Pulotu is the
resting place of those passed on in the
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 cul ...
of
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 ...
and
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
, the world of darkness "lalo fonua" (as opposed to the human world of light).
Tonga
In the
Tongan narrative
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 ...
, Pulotu is presided over by
Havea Hikuleʻo. In Tongan cosmology the sky, the sea, and Pulotu existed from the beginning, and the gods lived there. The first land they made for the people was
Touiaʻifutuna "trapped in Futuna", which was only a rock. There are suggestions that for Tonga and
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
, Pulotu refers to a real country, in fact
Matuku Island
Matuku is a volcanic island in the Moala subgroup of Fiji's Lau archipelago. Located at 19.18° South and 179.75° East, Matuku covers an area of 57 square kilometers. It has a maximum elevation of 385 meters. Matuku is part of a group of is ...
in the
Lau Islands
The Lau Islands aka little Tonga (also called the Lau Group, the Eastern Group, the Eastern Archipelago) of Fiji are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean, just east of the Koro Sea. Of this chain of about sixty islands and islets, about thirty ...
. The old name of
Matuku Island
Matuku is a volcanic island in the Moala subgroup of Fiji's Lau archipelago. Located at 19.18° South and 179.75° East, Matuku covers an area of 57 square kilometers. It has a maximum elevation of 385 meters. Matuku is part of a group of is ...
is Burotu. However, there is no signs of underwater civilization in the Matuku waters where they said that Burotu once laid. But new evidence suggest Pulotu is situated in
Moturiki
Moturiki is an island belonging to Fiji's Lomaiviti Archipelago. Covering an area of 10.4 square kilometers, it is situated at 17.45° South and 178.44° East.
In the proto-polynesian language, 'Motu' means 'island' and Riki' means 'small' hen ...
belonging to
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
’s Lomaiviti
Archipelago.
After the independence struggle by Hikuleʻo and his cousins
Maui Motuʻa and
Tangaloa ʻEiki, they renamed Touiaʻifutuna into Tongamamaʻo. Only after that the other islands were made (the volcanic islands by Hikuleʻo and the coral islands by Maui). Finally Tongamamaʻo was renamed, for the last time, as Tonga.
Hikuleʻo is supposed to have married a daughter of Tangaloa ʻEiki.
Samoa
In the
mythology of Samoa, Pulotu is presided over by the god
Saveasi'uleo (also referred to as Elo), whose name reveals a similarity to the Tongan god
Havea Hikuleo. Saveasi'uleo is the father of
Nafanua
Nafanua was a historical ''ali'i'' (chief/queen) and ''toa'' (warrior) of Samoa from the Sā Tonumaipe'ā clan, who took four ''pāpā'' (district) titles, the leading ali'i titles of Samoa. After her death she became a goddess in Polynesian reli ...
the Goddess of War in Samoa, from the village of
Falealupo
Falealupo is a village in Samoa situated at the west end of Savai'i island from the International Date Line used until 29 December 2011. The village has two main settlements, Falealupo-Uta, situated inland by the main island highway and Falealu ...
, the site of the entryway into Pulotu.
Spirits enter Pulotu at ''Le Fafa''
''Polynesian Reminiscences: or Life in the South Pacific Islands''
by William Thomas Pritchard, p. 401 at Falealupo
Falealupo is a village in Samoa situated at the west end of Savai'i island from the International Date Line used until 29 December 2011. The village has two main settlements, Falealupo-Uta, situated inland by the main island highway and Falealu ...
village.
See also
*In Melanesia
Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...
, a similar concept is part of Fijian mythology Fijian mythology refers to the set of beliefs practiced by the indigenous people of the island of Fiji. Its gods include Degei, a serpent who is the supreme god of Fiji. He is the creator of the (Fijian) world. He judges newly dead souls after t ...
– see Burotu In the Melanesian mythology of Fiji, Burotu is the paradise-underworld. Newly dead souls are judged by Degei, and a few go to Burotu. The rest go to Murimuria.T. Williams, J. Calvert, ''Fiji and the Fijians'', Heylin, 1858.
See also
* Bulu, said ...
.
*The Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
goddess of death Hine-nui-te-pō
Hine-nui-te-pō ("Great woman of night") in Māori legends, is a goddess of night and she receives the spirits of humans when they die. She is the daughter of Tāne Mahuta / Tāne Tuturi and Hine-ahuone. It is believed among Māori that the col ...
who guards the entrance to the underworld te reinga wairua.
Notes
References
*R.D. Craig,
Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology
' (Greenwood Press: New York, 1989), 218;
*E.E.V. Collocott, ''Tales and Poems of Tonga'' (Bernice P. Bishop Museum: Honolulu, 1928), 12–20.
*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
Polynesian mythology
Samoan mythology
Afterlife places
Underworld