Abeguwo (Melanesia/New Guinea) Rain goddess whose urine turns to moisture. Abere (Melanesia) An evil demoness who attacks males. Adaro (Polynesia and Melanesian) A sea god. Afekan (Melanesia/New Guinea) The creator goddess. Ai Tupua'i (Polynesia) Goddess of healing and of war. 'Aiaru (Polynesia) One of the seven guardians of the world. Her function
is to predict death. The others are Fa'a'ipu, Firifiri'Aufau, Nihoniho
teitei, 'Orerorero, Tahu'a, and Tamaumau'orero. Ala Muki (Polynesia) A river goddess who takes the form of a dragon. Alalahe (Polynesia) Goddess of love. Alii Menehune (Hawaii) Chief of the Little People. The aboriginal little people
of long, long ago were called menehune; Alii means highest: thus
Alii Menehune. Aluluei (Micronesia) God of knowledge. Atanea A dawn goddess in some South Pacific islands, who created the seas
when she miscarried and filled the hollows of the earth with amniotic fluid. Audjal (Caroline Islands) The earth goddess. Aumakua (Hawaii) Means "Ghost of Your Ancestors". Huna, the religion of
early Hawaii, taught that each person had two souls. When one died the
earthly soul (unihi-pili) remained earth-bound and descended to the the
underworld. The aumakua (higher soul) ascended to the heavens to rejoin
the deceased ancestors. Babamik (New Guinea) A cannibalistic ogress. When she died she became the
crocodile ancestor. Buring une An agricultural goddess who lives benath the earth. Darago (Philippines) A volcano goddess who "demanded" a human sacrifice
once a year to keep her from erupting. Dayang-Raca (Borneo) The sole survivor of a flood that killed off the rest of
the human race. She mated with the flames of her campfire, became pregnant,
and repopulated the earth. De ai (Micronesia) Mother of the sun, moon, and sea. Dogai (Melanesian) A malignant spirit who tried constantly to frustrate
human enterprise by making crops fail, scaring fish away from nets, etc.
Some places he was a male god, in other places she was a female goddess. Enda semangko (Melanesia) Both a war goddess and a fertility goddess. Faumea (Polynesia) Goddess of fertility. Giriputri (Bali) The sacred mountain of Gunung Agaung is ruled by the benevolent
goddess Giriputri. Each year sacred water is drawn from a mountain stream
and used to bless the harvest. Goga In Melanesia-Papua New Guinea and nearby islands the story of how
humans got fire goes like this: The primal being was an ageless old woman
named Goga. In her body she nurtured fire, which a human boy stole from
her. She pursued the boy who, trying to elude her, accidentally dropped
the burning branch onto a tree, which caught fire. Inside the tree was
a snake, whose tail caught fire. Though Goga deluged the world with rain,
hoping to quench the stolen fire, the snake's tail continued to smolder,
and humans used it to light the first earthly blaze. Haumea (Hawaii) Goddess of childbirth. Hiiaka' 1. (Polynesian) Sister to Pele and her helper in keeping the fires
of Kilauea burning. 2. (Hawaii) Patroness of hula dancing. Hina (Hawaii) Goddess of the moon. Hine (Polynesia) Goddess of darkness. Hoa-Tapu (Tahiti) God of war. 'Imoa (Polynesia) The first woman. Io Polynesian myth tells how their supreme god, Io, created the world.
In the beginning there were only waters and darkness. By his word and thought
Io separated the waters and created Earth and sky. He said: "Let the waters
be separated, let the heavens be formed, let the Earth be." Kanaloa (Hawaii) God of the sea. Kane (Hawaii) God of fertility, fresh water, and the woodlands. Kapo (Hawaii) Goddess of abortions, childbirth, and fertility. Kava (Hawaii) The god of good and evil. Konori (New Guinea) Creator of the world. Ku (Hawaii) The god of power and war. Kuklikimoku (Polynesia) God of war. Laka (Hawaii) Goddess of fertile land. Laulaati (Loyalty Islands) Creator of the world. Lono (Hawaii) God of the sky, rain, and agriculture. Mahiuki (Polynesia) Ruler of the underworld, and as Mahuika is goddess of
fire and earthquakes. MakeMake (Easter Island) Half human, half bird, he was the protector of birds. Marruni (Melanesia) God of earthquakes. Maui The most famous folktale character of Polynesia is Maui, the trickster
hero who steals fire for man (The legend describes the descent of Maui
to the underworld, where he learns the art of making fire by rubbing two
sticks together), fishes up the islands of the South Pacific, traps the
sun to lengthen the day, and helps raise the sky. Maui is also known in
Micronesian and some Melanesian folklore. Melu The creation god of the Bagobo (Bagopo) people of the Philippines. Menehune The "little people" of Polynesian folklore are also called "menehune". Moeuhane (Hawaii) God of dreams. Ndauthina (Fiji) God of adultery, fire, and fishing. Ne Te-reere (Micronesia) Goddess of trees. Nevinbimbaau (Melanesia) Initiation goddess. Ngendei (Fiji) The creator, and head god of all the original Fiji gods.
