Hatuibwari

Hatuibwari (Hatui-bwari) is the winged serpent-creator of the Arosi district of San Cristoval (Makira). He is described with the head of a human, four eyes, clawed arms, bat-like wings and the body of a serpent, and with four breasts at which he suckles all that he has made; he is said to have created and nourished every living thing and to be the male counterpart of Mother Earth. In Fox's account he is a form of the chief figona Agunua, so that the two names denote the one great creator-serpent under whom all the lesser figona are gathered.

Domains

• creation
• nourishment
• serpents

Powers

• to nourish and suckle all the living things he has created

Relations

• subordinate to: AgunuaHatuibwari is reckoned a form or aspect of Agunua, the chief figona; in the Arosi district the great creator-serpent is known under this name.C. E. Fox, The Threshold of the Pacific (1924) (secondary)

Sources

• Hatuibwari is the winged, human-headed serpent creator of the Arosi of San Cristoval (Makira), with four eyes and four breasts, who created and nourished all living things and is identified as a form of Agunua.: C. E. Fox, The Threshold of the Pacific: An Account of the Social Organization, Magic and Religion of the People of San Cristoval in the Solomon Islands (London: Kegan Paul, 1924) (secondary); R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folk-lore (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891) (secondary)