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.