In the

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

, Havea Hikuleo is the goddess of the world,

Pulotu Pulotu is the resting place of those passed on in the Polynesian narrative of Tonga and Samoa, the world of darkness "lalo fonua" (as opposed to the human world of light). Tonga In the Tongan narrative, Pulotu is presided over by Havea Hikule� ...

.The Sāmoan equivalent is Savea Siuleo. The islands of Kao,

Tofua Tofua is a volcanic island in Tonga. Located in the Haʻapai island group, it is a steep-sided composite cone with a summit caldera. It is part of the highly active Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone and its associated volcanic arc, which extends ...

, Hunga Haapai, Hunga Tonga,

Late Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, ...

and

Fonualei Fonualei is an uninhabited volcanic island in the kingdom of Tonga. It 70 km northwest of Vavaʻu and is part of the highly active Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone and its associated volcanic arc, which extends from New Zealand north-northeast ...

came from

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

s thrown down from the skies by Hikuleo. They are all volcanic islands. The other, (coral) islands were fished up by her brother or cousin

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

Mythology

Hikuleʻo's ancestors were, according to one source, the god Pil'e ( Limu according to others) and the goddess Kele, who came from Pulotu and created the mythical land of Tongamamaʻo for their children to dwell in. They had a son Toiukamea "Hidden Iron" and a daughter Māʻimoaʻalōngona "Royal Game of Hearing" who married each other and had children. This pair seems to be a modern invention, since ''ukamea'' "iron" is a word that postdates European contact; other informants leave out this generation. Among their children were many sons, the boy Taufulifonua and the girl Havea Lolofonua. One day they lay on the beach,

naked Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...

, as they were still innocent, with their legs in the sea. The tide rose and the water covered them more and more. Then an oʻo ("penetrate") fish swam along and started to suck from the girl's labia, which caused her a lot of joy. Once the fish had been chased away the boy tried to gently stroke her inflicted parts but that did not give her relief. Then instead of his hand, he tried it with his penis, and suddenly the girl was consoled. So copulation was invented, and Havea Hikuleʻo was the first of many children. Meanwhile, Taufulifonua and Havea Lolofonua's younger brother and sister, also twins, also married each other. They were named Fonuʻuta "Land Turtle" and Fonutahi "Sea Turtle" and their child was

(Maui Motuʻa, that is; if he was not the child of Taufulifonua and Havea Lolofonua themselves). And the next younger brother and sister, also twins who married each other, were Velesiʻi "Small Enticer" and Velelahi "Big Enticer", who brought forth

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 ʻEiki, that is). When Taufulifonua had become old and close to death, he divided the universe: Tangaloa got the sky to rule, Maui the earth, and Havea Hikuleʻo became the lord of

. Tangaloa's descendants would become later the (divine)

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 ...

starting with

ʻAhoʻeitu In Tongan mythology, or oral history, Ahoeitu is a son of the god Eitumātupua and a mortal woman, Ilaheva Vaepopua. He became the first king of the Tui Tonga (''Tonga king'') dynasty in the early 10th century, dethroning the previous one with t ...

. Maui's line became the Tuʻi Talau, while Hikuleʻo's offspring was Loʻau, and the ancestry of the

Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua The Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua is a dynasty of List of monarchs of Tonga, Tongan kings which originated in the 15th century and assumed political power from the Tuʻi Tonga line. In the 18th century, it merged power with the Tu'i Kanokupolu, Tuʻi Kanoku ...

. The historical interpretation of this triumvirate (Hikuleʻo, Maui, Tangaloa) may be a struggle to liberate Tonga from the dominance of the Tuʻi Pulotu empire in Fiji, after which the victors could divide the spoils. Or theoretically they could have been Sāmoans, which made would have made Tonga and Fiji part of the so-called Tuʻi Manuʻa empire. But without credible evidence or claim, it is still a mystery whether Tu'i Manu'a even existed or had power over the isles of Tonga, Fiji or any other.

In popular culture

Tongan American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

Taula Fifita performs under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

" HIKULEO".

Notes

However, u'amea in Sāmoan is also an archaic word for a type of lava (known in Hawai'i as

ʻaʻā Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or und ...

), from u'a ("viscous, glutinous") and mea ("red-brown," as in the color of the manumea, the "reddish-brown bird"). U'a was used in colonial times to refer to iron because it turns the same color ("mea") as it oxidizes.

References

*E.W. Gifford, ''Tongan myths and tales'', BPB Bulletin 8, 1924 *I.F. Helu, ''Tohi vete'', {{okinaAtenisi, 2006 Tongan deities Polynesian goddesses

Mythology

In popular culture

See also

Notes

References