Tafaleata (Ancestral Mother of the Alo Lineage)
Wallisian Futunan · deity · Wallisian Futunan traditional religion; continuing · deity
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)
- mother of: Fakavelikele (War-and-Rain God of Futuna)
- mother of: Finelasi (Protective Goddess of Futuna)
- mother of: Malafulafu (Protector God of Nature)
Sources
- Burrows, Edwin G. Ethnology of Futuna. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 138. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1936.
- 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.
- Abbal, Odon. 'Les mythes de Wallis et Futuna.' Nîmes: Académie de Nîmes (academia.edu working paper).