Tangaloa-'Atulongolongo

Entered as a deity (the plover-form Tangaloa, maker of the first men), a brother of 'Eitumatupu'a in the Tangaloa sky-family. The first men Kohai, Koau and Momo are mentioned as the worm-descended older population but are not authored as separate figures here (outside the developed core). Sex male; immortal.

Domains

• creation and origin of humankind
• birds and the sky

Powers

• takes the form of a plover
• makes the first men from the worm of the rotted root

Relations

• sibling: Tangaloa 'Eitumatupu'aBoth are sons of Tangaloa in the sky, hence brothers.Collocott, E. E. V. 'Notes on Tongan Religion', Journal of the Polynesian Society 30 (1921), naming Tangaloa 'Atulongolongo and Tangaloa 'Eitumatupu'a among the sons of Tangaloa in the sky (secondary)
• commissioned: LaufakanaaE. W. Gifford, Tongan Myths and Tales (1924), pp. 16–17 (primary)

Sources

• Tangaloa-'Atulongolongo is the Tongan sky-god who, in the form of a plover, found the first land and made the first men of Tonga (Kohai, Koau, and Momo) by pecking apart the worm bred in a rotted creeper-root; he is one of the four sons of Tangaloa in the sky.: Gifford, E. W. Tongan Myths and Tales (Bishop Museum Bulletin 8, 1924) (secondary); Collocott, E. E. V. 'Notes on Tongan Religion', Journal of the Polynesian Society 30 (1921) (secondary)