Oceanic Mythology

Oceanic Mythology Two classical cultures, Rome and Greece, both are well known to the world. Their mythology especially, because elements of their folk tales shape modern society. But, what about mythology originating in other parts of the world? Why are Roman and Greek culture such important sources of folklore? Seemingly unheard of stories from other regions of the earth harvest rich culture that hasn't diffused into modern culture as well as Greek culture yet provide intriguing stories on human life.Specifically, in Oceanic regions such as Polynesia and Melanesia hold stories have een told for hundreds of generations that are almost unknown in Western culture (Wikipedia). It's a travesty that such interesting tales of Oceanic life haven't become important to the rest of the world, but fortunately in these islands they have importance. In Oceania, particularly in the area of Polynesia oceanic people believed that ‘Forever', Darkness, and the Sea have always existed (Pantheon) . â€Å"Scholars believe that humans first migrated to Polynesia from Southeast Asia about 2,000 years ago.These people carried with them their mythological traditions about events, deities, and heroes† (mythencyclopedia). And thus, a tale of creation was cooked up. The tale starts with a giant Spider finding a giant clam, and crawling inside of it. It was extremely dark inside of the clam, but the spider managed to find a snail inside of the clam. The spider asked the snail to open the shell a bit, because it was so dark. The snail cracked open the mouth of the clam, and it became the moon shedding some light in the pure darkness.Another snail came to help the spider push the top of the clam's shell open further, and the sky was created, (and referred to as goddess Rangi). The spider then pushed open on the bottom of the shell, and the earth was reated, (referred to as a god, Papa). This is one version of the story that it told throughout Oceania. The other version of this s tory tells that a ‘supreme deity (Usually Po or 10) creates everything. Both versions however tell that Papa and Rangi create plants and animals, and â€Å"Papa Earth was a goddess, and Rangi Sky, a god, sister and brother. They cohabited and produced the first ancestors of all mankind† (pantheon).Mote-Yale In some islands in Oceania, a story tells that the earth was created after a rock fell into the sea, while other regions believe that a butterfly created earth from the sea. The stories vary due to location. For instance, in Tahitian mythology, the supreme creator deity was Ta'aroa who was born from a ‘cosmic egg'. He filled the world with all the creatures and things that are now found in it. Some Tahitians believed in Ta'aro granting supreme miracles, yet also being reason terrible things happen on Most islands located in Oceania however, base their mythology off of the same Gods.Haumia god of plants and vegetables, Tane god of forests, Tu god of war, Lono go d of heavens, and Pele god of fire are Just a few that reoccur throughout the history of Ocani'as mythology. (Mythencyclopedia). It seems to be a pattern that the civilizations near the ocean have creation myths all involving the sea. Just as areas with lots of snow would have legends regarding snow, and places with lots of trees would have tales about nature. Goddess, Rangi (ssqq) Moving onto different islands of Polynesia, the small islands of Samoa have many tales that provide morals and lessons to everyday life, including ‘The Tree of Life' (nzetc. ictoria. ac. nz). The story follows a Samoan woman Leutogitupaitea who marries Mote-Yale the king of Tonga. The Tongan king was previously married to a Tonagan woman, and they had a child together. The kings new wife was unable to conceive, and in a jealous rage murdered the baby. The kings Tongan wife came to realize what happened, and later the king was informed. â€Å"The King on being informed of the happening ordered the p eople to gather firewood and to burn the woman who had killed his child. He ordered her to be placed in the fork of a Fetau tree and the wood to be piled high round the tree.This was done and the fire lighted. The flames ascended and the woman was about to be consumed when thousands of flying foxes flew ver the fire and urinating on it extinguished the flames. The King then decided that the woman's life would be spared and he said, â€Å"this tree shall be called the Fork of Life, for a woman's life was saved on it. † I give back the woman her life, but she shall be taken to a desert Island and left there† (nzetc. victoria. ac. nz) Another tale told in Samoan culture is the The Long Toothed Devil of Falelima.People of Falelima, a small village in Samoa, told stories of a ‘devil' with long pointy teeth. The story tells that the devil (Nifoloa) died and that his teeth continued to grow and ventually grew into the near Island of Upolu. People were apparently bitten b y them as they continued to grow. The people all had strange sores that seemed to disappear after a while. These people who were ‘bitten' were referred to as â€Å"Nifoloa† (nzetc. victoria. ac. nz). Additionally, the people of Samoa tell a story about fire being brought to the islands.According to the ledged, there was a long period of time in Soma's history where there was no fire (hem. passagen. se). Ti'eti'e, an orphaned boy made the discovery of fire on the island inside of a cave where the earthquake god, Mafui'e resided. He had discovered the fire when stumbling across Mafui'e roasting a hog and stealing some him, Ti'eti'e grasped him by the arm with such strength that it twisted off! mLet me