Polynesian Mythology is mainly composed of a great diversity of gods and legends that marked its history.
Polynesian Mythology
Polynesia was populated by thousands of hunters and gathering groups, who traveled from Asia and also from part of Africa. Its boundaries extend across the Pacific Ocean and the structure of the islands and islets that belong to it form a triangle; hence the name “Polynesian triangle”.
There are very few written records of the Polynesian mythology; after the European explorations to these lands, chronicles of the navigators appeared where they describe fantastic stories of this mythology.
Polynesian mythology is mainly composed of a great diversity of gods, which are similar in all its islands; although presenting a small variation in the names of these gods in each island.
History of Polynesian mythology
From the beginning of the year 1000 B.C., in the islands of Samoa and Tonga great navigators arrived to settle. During the next centuries they spread to the other islands. In their existing myths and legends they tell us that they not only dealt with real voyages, but also with spiritual voyages.
They present some of their gods as real people who traveled and lived in these lands, but not only as common explorers; but as shamans of the region. Among them, Maui and Rupe are mentioned. The oldest myths and tales contain stories about nature and the stars.
Their stories also refer to the origin of the elements and places that exist, such as fire, animals, among others. It was very common that they were told in the form of rituals and formed a cycle that was extended over the years.
The migrations that came from Southeast Asia, brought as a consequence the induction of an Indo-European cosmology; where the belief of the existence of several heavens and underworlds, waters of life, a tree that represents the world, and a world called Pulotu called as a spectacular world through a mirror is established.
This produced the separation of the groups in the islands according to their beliefs and religion, being thus divided into: the Polutos, who had the beliefs of the Indo-European cosmology and were located in the west of Polynesia and Fiji; and the Papa-tea, conformed by the rest of the population that remained with the original beliefs before the migrations and were located in the east of Polynesia and also New Zealand.
Cosmic origin of Polynesian mythology
In the Polynesian region, the coconut was considered the fundamental and most harvested food. For this reason, the Polynesians believed that the universe was all contained within a giant coconut; and that all mankind lived there.
Underneath the giant coconut was the “caule take”; they called this the root of all existence and the universe. Then the god Vari, who was the creator of the whole universe, lived in the stem of the coconut and used the vitality that the stem had to create the universe.
Gods of Polynesian mythology
Ranginui
Also called Rangi, in Polynesian mythology he was the god of the sky and the father of all the other gods; for this reason he was called “the father of the sky”. He was the husband of the goddess of the earth Papa, he kept her close to him by means of an embrace and in this way it was believed that in this way they kept together the sky and the earth.
From them two sons were born, the gods Tangaroa and Tane; but they caused heaven and earth to separate. Rangi in his pain for the separation cried, and his tears were the ones that fell from the sky forming the rain.
Papatuanuku
Also called Papa, she was the goddess of the earth and the wife of the god Rangi; mother of the gods Tangaroa and Tane. When she married the god Rangi she was embraced by him, but separated from him when her children were born; causing pain for the separation and when this happened Papa turned red with anger.
Tangaroa
He was the first son of the gods Rangi and Papa; he was considered the god of the seas, fish and even reptiles. He is described as an aggressive god, who caused waves in the sea that swallowed entire lands. Some legends say that he was the husband of the goddess Hina, but that in the end she abandoned him.
Tane
He was the second son of the gods Rangi and Papa; he was the god of the gods and admired his brother the god Tangaroa. So much so that by orders of his brother, he grew a giant trunk causing the separation of his parents and the sky and earth.
Although he was less dangerous and aggressive than his brother the god Tangaroa, at one time he mated with trees. Thus creating many dangerous monsters, such as dragons and snakes. Humans made many pleas to the god Tane, until one day he listened to them and created a sand wife for himself.
Hine Nui Te Po
She is the goddess of death, described as a giant woman with physical characteristics similar to the goddess Hina. It is said that one day the god Maui confronted her and died, thus extending her fate to all her descendants. Hine Nui Te Po, had no mercy with the lives she harvested, regardless of the pain or tears she caused.
Hine Tei Wauin
It is the name given to the goddess Hina in other islands, when she was considered the goddess of motherhood and in charge of helping in childbirth.
