Red Giant Ancestor

Pre-eminent Tungaru ancestral hero; entered as demigod (culture-hero/ancestor-deity), parallel to how Nareau the Younger is typed. Some popular references style him a 'sun god' (from his red/sun-coloured skin), but the securely attested Grimble core is the red giant ancestor from Samoa, lord of the pandanus and deity of Karongoa, husband-brother of Nei Tituaabine. RECIPROCAL within batch with Nei Tituaabine (spouse + sibling).

Domains

• ancestry and migration
• pandanus
• kingship and clan

Powers

• leads the first settlers from Samoa to Tarawa
• is the lord (uea) of the pandanus, with the rat for his totem
• stands of a giant's stature with red skin
• is invoked as lord (uea) of the pandanus in fructification rites

Relations

• spouse: Tree GoddessHusband of Nei Tituaabine; though they loved, no children were born to them, and at her death the trees grew from her grave.Grimble, Arthur. Tungaru Traditions (ed. Maude, 1989); Grimble, Rosemary. Migrations, Myth and Magic from the Gilbert Islands (1972), Auriaria husband (and brother) of Nei Tituaabine; their union was childless (secondary)
• sibling: Tree GoddessBrother as well as husband of Nei Tituaabine, who is named his sister in the central/southern island traditions.Grimble, Rosemary. Migrations, Myth and Magic from the Gilbert Islands (1972), Nei Tituaabine the sister and wife of the giant chief Auriaria (secondary)

Sources

• Auriaria is the red-skinned giant ancestral hero and ancestor-deity (anti) of the Tungaru, who came from Samoa in the ancestral migrations and led the settlement of Tarawa, lord of the pandanus and a deity of the senior clan Karongoa, husband and brother of the vegetation goddess Nei Tituaabine.: Grimble, Arthur. Tungaru Traditions: Writings on the Atoll Culture of the Gilbert Islands (ed. H.E. Maude, 1989) (secondary); Grimble, Rosemary. Migrations, Myth and Magic from the Gilbert Islands: Early Writings of Sir Arthur Grimble (1972) (secondary)