Ialulep
Central Carolinian · deity · Central Carolinian traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Ialulep is the supreme deity of Ulithi and, under the cognate name Aluelap, the great god at the head of the sky-god lineage across the Chuukic outer islands. He is pictured as a benevolent, enormous, and very old man enthroned in the uppermost heaven. His central prerogative is the apportionment of human life: each person's span is figured as a measured cord, and death comes when the measure runs out. From him descend the sky god Lugeilang and, in the Chuukic creation cycle, the creatrix Ligoapup. Sources differ on whether the supreme god of the sky is to be identified with, or held distinct from, the navigation god whose names resemble his.
Children
Domains
- sky
- fate and longevity
Powers
- measures out the lifespan of every person
Relations
- child: LugeilangBurrows, E. G. & Spiro, M. E. (1953), An Atoll Culture: Ethnography of Ifaluk, New Haven: HRAF - the divine genealogy Aluelap > Lugeilang > Iolofath. (secondary)
- child: LigoapupGoodenough, W. H. (2002), Under Heaven's Brow: Pre-Christian Religious Tradition in Chuuk, Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society - Ligoapup as a daughter of the great god. (secondary)
Sources
- Ialulep is the supreme benevolent deity of Ulithi, envisaged as a colossal aged man dwelling in the highest sky who governs human life and death.: Lessa, W. A. (1961), Tales from Ulithi Atoll, University of California Publications in Folklore Studies 13, Berkeley. (secondary)
- Scholars identify the Ulithian Ialulep with the Chuukic great god Aluelap, the head of the sky-god lineage; sources differ over his precise relation to the navigation deities.: Burrows, E. G. & Spiro, M. E. (1953), An Atoll Culture: Ethnography of Ifaluk in the Central Carolines, New Haven: HRAF. (secondary)