Atua are the
gods and spirits of the
Polynesian peoples such as 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 Co ...
or the
Hawaiians (see also ); the
Polynesian word literally means "power" or "strength" and so the concept is similar to that of ''
mana''. Today, it is also used for the monotheistic conception of
God. Especially powerful atua included:
* ''
Rongo-mā-Tāne'' – god of agriculture and peace
* ''
Tāne Mahuta'' – creator of all living things such as animals, birds and trees
* ''
Tangaroa
Tangaroa (Takaroa in the South Island) is the great of the sea, lakes, rivers, and creatures that live within them, especially fish, in Māori mythology. As Tangaroa-whakamau-tai he exercises control over the tides. He is sometimes depicted a ...
'' – god of the sea
* ''
Tūmatauenga'' – a god of war
* ''
Whiro'' – god of darkness and evil
In
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 and Apolima); ...
, where means "god" in the
Samoan language
Samoan ( or ; ) is a Polynesian language spoken by Samoans of the Samoan Islands. Administratively, the islands are split between the sovereign country of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa. It is an official language, al ...
,
traditional
tattooing was based on the doctrine of
tutelary spirits. There is also a district on the island of
Upolu
Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long and in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approxi ...
in Samoa called
Atua.
Atua or gods were also the center of
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 Co ...
religion. In
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 Co ...
's belief, there was no such word as "religion" because the natural and supernatural world were one.
In other
Austronesian cultures,
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...
s of ''atua'' include the
Polynesian ''
aitu'',
Micronesian ''aniti'',
Bunun ,
Filipino and
Tao ''
anito
''Anito'', also spelled ''anitu'', refers to ancestor spirits, nature spirits, and deities in the indigenous Philippine folk religions from the precolonial age to the present, although the term itself may have other meanings and associa ...
'', and
Malaysian and
Indonesian ''
hantu'' or ''antu''.
See also
*
Hawaiian religion
Hawaiian religion refers to the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of native Hawaiians, also known as the kapu system. Hawaiian religion is based largely on the tapu religion common in Polynesia and likely originated among the Tahitia ...
*
List of Māori deities
*
Māori mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern fantastic tales relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the pr ...
*
Polynesian mythology
References
Polynesian mythology
Samoan words and phrases
Polynesian deities
Austronesian spirituality
Nature spirits
{{oceania-myth-stub