Tangaroa
Rapa Nui · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
Tangaroa is the Rapa Nui form of the great Polynesian sea-god, but on Easter Island he is remembered above all as the ancestral chief who came from Hiva in the shape of a seal with a human face and voice. Killed and placed in the earth-oven, his flesh would not cook — proof of his mana. He is the brother of the rain-god Hiro and, in the royal genealogy recorded by Métraux (1940:127), the father of Rongo and, with Rongo, a divine ancestor of the first king Hotu Matu'a.
Children
Domains
- sea
- ancestry
Powers
- Body that will not cook
- Take the form of a seal
- Flesh that will not cook in the earth-oven
Relations
- sibling: HiroBrother of Hiro; both brothers were powerful in magic.Métraux, Ethnology of Easter Island (1940) (primary)
- father of: RongoFather of Rongo in the Rapa Nui royal genealogy.Métraux, Ethnology of Easter Island (1940), p. 127 (primary)
- ancestor of: Hotu Matu'aDivine ancestor (with Rongo) of the first king Hotu Matu'a, from whom the ariki claimed descent.Métraux, Ethnology of Easter Island (1940), p. 127 (primary)
- counterpart of: TangaroaCross-island counterpart comparison. This link does not identify the portrayals as one individual or transfer genealogy, cult, powers or objects.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
- counterpart of: KanaloaCross-island counterpart comparison. This link does not identify the portrayals as one individual or transfer genealogy, cult, powers or objects.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
- counterpart of: TagaloaCross-island counterpart comparison. This link does not identify the portrayals as one individual or transfer genealogy, cult, powers or objects.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
- counterpart of: Ta'aroaCross-island counterpart comparison. This link does not identify the portrayals as one individual or transfer genealogy, cult, powers or objects.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
- counterpart of: Tangaloa 'Eitumatupu'aCross-island counterpart comparison. This link does not identify the portrayals as one individual or transfer genealogy, cult, powers or objects.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
- counterpart of: TangaroaCross-island counterpart comparison. This link does not identify the portrayals as one individual or transfer genealogy, cult, powers or objects.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
- counterpart of: TakaroaCross-island counterpart comparison. This link does not identify the portrayals as one individual or transfer genealogy, cult, powers or objects.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
- counterpart of: TanaoaCross-island counterpart comparison. This link does not identify the portrayals as one individual or transfer genealogy, cult, powers or objects.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)