva became the wife of Tangaloa and mother of ʻAhoʻeitu, the first divine king of the Tuʻi Tonga The Tuʻi Tonga is a line of Tongan kings, which originated in the tenth century with the mythical ʻAhoʻeitu, and withdrew from political power in the fifteenth century by yielding to the ''Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua''. The title ended with the death ... dynasty in Tonga, around 900 AD. References Further reading * R.D. Craig, ''Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology'' (Greenwood Press: New York, 1989), 82; * E.T. Gifford, ''Tongan Myths and Tales'' (Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum Press, 1924), 25–8. Tongan deities Legendary Polynesian people Women in mythology {{Oceania-myth-stub ...
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