In the

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

, Havea Hikuleo is the goddess of the world,

Pulotu Pulotu is the resting place of those passed on in the Polynesian narrative of Tonga and Samoa, the world of darkness "lalo fonua" (as opposed to the human world of light). Name The term is related to Fijian ''Burotu''. It goes back to Proto-Po ...

.The Samoan equivalent is Savea Siuleo. The islands of Kao,

Tofua Tofua is a volcanic island in Tonga. Located in the Haʻapai island group, it is a steep-sided composite cone with a summit caldera. It is part of the highly active Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone and its associated volcanic arc, which extends ...

, Hunga Haapai, Hunga Tonga,

Late Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudonym used by Dave Groh ...

and Fonualei came from

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

s thrown down from the skies by Hikuleo. They are all volcanic islands. The other, (coral) islands were fished up by her brother or cousin

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

Mythology

Hikuleʻo's ancestors were, according to one source, the god Pil'e ( Limu according to others) and the goddess Kele, who came from Pulotu and created the mythical land of Tongamamaʻo for their children to dwell in. They had a son Toiukamea "Hidden Iron" and a daughter Māʻimoaʻalōngona "Royal Game of Hearing" who married each other and had children. This pair seems to be a modern invention, since ''ukamea'' "iron" is a word that postdates European contact; other informants leave out this generation. Among their children were many sons, the boy Taufulifonua and the girl Havea Lolofonua. One day they lay on the beach,

naked Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and not ...

, as they were still innocent, with their legs in the sea. The tide rose and the water covered them more and more. Then an oʻo ("penetrate") fish swam along and started to suck from the girl's labia, which caused her a lot of joy. Once the fish had been chased away the boy tried to gently stroke her inflicted parts but that did not give her relief. Then instead of his hand, he tried it with his penis, and suddenly the girl was consoled. So copulation was invented, and Havea Hikuleʻo was the first of many children. Meanwhile, Taufulifonua and Havea Lolofonua's younger brother and sister, also twins, also married each other. They were named Fonuʻuta "Land Turtle" and Fonutahi "Sea Turtle" and their child was

(Maui Motuʻa, that is; if he was not the child of Taufulifonua and Havea Lolofonua themselves). And the next younger brother and sister, also twins who married each other, were Velesiʻi "Small Enticer" and Velelahi "Big Enticer", who brought forth Tangaloa (Tangaloa ʻEiki, that is). When Taufulifonua had become old and close to death, he divided the universe: Tangaloa got the sky to rule, Maui the earth, and Havea Hikuleʻo became the lord of

. Tangaloa's descendants would become later the (divine)

Tuʻi Tonga The Tuʻi Tonga is a line of Tongan kings, which originated in the tenth century with the mythical ʻAhoʻeitu, and withdrew from political power in the fifteenth century by yielding to the '' Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua''. The title ended with the dea ...

starting with ʻAhoʻeitu. Maui's line became the Tuʻi Talau, while Hikuleʻo's offspring was Loʻau, and the ancestry of the

Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua The Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua is a dynasty of Tongan kings which originated in the 15th century and assumed political power from the Tuʻi Tonga line. In the 18th century, it merged power with the Tuʻi Kanokupolu dynasty, and became existent only es ...

. The historical interpretation of this triumvirate (Hikuleʻo, Maui, Tangaloa) may be a struggle to liberate Tonga from the dominance of the Tuʻi Pulotu empire in Fiji, after which the victors could divide the spoils. Or theoretically they could have been Samoans, which made would have made Tonga and Fiji part of the so-called Tuʻi Manuʻa empire. But without credible evidence or claim, it is still a mystery whether Tu'i Manu'a even existed or had power over the isles of Tonga, Fiji or any other.

In popular culture

Tongan American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

Taula Fifita performs under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

" HIKULEO".

Notes

However, u'amea in Samoan is also an archaic word for a type of lava (known in Hawai'i as

ʻaʻā Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or unde ...

), from u'a ("viscous, glutinous") and mea ("red-brown," as in the color of the manumea, the "reddish-brown bird"). U'a was used in colonial times to refer to iron because it turns the same color ("mea") as it oxidizes.

References

*E.W. Gifford, ''Tongan myths and tales'', BPB Bulletin 8, 1924 *I.F. Helu, ''Tohi vete'', {{okinaAtenisi, 2006 Tongan deities Polynesian goddesses

Mythology

In popular culture

See also

Notes

References