go! † he cried. â€Å"Let me go and I will give you my hundred wives. â€Å"0 â€Å"l don't want your wives,† Ti'eti'e responded. l want some fire. Let me take it with me or I'll twist your other arm â€Å"Take it! † answered Mafui'e, giving in. â€Å" If it goes out, you can rekindle it by rubbing two pieces of wood together. â€Å"‘ (hem. passagen. se) In the Far East region of Polynesia, Easter Island harvests many mysteries to the orld today. The island is almost midway between Chile and Tahiti, and discovered to be almost entirely made of volcanic rock (crystalinks). On the island, many stone statues/fgures (Moat) can be seen along the coastlines and in completely empty land.The Moat figures are usually what people associate with Easter Island. The Rapa Nuis people (natives to the island) carved them thousands of years ago (wikipedia). The fgures were often carved to honor a god or ancestor, and they served as a status symbol (wikipedia). â€Å"It was believed that the living had a symbiotic elationship with the dead where the dead provided everything that the living needed (health, fertility of land and animals, fortune etc. ) and the living through offerings provided the dead with a better place in the spirit world. (wikipedia) Easter Island Moat statues (deitchman)On the mysterious land, the origin of Easter Island is supposedly the Legend of Hotu Matua (crystalinks). According to the story, Hotu Matua was the first settler to Easter Island. Hotu Matua traveled to the island on a canoe with a colonizing party and made the island his kingdom, with his sons preceding him (wikipedia). The island was ruled for 1000 years by Matua's descendants, until Dutch explorers found the land in 1722 and claimed it for themselves, as white people usually do (wikipedia). There is considerable uncertainty about the accuracy of this legend as well as the date of settlement. Published literature suggests the island was settled around 300-400 CE, or at about the time of the arrival of the earliest settlers in Hawaiim (wikipedia). As far as deities and gods of the Rapa Nuis' culture, the most powerful and prominent is the Make-Make god. â€Å"On Rapanui (Easter Island) people believed in a ariety of god or Ã¢â‚¬Ë œatua', most prominent among the ‘atua' was the Creator God, Make- the creator of life to the Rapa Nuis people.His followers worshipped him through sea birds, because they believed his soul was reincarnated into them (astrology. richardbrown). His symbol was a man with bird like features, and he can be seen carved into various Moat on the island. Make-make's symbol carved onto volcanic rock in Easter Island. In Melanesia, Just north of New Zealand, the islands of Fiji were formed through volcanic activity that began 150 million years ago (wikipedia). â€Å"Oral story-telling is a opular and important pastime in Fiji that helps to keep alive the myths from the old religion, as well as legends about more modern fgures in Fiji's history' (go-flJi).One of the most told Fijian myth is their creation myth. A snake god, Degei had only a hawk as a friend. One day the hawk disappears and Degei becomes very lonely. He goes out in search for his friend, and comes across her bird's nest. There were two abandoned eggs left alone in the nest, so Degei took them to raise as his own. After weeks of nesting, the eggs finally hatched. To Degei's surprise, not two bird, but two humans emerged from the eggs. Degei raised the humans, grew vegetation in order to feed them and told them stories that revealed the nature of all things† (go-flJi).Later, whilst swimming in the ocean Degei stumbled across a tiny piece of land and created the village of Viseisei for the humans. This is believed to be the first Fijian settlement. He then creates the surrounding islands of Viti Levu, where he still remains in a cave. Degei waits in his cave for other souls to pass through, and he will either send them to paradise or into a deep dark lake to await punishment (go-flJi). Snake God Degei (Indianweekender) Aside from its sweet tales of creation, Fiji also has a bit of a dark past.The island was flooded with cannibalistic tribes in the mid-nineteenth century, most notoriously Ratu Ud re Udre's (go-flJi). He notably continued the practice cannibalism through Fiji's ceding to Great Britain, and ate nearly 900 people. The legends tell that after Udre Udre had been killed and buried, he had 872 stones placed around his tomb representing all of the people he had eaten. In conclusion, the Oceanic world is a complex one. With rich and diverse cultures thriving in tiny islands only miles away from one another. The archipelagos in Polynesia have mostly the same tales of creation, and the same gods.Melanesia compares greatly to Polynesian culture, with a few exceptions. With these shared beliefs and traditions, Oceanic life has united culture and history. The stories and legends of Fiji, Easter Island, Tahiti and Samoa are perhaps rarely ever passed onto other regions because of their location. These islands are almost isolated from the rest of world, so how could stories travel so far over thousands of miles of ocean? Other areas of the world also do not share much in co mmon with these islands like rt and weather, which makes their stories not relatable.But maybe, it's for the better. If there were no diversity and culture in the world, there would be no point of different continents. It would be almost like Pangaea all over again. Different languages, foods, clothing, weather, technology, and architecture are what keeps the world so interesting and worth living in. If we already knew everything life had in store for us,