Tafaleata (Ancestral Mother of the Alo Lineage)
Wallisian Futunan · deity · Wallisian Futunan traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Tafaleata is the ancestral mother of the founding couple of Futuna's Alo tradition and the wife of Mago. In the origin narrative recorded by Burrows, she and Mago arrived from Samoa carried within a coconut and became the parents of the founding gods of Futuna, foremost among them the war-god and first sau Fakavelikele, and in the fuller genealogy also the protective goddess Finelasi and the nature-god Malafulafu. As the female principle of the founding pair she anchors the descent of the paramount lineage of Alo, later styled Tui Agaifo.
Children
Domains
- ancestry lineage
Powers
- to bring forth the founding gods and kingly lineage of Futuna
Relations
- spouse: Mago (Ancestral Father of the Alo Lineage)Tafaleata and Mago form the founding ancestral couple of the Alo tradition of Futuna.Burrows, Edwin G. Ethnology of Futuna. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 138. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1936. (secondary)
- mother of: Fakavelikele (War-and-Rain God of Futuna)The war-god Fakavelikele is numbered among the children of Tafaleata and Mago.Burrows, Edwin G. Ethnology of Futuna. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 138. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1936. (secondary)
- mother of: Finelasi (Protective Goddess of Futuna)The protective goddess Finelasi is reckoned a daughter of Tafaleata and Mago.Abbal, Odon. 'Les mythes de Wallis et Futuna.' Nîmes: Académie de Nîmes (academia.edu working paper). (secondary)
- mother of: Malafulafu (Protector God of Nature)The nature-god Malafulafu is likewise counted a child of Tafaleata and Mago.Abbal, Odon. 'Les mythes de Wallis et Futuna.' Nîmes: Académie de Nîmes (academia.edu working paper). (secondary)
Sources
- Tafaleata is the ancestral mother of Futuna's founding couple, wife of Mago, said to have come from Samoa in a coconut and to have borne the war-god Fakavelikele and his divine siblings.: Burrows, Edwin G. Ethnology of Futuna. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 138. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1936. (secondary); Mayer, Raymond. 'Un millier de légendes aux îles Wallis et Futuna et divers centres d'intérêt de la tradition orale.' Journal de la Société des Océanistes 29, no. 38 (1973): 69-100. (secondary); Abbal, Odon. 'Les mythes de Wallis et Futuna.' Nîmes: Académie de Nîmes (academia.edu working paper). (secondary)