Tāne
Tahitian · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
Tāne is, in the Society-Islands recension, the first of the great gods to be sculpted by the artisans at Ta'aroa's word — the god of beauty, of the forests, of the craftsmen, and the god of peace. He finishes the heavens, fixing the stars and hanging the sun and moon, and in the octopus-cosmogony it is Tāne who cuts away the clinging arms of the sky-enclosing octopus Tumu-ra'i-fenua to fill the world with beauty and light. Ellis lists him among the four great gods as god of the forest and of the handicrafts. Authored as a son/handiwork of Ta'aroa and brother of Tū, Ro'o and 'Oro.
Parentage
- shaper progenitor: Ta'aroa
Domains
- beauty
- forests and trees
- craftsmen and artisans
- peace
Powers
- Adorn the dome of the sky and set the stars, sun and moon
- Cut away the clinging arms of the great octopus that enclosed the sky
- Grant skill to the canoe-builders and woodworkers
Relations
- child: Ta'aroaReciprocal of tahitian_taaroa.parent — Tāne is shaped/begotten by Ta'aroa.Teuira Henry, Ancient Tahiti (1928): Tāne the first god, made at Ta'aroa's command (primary)
- sibling: TūReciprocal of tahitian_tu.sibling — fellow great-god of the one creation.Teuira Henry, Ancient Tahiti (1928): Tāne, Tū and Ro'o among the great gods shaped together at Ta'aroa's creation (primary)
- sibling: Ro'oReciprocal of tahitian_roo.sibling — fellow great-god of the one creation.Teuira Henry, Ancient Tahiti (1928): Tāne, Tū and Ro'o among the great gods shaped together at Ta'aroa's creation (primary)
- sibling: 'OroReciprocal of tahitian_oro.sibling — half-brother as a son of Ta'aroa.Teuira Henry, Ancient Tahiti (1928): 'Oro reckoned among the sons of Ta'aroa with the elder great gods (primary)
- equated with: TāneReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Tāne), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
- equated with: TaneReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Tāne), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
- equated with: TaneReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Tāne), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)
- equated with: TaneReflex of the same ancestral Polynesian deity (*Tāne), cognate across the island groups.Comparative Polynesian mythology: reflexes of the same ancestral deity across the island groups (E. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, 1891; R. D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, 1989) (secondary)