The Voyaging Suitor of the Imdeduya Myth
Yolina is the male protagonist of the Imdeduya myth, recorded in several oral variants and in song. Hearing of the beauty of Imdeduya, he announces his intention to marry her and sets out on a long voyage, stopping at village after village along the island chain, where in the sung versions his arrival is greeted with a recurring refrain, until he reaches Imdeduya's home and wins her. The later course of the story turns the celebrated love into estrangement and sorrow, which is why Gunter Senft, its principal editor, calls it a myth of love and hate. Yolina's voyage, mapped island by island in the appendices to Senft's edition, mirrors the geography of Kula seafaring, and the figure was reimagined in John Kasaipwalova's modern epic poem 'Sail the Midnight Sun'.
Domains
- seafaring
Powers
- to voyage from island to island in pursuit of his chosen bride
Relations
- lover: The Famed Beauty of the Imdeduya MythYolina sails the length of the Kula region to marry the famed beauty Imdeduya; their love story turns to estrangement and tragedy.Senft, Gunter. Imdeduya: Variants of a Myth of Love and Hate from the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2017. (secondary)
Sources
- Yolina is the hero of the Trobriand myth of Imdeduya, the suitor who undertakes a long inter-island voyage to marry the famed beauty Imdeduya, in a love story that ends in hate and tragedy.: Senft, Gunter. Imdeduya: Variants of a Myth of Love and Hate from the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2017. (secondary); Kasaipwalova, John. Sail the Midnight Sun. Port Moresby: Credit Melanesia, 1980. (secondary)