Cook Islands mythology Cook Islands mythology comprises historical myths, legends, and folklore passed down by the ancient Cook Islanders over many generations. Many of the Cook Islands legends were recited through ancient songs and chants. The Cook Islands myths and ...

, Varima-te-takere ("goddess of the beginning") also called Vari ( ), was the primordial mother of the gods and mortals. According to

Gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

, Vari, a female spirit or demon of flesh and blood, was admitted to the lowest depth of the interior of

Avaiki Avaiki is one of the many names by which the peoples of Polynesia refer to their ancestral and spiritual homelands. Samoa, Hawaii, Cook Islands By no means certain, but certainly possible, is an origin in the large islands of Samoa, namely Sava ...

, a place described as resembling a vast hollow coconut shell. Such is the narrowness of her territory that her knees and chin touch, no other position being possible. Her name in full, Vari-ma-te-takere, Gill translates as "The very beginning". The word ''vari'', however, also means "mud", and, taken in conjunction with ''takere'' (canoe bottom or keel), the name literally means "The mud at the bottom"; suggesting the mud on the bottom of Avaiki. ''Vari'' is the mud of

taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s and connotes potential plant growth. As applied to a female, it means

menstruation Menstruation (also known as a period, among other colloquial terms) is the regular discharge of blood and mucosal tissue from the inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. The menstrual cycle is characterized by the rise and fall of hor ...

and conveys a connection with the

female womb The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The uteru ...

and the origin of human growth. The following passage from a dramatic song of creation (circa 1790) mentions Vari:

''But we have no father whatever:
Vari alone made us.
That home of Vari is
The very narrowest of all!
Vari's home is in the narrowest of spaces,
A goddess feeding on raw taro
At appointed periods of worship!
Thy mother, Vatea, is self-existent.''

Vari was very anxious for progeny. At various times she created six children, three bits of flesh were plucked from each side of her body, and moulded into human form. These six are the primary gods of the universe. Yet no ''

marae A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...

'' or image was ever sacred to them, nor was any offering made to them. These gods are:

Vatea In Cook Islands mythology, Avatea (also known as Vatea; meaning 'noon' or 'light') was a lunar deity and the father of gods and men in Mangaian myth of origin. His eyes were thought to be the Sun and the Moon; he was also known as the god of ligh ...

(or Avatea), the father of gods and men;

Tinirau In Polynesian mythology, stories about Tinirau are found throughout the islands of Polynesia. He is a guardian of fish. Many themes recur in the various versions. Often he travels to another land in search of his wife, or his wife travels to anot ...

, lord of the seas;

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

, lord of the birds;

Tumu-te-ana-oa In Cook Islands mythology, Tumu-te-ana-oa was the female personification of Echo. She was the fourth child of Vari, the primordial mother goddess. Both her name and the land she occupied had to do with the production of echoes. Her name means "the c ...

, echo of the rocks; Raka, lord of the winds; and

Tu-metua In Cook Islands mythology, Tu-metua was the sixth child and most beloved daughter of the mother goddess, Varima-te-takere, Vari. Tu-metua lived in Te-enua-te-ki "The-mute-land" (''enua'', "land" + ''te'', used as a negative, + ''ki'', "to speak"). T ...

, a beloved daughter whom Vari kept close to her in Avaiki. Tu-metua (or Tu-papa) was the

tutelary deity A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and ...

of the island of

Moorea Moorea ( or ; Tahitian: ), also spelled Moorea, is a volcanic island in French Polynesia. It is one of the Windward Islands, a group that is part of the Society Islands, northwest of Tahiti. The name comes from the Tahitian word , meaning " ...

, and the fourteenth night in every moon was sacred to her.

Notes

References

* * *{{cite book, author=Jukka Siikala, title=ʻAkatokamanāva: myth, history and society in the Southern Cook Islands, date=1991, pages=50–53 Mangaia mythology Cook Islands mythology Mother goddesses Origin myths Polynesian goddesses