Tongan narrative, Tongan mythology, or ancient Tongan religion, sometimes referred to as tala-ē-fonua (meaning, "telling of the land and its people")
[Māhina, 'Okusitino. (1992]
The Tongan Traditional History Tala-Ē-Fonua
A Vernacular Ecology-Centered Historico-Cultural Concept, p. iii., vi. in
Tongan, is the collation of various
myths
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 ...
,
legends
A legend is a historical narrative, a symbolic representation of folk belief.
Legend(s) or The Legend(s) may also refer to:
Narrative
* A fictitious identity used in espionage
Books, comic books, and theater
* ''Legend'' (Gemmell novel), a 1 ...
, stories,
traditions
A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common exa ...
, characters,
creatures,
spirits
Spirit(s) commonly refers to:
* Liquor, a distilled alcoholic drink
* Spirit (animating force), the non-corporeal essence of living things
* Spirit (supernatural entity), an incorporeal or immaterial being
Spirit(s) may also refer to:
Liquids ...
, and
gods
A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...
of the
Polynesian islands that now make up the
island nation
An island country, island state, or island nation is a country whose primary territory consists of one or more islands or parts of islands. Approximately 25% of all independent countries are island countries. Island countries are historically ...
of
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 ...
.
It is a variant of other
Polynesian mythologies with multiple
cultural
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
and
religious
Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...
overlaps, however it is considered to be distinct from other Polynesian mythologies as it can be studied more specifically to understand the
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
and
culture
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
of Tonga, as well it can also be studied more broadly within the fields of
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
,
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
, and
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 ...
.
Creation myth
In the beginning there was just the sea and the spirit 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 ...
, and between them was a rock called Touiao Futuna. On the rock lived Piki and his twin sister, Kele, Atungaki and his twin sister, Maimoao Longona, Fonua'uta and his twin sister, Fonuavai, and Hemoana and his twin sister, Lupe. Piki lay with his own sister; they had two children, a son, Taufulifonua, and a daughter, Havea Lolofonua; Atungaki also lay with his sister, who bore him a daughter, Velelahi; and Fonuauta lay with his sister. They had a daughter, Velesii.
When Taufulifonua grew to manhood, his sister, Havea Lolofonua, bore him a son,
Hikuleʻo
In the mythology of Tonga, Havea Hikuleo is the goddess of the world, Pulotu.The Samoan equivalent is Savea Siuleo. The islands of Kao, Tofua, Hunga Haapai, Hunga Tonga, Late and Fonualei came from stones thrown down from the skies by Hikuleo. ...
,
Tangaloa and
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 ...
divided the creation between them. Hikuleo took as his portion, Pulotu, Tangaloa took the sky and Maui 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.
...
. Hemoana, whose form was the
sea snake
Sea snakes, or coral reef snakes, are Elapidae, elapid snakes that inhabit Marine (ocean), marine environments for most or all of their lives. They belong to two subfamilies, Hydrophiinae and Sea krait, Laticaudinae. Hydrophiinae also includes ...
, and Lupe, whose form was a dove, then divided the remainder between them, Hemoana taking the sea and Lupe taking the land.
Tangaloa had several sons in the sky: Tangaloa Tamapouli Alamafoa, Tangaloa Eitumatupua, Tangaloa Atulongolongo and Tangaloa Tufunga. Old Tangaloa grew tired of looking down from the sky and seeing nothing but sea, so he sent down Tangaloa Atulongolongo in the form of a
plover
Plovers ( , ) are members of a widely distributed group of wader, wading birds of subfamily Charadriinae. The term "plover" applies to all the members of the subfamily, though only about half of them include it in their name.
Species lis ...
to see if he could find land. All Tangaloa 'Atulongolongo could find was a reef below the water, where Ata is now. So old Tangaloa told Tangaloa Tufunga to throw down into the sea the chips from the wood carving on which he was working. Tangaloa Tufunga continued to do this for a long time, and on two occasion Tangaloa Atulongolongo flew down in the form of a plover to see if anything had happened, but found nothing. On the third occasion, however, he found that the chips had formed an island. This was
Eua. Later, Tangaloa Tufunga threw down more chips to form the islands of
Kao and
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 ...
.