It is said that due to the difficulty of childbirth, the goddess Hina created a powerful incantation that eliminated the pain caused by childbirth. Even today, this incantation is invoked by laboring women belonging to Polynesian mythology.
Skin
The Goddess of Fire is described as a very beautiful and sensual woman. It is believed that she was the bearer of the rays of heaven and responsible for volcanic eruptions; she traveled between the sky and the spiritual underworld.
Piel one day descended to earth to marry the mortal chief Lohiau, she lived on earth with her husband and the mortals; until she murdered him for having found him with one of her sisters in infidelity.
Lono
He is the god of the sky, he is described as a peaceful god and in charge of providing and taking care of agriculture; he was worshipped mainly in the Hawaiian area. Prayers and petitions are offered to him for the fertility of the fields; every winter Lono, in response to the prayers and petitions of the Polynesians descends to the lands granting great fertility.
Ku
He was the god of war, it is believed that he populated the world together with the gods Tane and Lono. Every year the god Lono descends in the winter and at the end of the year he leaves; during the following remaining months of the year, the god Ku takes advantage of the absence of the god Lono to reign in the earth and to sow greed and envy in the human beings.
Maui
More than a god he was the greatest hero of Polynesian mythology. He is described as a trickster and is originally from the Hawaiian Islands. His legend is very famous in the Polynesian lands; and his adventures and exploits marked important events such as ending the wars in the Polynesian lands.
However, he is considered a semi-god; he was called “Maui Tikitiki”, which meant the last born. In one of his feats, it is believed that he was the creator of the Pacific islands. This he did thanks to a kind of magic hook that was inherited by a female ancestor.
Hina
She is the greatest goddess of Polynesian mythology. Throughout all the islands she has different representations. Among the most important are the personification of motherhood, in charge of childbirth; and the personification of fertility, where she was prayed for the health and crops of the Polynesians.
Some legends say that she was the wife of Maui and was a priestess in her tribe; others even say that she was the wife of the god Tane, but later abandoned him to go live with the moon.
Haumea
Generally worshipped in Hawaii, considered as the goddess of birth and in some areas it is believed that she was a great sorceress. It was believed that her way of renewing herself was to be born and reborn over and over again.
She was the mother of the gods Piel, Namaka and Kapo among others. Before the appearance of the goddess Haumea, births were by cesarean section and most women died in the process, she came and taught women natural childbirth.
She is described as a gentle and very calm woman; and she used a small magic wand to populate the waters with fish. She is believed to be related to the earth goddess and her main element is stone.
Make make
This god is from the island of Rapa Nui in the South Pacific, also known as Easter Island; he was considered on this island as the supreme creator god of all mankind. And it was represented through seabirds.
Kane
The god of procreation; in the legends it is said that the god Kane created the three worlds formed by the earth, the upper and lower heavens.
He lived in darkness; and when the light was created Kane with the help of the gods Ku and Lono, created the earth and the human population. After creating the first couple Kane was disappointed with them for showing great independence from the gods, condemned them to death and went to heaven abandoning the earth.
Spirits
In Polynesian mythology, the belief in the existence of spirits in everything from the smallest thing to a star in the sky was very strong. They were honored as ancestors, and it was believed that at night they shone when they were in the moonlight in order to attract mortals to perform their irresistible dances.
Other deities
Among their myths and legends are mentioned other deities known to the Polynesians, among them we have:
- Kaneloa: he was the protector god of the absent spirits.
- Pele: the goddess of the volcanoes.
- Laka: she was the great goddess of the Hula.
- Kuula: protector god of the fishermen.
- Kanaloa: god of the darkness, he was associated to the death and the ocean.
- Poliahu: she was said to be a rival of the goddess Pele, and was the goddess of snow found on Mauna Kea.
Myths and legends of Polynesian mythology
Creation Myth
In the beginning of everything, there were only the god Rangi and the goddess Papa; they married and from them were born the gods Tane, Rongo, Tangoa, Huamia, Tu and Tawhiri.
Rangi and Papa were eternally united by an embrace, from which their children had no way to escape; until one day the god Tane was the cause of their separation. He took his father and pushed him with his head and his mother with his feet until he managed to break the embrace.
