#Polynesian Mythology

[mythologyolympics]

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

Propaganda!

Galatea is the post-antiquity name popularly applied to the statue carved of ivory alabaster by Pygmalion of Cyprus, which then came to life in Greek mythology. The king Pygmalion is a sculptor who fell in love with a marble statue he had crafted with his own hands. In answer to his prayers, the goddess Aphrodite brought it to life and united the couple in marriage. The daemon of Pygmalion's goddess, animating her cult image, bore him a son Paphus—the eponym of the city of Paphos—and Metharme. Of "this ecstatic relationship", Meyer Reinhold has remarked, "there may be lurking a survival of the ancient cult of the Great Goddess and her consort".

Māui or Maui is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity (Demigod) and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main exploits remain relatively similar. Tales of Māui's exploits and adventures are told throughout most of Polynesia; they can be traced back as far west as islands off New Guinea. Some exploits common to most Polynesian traditions are stealing fire for humans from the underworld, fishing up islands with his magical hook, and capturing the Sun to lengthen the days. There is a great deal of variation in the representations of Māui from nation to nation, from being a handsome young man, to being an old wise wandering priest. Although Māui was said to be very rascally or "kolohe", many of his deeds were to better the lives of his fellow people.

[blackcur-rants]

Ideas for albums the Mechs could have done alongside their already existing ones

01. Cyberpunk retelling of events from "The Shahnameh" wherein King Jamshid and his Chief Engineer Mirdas create a powerful super-computer called the Zahhak to help them run their city...only for it to go crazy with power and absorb all the minds of the people into itself using a virus a la The Acheron before being defeated by the heroic hackers Kaveh and Fereydun (who are probably boyfriends in The Mechanisms Universe, because why not).

02. Film Noir retelling of the Hero Twins wherein they are detectives trying to bring down the Brotherhood of Xibalba crime syndicate society that runs their city.

03. Dickens crossover universe involving Fagin and the DeFarges as rival space pirates, Cartmanay and Twistperpip as polycules, Paul Dombey running a spaceship firm, the Dorrits having to escape from a prison planet, and Miss Havisham as a cyborg with Estella as her adopted daughter/repairwoman.

04. Steampunk crossover AU of all the Bronte works featuring Jane Eyre crushing on Helen Graham and queer tension between either Heathcliff and Rochester or between Heathcliff and Arthur Huntingdon or between Rochester and Arthur Huntingdon.

05. Retelling of a classic Shakespeare play, preferably one that hasn't already been adapted a billion times already.

06. Retelling of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" as a space opera about a war between different planets seeking to rule over the same solar system.

07. "Journey to the West" but it's about explorers on an unknown planet.

08. Polynesiian mythology retelling wherein Maui is a biio-engineer who keeps creating whole new planets and ecosystems by accident.

09. Space opera retelling of either "The Ramayana" or "The Mahabharata".

10. Russian mythology retelling about Marya Morevna and IIvan Tsarevic facing down a Koschei the Deathless who's actually a clone of King Cole alongside one of the Bogatyrs who in this retelling is in fact a former Rose Red.

11. Retelling of "Dream of the Red Chamber" wherein the house is a virtual reality computer simulation.

12. Steampunk retelling of "Les Miserables" featuring Javert as a cyborg.

13. Retelling of "War and Peace" with a Rose Red as Napoleon and Pierre trying to shoot down King Cole.

14. Sherlock Holmes but make it Film Noir.

15. Dracula or something Dracula related.

16. Snow Queen retelling.

@lady-asteria @carcosa-commune @cynicalclassicist @miralines @cinderswife

[bimonkee]

Just some old drawings of characters for the Polynesian Demi-gods in like the PJO universe and all that :]

[bestiarium]

The Aku-Aku [Rapa Nui mythology; Polynesian mythology]

In the mythology of the native Polynesian people of Easter Island, the Aku-Aku are a group of supernatural spirits. They resemble skeletal humanoid creatures but have the ability to disguise themselves as humans.

These beings were the guardians of the land and were fiercely territorial and dangerous. The idea that some parts of land belong to a specific Aku-Aku is still alive today in some parts of Rapa Nui. These were dangerous spirits and more than one islander had been devoured by a hungry Aku-Aku. However, they could be defeated and even killed by mortal warriors. But despite the danger they posed, these beings were not inherently malicious and benevolent Aku-Aku existed as well. For example, if one of these spirits took a liking to you, you might find that all of your chores had magically been done overnight.

