Ta'aroa
Encyclopedia
Ta'aroa is the supreme creator god in the mythology of French Polynesia. While the use of the 'eta
is appropriate given the pronunciation of his name, as is typically the case with Tahitian
words it is often omitted in practice.
So he broke the shell into pieces and from them formed the rocks and the sand, and the foundation of all the world, Tumu-Nui. With his backbone he created the mountains; with his tears he filled the oceans, the lakes, the rivers; with his fingernails and toenails he made the scales that cover the fish and the turtles; with his feathers he created the trees and the bushes; with his blood he colored the rainbow.
Ta'aroa then called forth artists who came with their baskets filled with To'i, so that they might sculpt Tane, the first god. Then came Ru, Hina, Maui, and hundreds of others. Tane decorated the sky with stars and hung the sun in the sky to illuminate the day and the moon to illuminate the night. Ta'aroa decided then to complete his work by creating man.
He divided the world into 7 levels. On the bottommost level lived man, and he multiplied quickly, which delighted Ta'aroa. Sharing the space as he did with creatures and plants of all sorts, it was not long before man felt crowded in his space and so decided to expand his domain by opening a hole into the level above his. Man continued in this fashion, filling one level and then climbing to the next, one level at a time, until all levels were occupied.
And so man filled the earth, but still all belonged to Ta'aroa, who was master of all.
Okina
The okina, also called by several other names , is a unicameral consonant letter used within the Latin script to mark the phonetic glottal stop, as it is used in many Polynesian languages.- Geographic names in the United States :...
is appropriate given the pronunciation of his name, as is typically the case with Tahitian
Tahitian language
Tahitian is an indigenous language spoken mainly in the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is an Eastern Polynesian language closely related to the other indigenous languages spoken in French Polynesia: Marquesan, Tuamotuan, Mangarevan, and Austral Islands languages...
words it is often omitted in practice.
The Myth
In the beginning, there was only Ta'aroa, creator of all, including himself. He waited alone in his shell, which appeared as an egg spinning in the empty endless void of the time before the sky, before the earth, before the moon, before the sun, before the stars. He was bored, alone in his shell, and so he cracked it with a shake of his body and slid out of its confines, finding everything somber and silent outside, finding himself alone in the nothingness.So he broke the shell into pieces and from them formed the rocks and the sand, and the foundation of all the world, Tumu-Nui. With his backbone he created the mountains; with his tears he filled the oceans, the lakes, the rivers; with his fingernails and toenails he made the scales that cover the fish and the turtles; with his feathers he created the trees and the bushes; with his blood he colored the rainbow.
Ta'aroa then called forth artists who came with their baskets filled with To'i, so that they might sculpt Tane, the first god. Then came Ru, Hina, Maui, and hundreds of others. Tane decorated the sky with stars and hung the sun in the sky to illuminate the day and the moon to illuminate the night. Ta'aroa decided then to complete his work by creating man.
He divided the world into 7 levels. On the bottommost level lived man, and he multiplied quickly, which delighted Ta'aroa. Sharing the space as he did with creatures and plants of all sorts, it was not long before man felt crowded in his space and so decided to expand his domain by opening a hole into the level above his. Man continued in this fashion, filling one level and then climbing to the next, one level at a time, until all levels were occupied.
And so man filled the earth, but still all belonged to Ta'aroa, who was master of all.
See also
- TangaroaTangaroaIn Māori mythology, Tangaroa is one of the great gods, the god of the sea. He is a son of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, Sky and Earth. After he joins his brothers Rongo, Tūmatauenga, Haumia, and Tane in the forcible separation of their parents, he is attacked by his brother Tawhirimatea, the god of...
, the equivalent god in Māori mythologyMaori mythologyMāori mythology and Māori traditions are the two major categories into which the legends of the Māori of New Zealand may usefully be divided...
. - TagaloaTagaloaIn Samoan mythology, Tagaloa is generally accepted as the supreme ruler, the creator of the universe, the chief of all gods and the progenitor of other gods and humans. Tagaloa dwelt in space and made the Heavens , the sky, the land, the seas, the fresh water, the trees and the people...
Samoan mythology - Tangaloa Tongan mythology