Fao

Fao is counted among the tupua, the principal gods or ancestral beings of Niue. In the classic origin narrative recorded from the Niuean teacher Pulekula and translated by S. Percy Smith, a company of tupua left the lost land of Fonuagalo because they felt slighted at its feasts and ceremonies. Fao rose first to the new world but could set only one foot on the emerging reef, leaving the island unfinished; his companion Huanaki then completed the work. Niuean tradition makes Fao and Huanaki paired brother-creators who swam from the direction of Tonga, with Fao standing as ancestor of the southern division of the island known as Tafiti and Huanaki of the northern division, Motu. The two are everywhere named together as the island's makers.

Domains

• island creation
• southern people tafiti

Powers

• to begin raising the island of Niue out of the reef and sea

Epithets

• tupua

Relations

• twin sibling: Huanaki
• companion: Fakahoko
• companion: Lagi-atea

Sources

• Edwin M. Loeb, History and Traditions of Niue, Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 32 (Honolulu: Bishop Museum, 1926).
• Pulekula, 'Traditions of the Niue-Fekai,' trans. S. Percy Smith, Journal of the Polynesian Society 12, no. 1 (1903): 22–31.
• Basil C. Thomson, Savage Island: An Account of a Sojourn in Niué and Tonga (London: John Murray, 1902).