Nguatupu'a
Rennell & Bellona · deity · Rennell & Bellona traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Nguatupu'a is one of the two original 'stone deities' of Bellona. According to tradition she and her brother Tepoutu'uingangi came from the ancestral homeland 'Ubea and settled on the island before the human immigrants, taking up residence in two great stones at Ngabenga. Ranked among the original gods alongside the sky god, the pair were objects of intense dread, hedged about with tabu, and their sacred place was approached only with the greatest caution. Nguatupu'a represents the ancient, petrified power of the land itself, older than the coming of people.
Domains
- primordial power
- sacred stone
- sanctity
Powers
- dwells embodied in a sacred stone
Relations
- sibling: Tepoutu'uingangiElbert, Samuel H., and Torben Monberg. From the Two Canoes. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1965. (secondary)
Sources
- Nguatupu'a was one of the two original 'stone deities' of Bellona, a female being embodied in a sacred stone at Ngabenga who, with her brother, came from the ancestral land 'Ubea.: Elbert, Samuel H., and Torben Monberg. From the Two Canoes. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1965. (secondary); Monberg, Torben. Bellona Island Beliefs and Rituals. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991. (secondary)