Thus separating heaven and earth, Tane placed the sun and moon in the firmament; he gave life to the first woman and named her Hina. He married her and their descendants were the first Polynesians. The god Tawhiri, angry with Tane for having separated his parents, decided to punish him by sending fierce hurricanes and storms that devastated Tane’s forests.
Legend of maui
Taranga had a premature son, which he abandoned in the sea because he considered him too weak; but one of Maui’s ancestors rescued him and returned him to land. Upon witnessing this miracle, his mother began to call him Maui demigod of the sea.
He was short in stature, a womanizer but brave and very ingenious; his most important feat was the creation of the islands. He had a kind of magic hook that was inherited from an ancestor and was made of an ancestral magic jaw. He plunged it into the ocean and pulled so hard that it raised the ocean floor, causing the islands of the Pacific to emerge.
Legend of the mysterious Easter Island
Also known as Rapa Nui; one night the prophet named Hau Maka had a dream, where the god Make make appeared to him and made his body be taken to a deserted island. When he woke up, he ran to tell the dream to his king Hotu Matu’a, telling him that they should go as soon as possible to this deserted island, since his land, the mystical island Hiva, was sinking into the sea.
King Hotu Matu’a ordered seven men, the strongest in his domain to explore the sea and find this island. Then when they found the island they would take its population and call it Te pito o te henua, which means “the navel of the earth”.
Legend of the creation of 5 of the 8 Islands of Polynesia
In the beginning of the world there were 5 moons in the sky over Tahiti; each one had a human face. It was said that if people stared at them, they could go crazy.
The god Taaroa, stared at them and won that curse; angry for what happened, he wanted to destroy them; he created great earthquakes until he managed to shake them in the firmament. Causing them to fall into the water, thus forming the five islands known as: Maiao, Raiatea, Moorea, Huahine and Bora Bora.
Legend of Kupe and New Zealand
In the lands of Hawaiki, was where Kupe lived; he was a fisherman and carried out this work with his friend Hoturapa. But secretly Kupe wished to have his friend’s wife called Kuramarotini. Such was his obsession that he made a plan to get rid of his friend when they went deep sea fishing.
He invented that one of the fishing ropes had become entangled and used it as a pretext to trick his friend into jumping into the water, then cut it and abandon him at sea. When they reached the shore, he invented a story that would explain Hoturapa’s drowning.
In spite of how well he had planned everything, his friend’s family was never convinced of his story. For this reason, thinking that there would be a revenge against him, he decided to kidnap Kuramarotini and go to sea, never to return to Hawaiki.
After spending several days sailing, Kupe found an island which he named Aotearoa; when Kupe went out to explore the coast of the island he frightened a giant octopus called Te Wheke a Muturangi, who lived in a crevice.
Kupe followed it, to the point that the octopus decided to defend itself by wrapping its tentacles around the canoe to swallow it; to defend itself Kupe threw a bucket into the sea to distract the beast. It let go of the canoe and attacked the bucket, when it realized the trap it was too late, Kupe was on top of its head with an adze.
After what happened Kupe decided to return to Hawaiki and tell what happened, so that the inhabitants decided to go to know this new island. This is how Kupe became famous by killing the octopus and discovering Aotearoa, which is nowadays New Zealand.
The origin according to the Maori
On Easter Island there is a belief that the world was originated by the dream that the prophet Hau Maka had of the navel of the world. Their beliefs are based on three mythological cycles:
- First cycle: this cycle begins with the creation of the god Ranguini and the goddess Papatunuku, as representations of heaven and earth.
- According to cycle: it begins with the birth of the semi god Maui, where in his history he enriched the earth and his exploits brought many benefits to mankind.
- Third cycle: it takes place mainly in the story of Tawhaki, who represented a very important heroic figure within the Maori culture.
Conclusion
Polynesian mythology is full of beautiful and magical legends that for centuries have been transmitted orally from generation to generation by the Polynesians in their migrations throughout the Pacific Ocean.
Within all the Polynesian mystical tales, besides the description of real explorer journeys, they also show us spiritual journeys.
It is important to emphasize that for all the islands that make up the Polynesian region, their legends are an essential part of their culture, as they describe their origins and the creation of everything; and even today it is a fundamental tradition in Polynesian mythology.
