Hina

Hina (Proto-Polynesian *Sina, the moon- and first-woman goddess) is given in the Society Islands, as throughout Polynesia, in several named aspect-forms understood as manifestations of one goddess. As Hina-nui-te-araara, 'great Hina the watcher', she is the woman in the moon who, in the Ru-and-Hina myth (Hina-i-a'a-i-te-marama), stepped from her brother Ru's canoe into the full moon and dwells there beneath her banyan, beating the cloth of the gods (Hina-tutu-ha'a) — the markings of the moon. As Hina-fa'auru-va'a she is the canoe-pilot of Ru's voyages; and as Hina-tu-a-uta, 'Hina standing inland', she is the consort of Ta'aroa and the mother of the war-god 'Oro. She is authored here as a single deity carrying these attested by-names rather than as separate figures, following the Society-Islands principle that a deity's 'sisters' are often forms of the one goddess (Henry, 1928). Her divine parentage is not separately named — she comes forth among the host of gods at Ta'aroa's creation — so no parentIds are set.

Children

• 'Oro

Domains

• the moon
• guardian of night travellers
• cloth beating tapa

Powers

• Step into and dwell in the moon as the immortal woman there
• Watch from the moon over those who travel by night
• Pilot and steer the voyaging canoe

Epithets

• Hina-nui-te-araara
• Hina-i-a'a-i-te-marama
• Hina-tutu-ha'a

Relations

• spouse: Ta'aroa
• parent: 'Oro
• equated with: Hina
• equated with: Sina
• equated with: Hina
• equated with: Ina
• equated with: Hina
• equated with: Hina
• equated with: Nuahine

Sources

• Teuira Henry, Ancient Tahiti (Bishop Museum Bulletin 48, 1928), the Ru-and-Hina lunar myth and the genealogy of 'Oro
• William Ellis, Polynesian Researches (1829), on Hina (Sina), the Polynesian moon-goddess