Oharimae
Oharimae is one of the named hi'ona or figona of San Cristoval (Makira) in the south-eastern Solomon Islands. In the foundational account of Makiran religion, C. E. Fox and F. H. Drew report that every figona was believed to have a serpent incarnation, and they range these spirit-beings 'from Agunua the creator, worshipped by every one, to Oharimae and others, only known to particular persons.' Oharimae thus represents the localized end of the figona cult: a serpent-spirit venerated privately by particular families or persons rather than by the whole island. Fox and Drew add that almost all such local figona were represented as female snakes, Agunua alone being male, though Oharimae's own sex is not recorded. The passage naming Oharimae was reproduced by Grafton Elliot Smith in The Evolution of the Dragon (1919) as evidence of the serpent form of Melanesian divinities.
Domains
- serpents
Powers
- to be incarnate in the form of a serpent
Relations
- subordinate to: AgunuaFox and Drew range the serpent-incarnate figona of San Cristoval from Agunua, the creator worshipped by everyone, down to spirits such as Oharimae venerated only by particular persons; later reference works follow Fox in treating the lesser figona as aspects or subordinates of Agunua.C. E. Fox and F. H. Drew, "Beliefs and Tales of San Cristoval (Solomon Islands)", Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 45 (1915), pp. 187–228. (secondary); Michael Jordan, Encyclopedia of Gods: Over 2,500 Deities of the World (New York: Facts on File, 1993), s.v. "Agunua". (secondary)
Sources
- Oharimae is a named hi'ona (figona) of San Cristoval (Makira), a serpent-incarnate spirit-being whose cult was restricted to particular persons, contrasted by Fox and Drew with the universally worshipped creator Agunua.: C. E. Fox and F. H. Drew, "Beliefs and Tales of San Cristoval (Solomon Islands)", Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 45 (1915), pp. 187–228. (secondary); G. Elliot Smith, The Evolution of the Dragon (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1919), ch. III, quoting Fox and Drew: "All the hi'ona or figona of San Cristoval have a serpent incarnation, from Agunua the creator, worshipped by every one, to Oharimae and others, only known to particular persons." (secondary)