Toikia
Tokelauan · deity · Tokelauan traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Toikia was, in Macgregor's account, the physically strongest of the minor gods of Tokelau. Little was remembered of him beyond this and his part in the wrestling match between the semi-legendary chiefs Fafie and Leua, a contest preserved in Fakaofo tradition. He belongs to the class of lesser nature-gods who resided in the world rather than in the sky, most of whom were only dimly recalled after the conversion of the islands to Christianity.
Domains
- strength
Powers
- to surpass all the other minor gods in physical strength
Sources
- Toikia is named in Macgregor's account as the physically strongest of the Tokelau minor gods, remembered for his part in the wrestling match between the semi-legendary chiefs Fafie and Leua.: Gordon Macgregor, Ethnology of Tokelau Islands, Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 146 (Honolulu, 1937), pp. 62-63. (secondary); Judith Huntsman and Antony Hooper, Tokelau: A Historical Ethnography (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1996), pp. 141-144. (secondary)