Supporter of the world; every time he moves we have an earthquake. He is
also the god of good harvest and the king of the land of the dead. He is
half snake and half rock. Nobu (New Hebrides) In part of New Hebrides he is considered the creator
of the world. Oro (Polynesia) The war god. Ove (Fiji) Creator of the world. Paka'a (Hawaii) A son of a guardian of the king, who serves the king so
well himself that he becomes the greatest chief of all. Papa (Hawaii) Goddess of the Underworld. Pele (Polynesian) Goddess in charge of keeping the volcano Kilauea burning. Quat Melanesian sun god. Rati (Bali) Goddess of fertility. Rati-mbati-ndua (Fiji) The god of hell is a man with only one tooth with which he
devours the dead. Ratu-Mai-Mbula (Fiji) God of fertility. Rua (Tahiti) God of crafts. Ruahatu (Tahiti) A sea god. Saning Sri (Java) Goddess of rice. Ta'aroa (Tahiti) Supreme deity. Tamakaia (New Hebrides) Creator of the world. Tane (Oceania) Nature god, son of Rangi (the sky) and PaPa (the earth). Tanemahuta (Polynesian) The Maori peoples' lord of the forest. Tangaroa (Polynesian) The Maori peoples' lord of the ocean, and the supreme
god who created all the other gods and mankind. Tawhaki (New Zealand) God of clouds and thunder. Tiki (Polynesian) He is sometimes identified as the first man. Tinirau (Polynesia) God of the sea. Tu (Polynesia) The war god. Tuli (Samoa) Creator goddess of the world. Turi-a-faumea (Polynesia) God of fish and reptiles. Ukupanipo (Hawaii) God of sharks. Wahini-Hal (Polynesian) The demonic mother figure of Polynesia looked like
a seductive woman (except for her protruding eyes and her tongue hanging
to her toes!). She sneaked through the world at night stealing and eating
small children. Walutahanga (Melanesia) The eight-fold snake goddess was born to a human mother;
the woman was afraid of her husband and hid the serpent girl. But he discovered
the deception and was so shocked he cut Walutahanga into eight pieces.
After eight days of rain, the girl's body rejoined into a whole. Walutahanga
traveled through the islands, tormenting humans in retaliation for her
murder. Captured, she was again chopped into eight pieces; everyone, except
a woman and her daughter ate the body, and threw her bones into the sea;.
It rained for another eight days. Then the bones under the sea again formed
themselves into the goddess. To punish humanity, Walutahanga covered the
islands with eight huge flooding waves, which killed everyone but the woman
and her child, the only ones who had not eaten the goddess' flesh. The
goddess gave these two many gifts, including the coconut and clearwater
streams, before again retreating to the ocean. Wari-Ma-Te-Takere (Polynesia) This goddess was a coconut-shell divinity who parthenogenetically
produced the other gods from her right and left sides. Wari symbolizes
the fertile slime of primordial times and literally means "mud". Whaitiri (Polynesia) She was a powerful figure who owned the thunder and
ate human flesh. Once she descended to earth to marry a warrior chief,
misunderstanding his title, "mankiller." When Whaitiri had taken up residence
with her husband, she found that he did not, after all, share her affection
for eating humans. Not only that, but he complained about the smell of
their children's excrement. She invented the toilet, showed humans how
to use it, and returned to the sky, where she still lives. Wigan (Philippines) The first woman; she wanted to populate the world
beneath her sky, but her daughter, also named Wigan, and her son Bigan
were resistant to leaving home. So she sent them into the forest to pick
tubers, and then unleashed a huge flood on the world. Floating upon the
raging waters, Wigan and Bigan found houses, pigs, cats, chickens, dogs
and jars full of food. Tbey settled down among these goodies and soon had
a nice homestead on earth, but populating the land was difficult because,
as brother and sister, the couple were forbidden from having sex. But one
night Bigan came to his sister while she was asleep and impregnated her.
The taboo against brother-sister incest was re-imposed as soon as the earth
was populated.