Iva-Atua, a term for a shaman-like class of people, were believed to be capable of communication with these spirits.

At least some of the Aku-Aku spirits are believed to have been humans in life who died and became supernatural undead creatures, but as far as I can tell, this doesn’t apply to all of the Aku-Aku. The first of these beings were said to have arrived on Rapa Nui with Hotu Matu’a, the legendary first king of the island, who supposedly came from a landmass to the northwest of the island (which has long since sunk into the ocean). It is a native tradition to mention the names of Aku-Aku before eating a meal, and if you have guests, it is considered good manners to mention their Aku-Aku (the spirits of the region they came from) as well.

There is a story about two Aku-Aku named Hitirau and Nuko te Mangó, who were carelessly sleeping without their human disguise. By pure coincidence, Tu’ukoiho, son of the legendary king Hotu Matu’a, found the two spirits while he was taking a stroll.

(As a small note: Hotu Matu’a and his son were Ariki, a term for a noble ruling class that roughly translates to ‘nobility’ or ‘royalty’. I used the term ‘king’.)

He found it a truly remarkable sight, as these people were sleeping but they did not have any intestines or flesh on their bodies. Clearly these were supernatural beings! Tu’ukoiho decided to leave without disturbing them, and then a third Aku-Aku spirit showed up and awoke the sleeping spirits. ‘Wake up!’ he yelled, ‘for you were not wearing a disguise and now the mortal Ariki has seen your true, miserable bodies!’

Hitirau and Nuko te Mangó were distraught at this news. They quickly got up and, after donning human flesh and blood like mortal people wear clothes, hatched a plan to get out of their situation. The two spirits, now unrecognizable as anything but two normal humans, deduced which way the prince must have gone. They took a shortcut and cut off his path, pretending to be innocent travelers.

‘Well met, oh noble Ariki!’ said one of the spirits. ‘The same good tidings to you, and to your companion over there’, the prince replied politely. ‘Tell us, noble Ariki,’ asked the spirit, ‘have you seen any strange things on your travels today?’ But the prince denied this. ‘Me? I haven’t seen anything weird or unordinary today.’

The spirits said their goodbyes and both parties continued on their path. But they were not fully satisfied and resolved to try again. This time, the prince met a group of four normal human travelers (again, these were magical Aku-Aku in human disguises) and again he was asked about the strange things that he saw on his path that morning. But like the first time, he denied having seen anything particularly weird. The spirits tried a third time, now disguised as a party of ten travelers, but the results were the same.

Tu’ukoiho arrived at his house in Hangapoukura. When night fell, a huge mob of Aku-Aku spirits stealthily approached the building and listened closely for any conversation, but the prince didn’t say a word about the two skeletal spirits he saw that morning. Now finally satisfied that the Ariki had not seen them asleep, and that the whole thing must have been a misunderstanding, the spirits left.

But the Ariki had seen them, and gathered wood and rope. With great skill and patience, the mortal noble fashioned small puppets in the likeness of the skeletal spirits he had seen, and made them into marionettes using the rope. These were the first kavakava moai, a common type of statuette or puppet from Rapa Nui.

Sources: Sebastian Englert and Te Pou Huke, 2001, Legends of Easter Island, Anthropological Museum of Easter Island, 291 pp., p.103-107, p.288. Dreckmann, C. Z., 2011, Familia, propiedad y herencia en Rapa Nui, Anales de la Universidad de Chile, No. 2, pp. 165-185. Williamson, R. W., 1937, Religion and Social Organization in Central Polynesia, California University Press, 340 pp., p. 33-35. (image source 1: Ricardo Candiani) (image 2: a now famous statue of an Aku-Aku in the British Museum)

[thegeekytaurus]

New Moana 2 News. Storm god villain and Kakamora ally.

according to some news, during the Tautai ceremony Moana will receive a vision from the last Tautai warning her about Motufetu, the island that connects all Polynesian islands and the jealous god of storms who guards it.

aside from that, alongside with Loto(the girl), Kele(the old man), Moni(the young man), Maui, HeiHei and Pua, Moana will be also accompanied by Kotu.

This is Kotu the Kakamora.

Based on what I read, Kotu(described as being like Moana personality wise) will join Moana and her crew after an encounter with the giant clam monster we saw in the teaser.

