Tonuailangi
Tokelauan · deity · Tokelauan traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Tonuailangi was a god who, in Tokelau belief, resided beyond the horizon, and of whom nothing was remembered except his power of prophecy. Through his priest he foretold events that were happening on the other atolls, predictions later confirmed by visitors arriving from those islands. Because the first European ships also appeared from beyond the horizon, the people of Fakaofo at first took them to be the vessels of Tonuailangi. He stands among the lesser nature-gods of the group, most of whose attributes were lost after the islands' conversion to Christianity.
Domains
- prophecy
- the horizon
Powers
- to foretell through his priest events happening on the other atolls
Sources
- Tonuailangi is a Tokelau god said to reside beyond the horizon, remembered only for his power of prophecy, foretelling through his priest events on the other atolls.: 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)