Agunua
Sa'a & Ulawa · deity · Sa'a & Ulawa traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Agunua is the great creator figona of Bauro in San Cristoval, imagined as an enormous snake who made the sky, the sea, the land and every living thing and who taught the first people to plant and to fish. In the San Cristoval account the useful and the harmful or useless things of the world are divided between Agunua and a lesser, spoiling counterpart, so that Agunua's creation is the good order of the world. He belongs to the same south-east Solomonic complex of serpent figona documented by Ivens for Sa'a and Ulawa, where the corresponding creator-snake is Kahausibware.
Domains
- creation
- cosmic order
- cultivation and food plants
Powers
- makes the world and instructs the first people
Sources
- Agunua is the great creator figona of Bauro in San Cristoval, an enormous snake who made the sky, sea, land and every living thing and taught the first people to plant and fish.: C. E. Fox, The Threshold of the Pacific (1924), chapter on the creation. (primary)
- The good order of the world is Agunua's work, while a lesser, spoiling counterpart accounts for the useless or harmful things; he belongs to the same south-east Solomonic figona complex as the Ulawa Kahausibware.: C. E. Fox, The Threshold of the Pacific (1924); W. G. Ivens, Melanesians of the South-East Solomon Islands (1927). (primary)