Saveasiuleo is the God of
Pulotu (Old concept of Heaven) the
underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld.
...
of spirits or ''Hades'' in
Samoan mythology.
He is the father of
Nafanua the Goddess of War in
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
. Nafanua's mother is
Tilafaiga, the sister of
Taema another figure of Samoan mythology.
Saveasiuleo is sometimes referred to as Elo.
The spirits of gods were able to take the form of animals and human beings and Saveasiuleo is believed to take the form of an eel or appear as half man and half eel. His ancestors were rocks. One story says that his mother was Taufa and his father, Aloa. His brothers were Salevao and Ulufanuaseesee. The brothers agreed that Saveasiuleo would go and become king in Pulotu. Saveasiuleo would come up from his kingdom and wander the earth. There are different versions of stories told about him. He is referred to as a god and sometimes as a demon. One day Saveasiuleo met his twin nieces Tilafaiga and Taema swimming back to Samoa from Fiti where they had learned the art of tattooing. Saveasiuleo abducted Tilafaiga and she later gave birth to Nafanua, the goddess of war. The story of the sisters bringing a basket of tattoo tools for the
pea
Pea (''pisum'' in Latin) is a pulse or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name ''Pisum sativum' ...
to Samoa is another well known legend.
Pulotu
According to Samoan beliefs, the entrance into the spirit world Pulotu is at the village of
Falealupo, at the western end of the island of
Savaii.
Polynesian Reminiscences:or Life in the Pacific Islands by William Thomas Pritchard, p.401
See also
* Hikuleo, Havea Hikule{{okinao
*Polynesian mythology
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 Polyne ...
References
Samoan deities
Underworld gods