Now as excited I am for this movie, I have 2 concerns:

I hope the god of storms will be an actual evil villain with a great villain song like the classic ones and not one that is sympathetic.

With the amount of characters we will be focusing on, lets not have a repeat of Asha's 7 friends. Hope each one will be flashed out.

[allmythologies]

a-z myths: wahini hai (polynesian mythology)

wahini hai is a demonic mother figure who steals and eats children in the night.

[ladyvictoriart]

'Tangaroa appears before wayward Maori boatmen'

[zabchan]

answer pt. 2, because i went hard on a tangent when i first tried answering.

this shot appears in a japanese moana 2 trailer with zero context. either maui is on motonui in the sequel, someone is dreaming, or homeboy invented the first life-sized cardboard cutout.

My shipper heart really hopes Maui does get a chance to hang out with moana at home. and not just for the "Meet the Parents" cliche. Maui may pretend to be a Lone Wolf, but within 2 seconds of meeting him anyone can see the big demi-guy is an extrovert. He needs public facetime. He lives for attention. Get this poor man-child a support structure. Get him some therapy too while you're at it, but baby steps.

also i really love the headcanon that tui is gonna fanboy the heck out when he meets maui because COCONUTS. this is the guy who made COCONUTS happen. i need to draw tui and moni decked out in maui fanclub gear, tui thrusting a signed coconut aloft like he personally wrestled 3 other baseball fans for it.

[moni at moana's front door like "have you heard the word about our lord and savior who slowed down the sun?"]

also moana's front door is a full sized maui tapestry ahhhhh my heart

ye olde polynesian body pillow

havent seen any in-movie preview clips of maui meeting lil sis simea yet. :(

but there is this adorable not-canon promo

but i wouldnt put any hopes on them meeting being canon based on this. similar splash promos were put out for the first film with maui & pua interacting, and we all know that didnt end up happening.

i have a micro-fic about them meeting sitting in my google drive, just waiting for me to finish the accompanying drawing though, so look forward to that :D

AS FOR maui's background,

irl polynesian history/tradition/mythology gives us plenty. disney might not go these routes, but given how well theyve treated his stories so far (imo extremely well), theres a great chance the broad strokes of his family life makes it into the disney canon.

with the caveat that every pacific island east of new guinea has its own culture and nuances they bring to the maui legends, there are enough overlaps to form a general 'myth-maui origin story'.

Maui was born the youngest of several (1-4) brothers and a debatable amount of sisters (1-4). His father was chief or royalty or half-god or all of the above, his uncles and grandfather likely the same. some of his uncles are described as giants. Theres a tongan legend that Maui senior invented the Umu (the underground oven we see them use in moana) and kept the secret of it for himself and his immediately family, the island elites (ali'i). Maui the trickster thought that was a shitty elitist idea and stole the secret of underground fire to share with the other islanders. Maui's father shows up in several versions of maui's underworld exploits, usually the fire stealing one, and usually after maui senior is already dead.

[UmU what's this? OwO]

Maui's mom has variations of godliness herself. sometimes she's the goddess of tapa-making, sometimes she's the daughter or granddaughter of gods. sometimes she's the guardian of the door to the underworld, where she occasionally meets up with Maui's dead father. she cant join him down there, but Maui follows her one night and being half divine, he slips thru and meets his deceased relatives. Sometimes she's just a human woman who has 4-7 mouths to feed with a dead husband and unfortunately Maui the youngest is just one too many.

she cuts her hair, her topknot, and puts baby maui into it, throwing him at the mercy of the sea. most myths give her credit and say maui was mistaken for inviably premature or stillborn at this point, and that she didn't mean to murder her infant.

but most agree that it was from the sea that the gods found maui and raised him apart from his family, bestowing upon him strength and supernatural gifts. in myths where he's got godly parentage, his hook is made from the jawbone of one of these divine ancestors, usually a grandparent.

and then, at an age no one can quite agree on, maui is sent back. he meets his family again, his elder brothers all grown, his sisters mostly so. they all seem to be doing just fine without him. theyre upstanding community members, good fishermen, and the eldest is even chief. they dont believe maui the trickster is their brother at first, and it takes some timely memory jogging by mom to get them to accept him. the eldest maui bro is the most chill about it, but soon enough he too joins the ranks of the permanently peeved male maui-relatives. Our maui tries wowing them with feats of stength, cunning, magic- mostly he succeeds in making them jealous and angry. maui's tricks are all at their expenses. maui fouls their fishing lines, scares the fish, steals dessert, beats them silly in contests of strength.