Tongatapu
Tongatapu is the main island of Tonga and the site of its capital, Nukuʻalofa, Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with 74,611 residents (2016), 70.5% o ...
and most of the other islands were the work of Maui. One day Maui visited Manuka (
Samoan:
Manua) and there an old man, Tonga Fusifonua, gave him a fish-hook. Maui went fishing with this hook, but when he tried to pull in his line he found it was caught. He exerted all his strength and succeeded in hauling the line in, to find that he had dragged up Tongatapu from the bottom of the sea. Maui continued fishing with this wonderful hook and so pulled up from the deeps the rest of the islands of Tonga, and some of those of
Fiji
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
and
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 ...
as well.
ʻAta
Ata is a depopulated island in the far southern end of the Tonga archipelago, situated approximately south-southwest of Tongatapu.
It is distinct from Atā, an uninhabited, low coral island in the string of small atolls along the Piha passag ...
began as a reef below the water and slowly rose out of the sea. One day Tangaloa
Atulonglongo visited Ata in the form of a plover and dropped a seed from the beak upon the island. The next time he visited 'Ata he found that the seed had grown into a creeper that covered the island. He pecked at the root of this creeper until it split in two. Then he returned to the sky. A few days later he returned to find that the root had rotted and a fat, juicy worm was curled up in it. He pecked the worm in two. From the top section a man was formed called Kohai. The bottom section also turned into a man called Koau. Then the plover felt a morsel left on his beak; he shook it off and it turned into a man called Momo.
Kohai, Koau and Momo were the first men in Tonga. Maui brought them wives from Pulotu and they became the ancestors of the
Tonga people.
Other prominent entries on Tongan narrative
*
ʻAhoʻeitu
*
Aitu
In Polynesian languages the word ''aitu'' refers to ghosts or spirits, often malevolent. The word is common to many languages of Western and Eastern Polynesia. In the mythology of Tonga, for example, ''aitu'' or ''eitu'' are lesser gods, many being ...
*
ʻEua
ʻEua is an island in the kingdom of Tonga. It is close to Tongatapu, but forms a separate administrative division. It has an area of , and a population in 2021 of 4,903 people. The island leads in agriculture, tourism, and some of the forest ...
*
Hikule'o
*
'Ilaheva
In the Polynesian narrative, mythology of Tonga, Ilaheva Vaepopua (Ilaheva, living at Popua FC, Vaepopua) was a mortal woman, the daughter of Seketo'a, Seketoa. Seketo'a was either a chief of Tongatapu, or perhaps a god from Niuatoputapu,
dependi ...
*
Kae and Longopoa
*
Kohai, Koau, mo Momo
*
Laufakana'a
*
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 ...
*
Niuatoputapu
Niuatoputapu (''The Sacred Niua'') is a volcanic island in the island nation of Tonga, Pacific Ocean. Its highest point is , and its area is . Its name means ''sacred island''. Older names for the island are Traitors Island or Keppel Island. ...
*
Sangone
*
Seketo'a Seketoa was a fish god from Niuatoputapu and Tafahi in Tongan Polynesian mythology, mythology.
Originally Seketoa was a mortal, the grandson of Puakatefisi, the first of the traditional line of rulers of Niuatoputapu island, the Ma'atu, Māatu dyna ...
*
Tafahi
Tafahi is a small () island in the north of the Tonga archipelago, in fact closer to Savaii (Samoa) than to the main islands of Tonga. It is only north-northeast away from Niuatoputapu, and fishermen commute in small outboard motorboats almost ...
*
Tamapo'uli'alamafoa
*
Tangaloa
*
Taufa
*
Tu'itatui
*
ʻAta
Ata is a depopulated island in the far southern end of the Tonga archipelago, situated approximately south-southwest of Tongatapu.
It is distinct from Atā, an uninhabited, low coral island in the string of small atolls along the Piha passag ...
*
Limu
See also
*
Culture of Tonga
The Tongan archipelago has been inhabited for perhaps 3,000 years, since settlement in late Lapita times. The culture of its inhabitants has surely changed greatly over this long time period. Before the arrival of European explorers in the late ...
*
Polynesian narrative
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
Citations
Sources
* Johnson, D. C.(Ed.).(2005). The Tongan Ancient and Modern
* Crocker, J.(1993). Tonga, Friendly Islands; The Kingdom Of Tonga
* Ngalumaa, A.(1982). Polynesian Monarchy: United Kingdom Of Tonga
* Māhina, 'Okusitino. (1992
The Tongan Traditional History Tala-Ē-Fonua A Vernacular Ecology-Centered Historico-Cultural Concept
octoral thesis, Australian National UniversityAustralian National University Open Research Library. https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/114566?mode=simple
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tongan Mythology, *
Tongan mythology