In Polynesian mythology

Polynesian mythology

Polynesian mythology is the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia, a grouping of Central and South Pacific Ocean island archipelagos in the Polynesian triangle together with the scattered cultures known as the Polynesian outliers...

, stories about Tinirau are found throughout the island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

s of Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...

. He is a guardian of fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

. Many themes recur in the various versions. Often he travels to another land in search of his wife, or his wife travels to another land in search of him; sometimes he treats his wife badly, or she rejects him; while he is guardian of fish, it is his wife who gives the fish their individual characteristics. Sometimes their anxious or jealous relatives try to separate the lovers (Tremewan 2002:120).

In some traditions, he has a dual nature; one destructive as the guardian of shark

Shark

Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....

s, and one a kind, handsome male youth; in others, his right side is human and his left side is a fish. Alternate names in the various Polynesian languages include Kinilau

Kinilau

In Hawaiian mythology, Kinilau is the son of Menehune son of Luanu’u. Hawaiians claim descent from the youngest of the twelve sons of Kinilau-a-mano .-References:...

, Sinilau, Tigilau, and Tinilau

Tinilau

In the Polynesian mythology of Samoa, stories about Tinilau and his wife Sina are very popular. There are numerous legends, and much variation in the tellings . Here are some examples:...

.

See also

• Kinilau
  Kinilau
  In Hawaiian mythology, Kinilau is the son of Menehune son of Luanu’u. Hawaiians claim descent from the youngest of the twelve sons of Kinilau-a-mano .-References:...
  
   - Hawaii
• Tinilau
  Tinilau
  In the Polynesian mythology of Samoa, stories about Tinilau and his wife Sina are very popular. There are numerous legends, and much variation in the tellings . Here are some examples:...
  
   - Samoa, stories with Ae, and stories with Sina.
• Sinilau
  Kae and Longopoa
  The story cycle around Kae and Sinilau is a well known entity in Polynesian mythology, found back on several places . This article describes the Tongan version, of which the main source is an old poem published in 1876, and some other, incomplete manuscripts.The third player Longopoa in this...
  
   - Tonga, featuring in the story of Kae (and Longopoa).
  • Sāngone
    Sangone
    Sāngone , was the name of a turtle from divine origin and featuring in Tongan myths about the Tui Tonga king named Tuitātui in the beginning of the 12th century AD...
    
    , with Lekapai another person like Kae.
• Tinirau
  Tinirau and Kae
  In Māori mythology, Tinirau is a guardian of fishes. He is a son of Tangaroa, the god of the sea. His home at Motutapu is surrounded with pools for breeding fish. He also has several pet whales....
  
   - Māori, featuring in the story of Kae.
• In Mangaia
  Mangaia
  Mangaia is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga.-Geography:...
  
   (Cook Islands
  Cook Islands
  The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
  
  ), Tinirau is the child of the goddess Varima-te-takere
  Varima-te-takere
  In the mythology of Mangaia, Cook Islands, Varima-te-takere lives in the lowest levels of Avaiki, the underworld. She plucks off a piece from her right side and it becomes the future father of gods and men, who is called Vatea .-References:...
  
  , born in Avaiki
  Avaiki
  Avaiki is one of the many entities by which the people of Polynesia refer to their ancestral and spiritual homelands.-Samoa, Hawaii, Cook Islands:By no means certain, but certainly possible, is an origin in the large islands of Samoa, namely Savaii...
  
  as a piece of flesh torn from his mother’s side. He is half fish. Motutapu is given to him as his inheritance. He is guardian of all fish. Tumetua, Vatea, and others are his brothers (Tregear 1891:513).