Foilape

Foilape is remembered as one of the principal gods of the pre-Christian Ellice Islands, a deity recognised on more than one island and described in tradition as a king and a famed warrior. Like the other old gods (atua) of the islands, he was approached at dedicated shrines through prayer and offerings of food and goods, mediated by the spirit-masters (vaka-atua) who served as intermediaries between the people and the gods. The worship of such gods, together with the office of the vaka-atua, was suppressed with the spread of Protestant Christianity through the islands in the later nineteenth century.

Domains

• kingship and rule
• war and warriors
• gods and worship

Powers

• to receive prayer and offerings of food and goods at his shrines

Epithets

• FoilapeD. G. Kennedy, Field Notes on the Culture of Vaitupu, Ellice Islands (New Plymouth, N.Z.: Thomas Avery & Sons, 1931). (secondary)

Sources

• Foilape is one of the principal pre-Christian gods of the Ellice Islands (Tuvalu), recognised across several islands as a king and famed warrior to whom prayer and offerings were made at shrines.: D. G. Kennedy, Field Notes on the Culture of Vaitupu, Ellice Islands (New Plymouth, N.Z.: Thomas Avery & Sons, for the Polynesian Society, 1931). (secondary); Simati Faaniu et al., Tuvalu: A History, ed. Hugh Laracy (Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific; Funafuti: Ministry of Social Services, 1983). (secondary)