Tagroa Siria
Rotuman · deity · Rotuman traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Tagroa Siria, glossed 'God Above', was the supreme deity of pre-Christian Rotuma, identified by ethnographers as the island's form of the widely worshipped Polynesian god Tangaroa (Samoan Tagaloa). His epithet 'Siria' links him to the ancient name of the island and to the star said to stand directly overhead. As head of the old fertility religion he was held responsible for rain, the fruitfulness of the land and the prosperity of the people; he was approached not directly by commoners but through the sacred king (sau) and the mua, who conducted the seasonal ritual cycle on the community's behalf. Tradition located him apart from the living in a hidden spirit region.
Domains
- sky and heavens
- fertility and prosperity
Powers
- to make the land and its people fruitful
- to dwell hidden in the spirit region above and beyond the world of the living
Epithets
- Tagroa SiriaGardiner, J. Stanley (1898). 'The Natives of Rotuma.' Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 27: 457-524. (secondary)
Relations
- ally: TagaroaBoth belong to the cluster of Tagaroa/Tangaroa figures at the head of the Rotuman high-god group; sources treat the supreme 'God Above' and the fertility-god Tagaroa as closely associated members of the same divine complex propitiated by the sau and mua.Howard, Alan (1991). 'Rotuma.' In Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. II: Oceania, ed. Terence E. Hays. Boston: G. K. Hall. (secondary)
Sources
- Tagroa Siria ('God Above') was the supreme deity of pre-Christian Rotuma, a local form of the Polynesian god Tangaroa, central to the island fertility cult.: Gardiner, J. Stanley (1898). 'The Natives of Rotuma.' Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 27: 457-524. (secondary); Howard, Alan (1991). 'Rotuma.' In Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. II: Oceania, ed. Terence E. Hays. Boston: G. K. Hall. (secondary)