Papa (the Earth Mother)
Rarotongan · deity · Rarotongan traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Papa, the earth mother, bears on Rarotonga the fuller name Paparoa-i-te-itinga, the great foundation reaching toward the sunrise. Married to the sky father Atea, she gave birth to the five great gods of the Rarotongan genealogy — Tangaroa, Rongo, Tane, Tongaiti and the divine Tangiia — and to Te Tumu, the foundation stone. Her name belongs to a family of Polynesian earth mothers all beginning with Papa, such as Papa'ele of Samoa, Papatu'oi of Tahiti and Papatūānuku of New Zealand. In the neighbouring Mangaian tradition written down by William Wyatt Gill, it was Papa's preference for her son Rongo that diverted the tribute of food from the first-born Tangaroa, explaining why Rongo took precedence in that island's worship.
Children
Domains
- earth and foundation
Powers
- to bring forth the great gods of the pantheon
- to underlie the world as its foundation
Epithets
- Paparoa-i-te-itingaBasil Keane, 'Ranginui – the sky', Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand (Wellington: Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 2007). (secondary); Rawiri Taonui, 'Polynesian Oral Traditions', in K. R. Howe (ed.), Vaka Moana: Voyages of the Ancestors (Auckland: David Bateman, 2006). (secondary)
Relations
- mother of: Tangaroa (Lord of the Sea and Fertility)Paparoa-i-te-itinga bore Tangaroa among her five divine sons; in Gill's Mangaian record Tangaroa was the first-born twin whom Papa set aside in favour of Rongo.Basil Keane, 'Ranginui – the sky', Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand (Wellington: Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 2007). (secondary); William Wyatt Gill, Myths and Songs from the South Pacific (London: Henry S. King & Co., 1876). (secondary)
- mother of: Rongo (God of Taro and War)Rongo is one of the five sons of Papa in the Rarotongan genealogy; the Mangaian telling makes him her favourite child, for whom she diverted the tribute of food.Basil Keane, 'Ranginui – the sky', Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand (Wellington: Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 2007). (secondary); William Wyatt Gill, Myths and Songs from the South Pacific (London: Henry S. King & Co., 1876). (secondary)
- spouse: Atea (the Sky Father)The earth mother Paparoa-i-te-itinga is the wife of the sky father Atea in the Rarotongan tradition.Basil Keane, 'Ranginui – the sky', Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand (Wellington: Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 2007). (secondary); Rawiri Taonui, 'Polynesian Oral Traditions', in K. R. Howe (ed.), Vaka Moana: Voyages of the Ancestors (Auckland: David Bateman, 2006). (secondary)
Sources
- Papa, called Paparoa-i-te-itinga on Rarotonga, is the earth mother of the Rarotongan cosmogony, wife of Atea and mother of the great gods including Tangaroa and Rongo.: Basil Keane, 'Ranginui – the sky', Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand (Wellington: Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 2007). (secondary); William Wyatt Gill, Myths and Songs from the South Pacific (London: Henry S. King & Co., 1876). (secondary); Robert D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989). (secondary); Rawiri Taonui, 'Polynesian Oral Traditions', in K. R. Howe (ed.), Vaka Moana: Voyages of the Ancestors (Auckland: David Bateman, 2006). (secondary)