Atua i Fangarere, the Deity of Fangarere

Atua i Fangarere, 'the Deity of Fangarere', is the eponymous god of the fourth and most junior of the ranked clans and one of the four divine brothers descended from the primordial pair. In the Tikopian ordering of the heavens he holds the southeastern quarter and is held responsible for the lightning and storms that come from the southeast. He held ritual charge over the breadfruit, the crop said to belong with the clan of Fangarere. Of the four clans, Fangarere was the smallest, and Firth records that by the twentieth century it had at times no chief of its own.

Parentage

• Atua i Raropuka, the Deity of Raropuka
• Atua Fafine, the Female Deity

Domains

• breadfruit cultivation
• storms from the southeast

Powers

• to raise lightning and storms out of the southeast
• to grant fertility and increase to the breadfruit

Relations

• sibling: Atua i Kafika, the Deity of Kafika
• sibling: Atua i Tafua, the Deity of Tafua
• sibling: Atua i Taumako, the Deity of Taumako

Sources

• Firth, Raymond. The Work of the Gods in Tikopia. London: London School of Economics, 1940.
• "Tikopia Religion." Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005.