First Woman
Marshallese · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Marshallese first woman / primordial being; classed as deity. Native term Lejmān (the first-woman counterpart Limdunanij appears in the Lowa-leg variant). Gloss 'First Woman'. The worm-in-shell motif is noted by Flood & Strong to parallel Tongan cosmogony.
Parentage
- parent: Creator
Domains
- first ancestry
Relations
- sibling: First ManFirst Woman and First Man, the pair of beings who emerged from the leg of the creator Lowa in the Marshallese cosmogony.A. Erdland, Die Marshall-Insulaner (1914) (secondary)
Sources
- Lejman is the first woman; in the variant cosmogony she and Wulleb are the two worms in the shell who raise its halves into sky and earth.: Flood, B. & Strong, B.E. (2002). Micronesian Legends. Bess Press, Honolulu (reference); Erdland, A. (1914). Die Marshall-Insulaner: Leben und Sitte, Sinn und Religion eines Südsee-Volkes. Anthropos-Bibliothek, Aschendorff, Münster (ethnography)