Spider Creator

Gilbertese 'spider lord' creator. Tradition distinguishes Nareau the Elder/Wise (this figure) from Nareau the Younger; entered as deity. Documented by colonial administrator-ethnographer Grimble (1922; collected in Tungaru Traditions, 1989).

Children

• The First Rock

Domains

• creation

Powers

• wakes alone in the void and begins creation
• fashions the first beings from sand and water

Epithets

• Nareau the Elder

Relations

• ancestor of: The First Rock
• ancestor of: World-Maker

Sources

• Grimble, Arthur. 'Myths from the Gilbert Islands' (Folklore, vol. 33, 1922)
• Grimble, Arthur. Tungaru Traditions: Writings on the Atoll Culture of the Gilbert Islands (ed. H.E. Maude, 1989)