the one thing they can do that he cant is fish. maui is terrible at it, resorts to stealing fish straight off their lines. maui is so bad at fishing that he gets his hook stuck in the floor of the ocean and pulls up an island, rather than the tuna he was aiming for. retroactively of course he claims he MEANT to do that-

but yeah. thats maui's home life.

maui's sister hina is way nicer to him. in one version of the sun pulling myth, she donates her hair to him to braid into the magic rope he lassos the sun with. the rapunzel-flower crossover potential is through the roof.

his mom was either terrible at names, calling all her sons 'maui' and her daughters' variations on Hina- or Hina is based on the word wahine, which is an intra-pacific term for generic womenly types. on any given island, in any particular telling you'll hear maui's mom called hina, his wives called hina, his sisters are called hina. makes it really fun tracking maui's genealogy let me tell you. it also explains why the woman in the eel story is anyone from maui's mom to his aunt to his sister to his sister-in-law to his wife to his daughter.

I'm sure everyone has that one relative who always mistakes them for another, sometimes cycling thru the entire family roster like a drop down box before hitting on the right name. "and this is my sister-in-law hina- i mean sina- hine? hima? Irena?" a hundred years or or of that and i guess i cant blame maui for making it easy on himself and just calling all the women of his family Hina.

not sure if this proves that maui was an overprotective brother to his favorite sister, but one of the more common stories is maui fucking around with his brother-in-law. the 100% mortal brother in law doesn't have a consistent name, but lets call him Doug. Doug hangs out with maui at hina's insistence. they go fishing together (bad plan) and predictibly, doug is slightly better at it than maui. hje also apperantly talks a lot, and it gets on maui's last nerve. maui picks doug up by the mouth and stretches his face & body out hill he has a muzzle and walks on all fours. maui then tattoos doug's lips black. This seems unnecessary but its the maori explanation for why dogs have black lines around their mouths so go figure. anyway, maui creates the first Dog out of doug then gives the creature back to his sister, saying he doesn't mind doug so much this way. Hina is horrified and runs away, inspiring her own epic adventures that have nothing to do with her brother until he shows up at the very end to pick her up in time for mom's funeral. at least thats the version i remember. my source material for hina's adventures in a post-dog world is very textbook dry and hard to parse. maybe one day i'll try rereading it and giving it a jazzy paraphrasing for yall. wont that be nice?

[pictured: artists rendition of maui's sisters and shitty-brother-in-law. circa 1200 BCE. probably. ]

TLDR Maui is a dick to all his family except his mom. and once maybe even his mom.

[nogetron]

Maui, the great Polynesian hero. Maui was birthed stillborn, his mother distraught and in grief, wrapped her child in her hair and cast him into the ocean. Instead of drowning him in the abyss, the ocean cradled Maui and breathed life into him, granting him the status of demigod. The ocean carried Maui until he was found by a great chieftain who was able to deliver him to his mother safely. Maui was the youngest of five brothers, due to Maui’s stillbirth he was smaller and thinner than his brothers. Maui’s brothers refused to let him fish with them, even after Maui managed to sneak onto their canoe they still refused to let him bait his hook. In response Maui baited the hook with his blood and threw it out into the water. Each of Maui’s catches pulled the land of the earth from the depths of the sea, much to the astonishment of his brothers. Maui performed many more feats of greatness, like pulling the sun, stealing fire from the underworld, creating coconuts, lifting the sky and making birds visible.

Maui is celebrated as a hero among a vast amount of Polynesian peoples, such as the Māori, Hawaiians, Tongans along with many others. Among the Samoans, Maui was called Tiʻitiʻi, though some posit that they’re separate. Maui’s most popular myth is of his lifting of the land, this myth is nigh universal in Maui’s many depictions and is seen as his greatest achievement. Like many other culture heroes, Maui was seen as a trickster. It’s theorized that the archetype of the trickster exists both as a comparison between right and wrong and as a way to challenge the traditional cultural norms and values. His status as a trickster links him to many other beings, such as the African Anansi, the Irish Lugh, and the Native American Nanabozho and Coyote.

[justagingerwithredhair]

I have made a fascinating discovery!

I was flipping through my encyclopedia of spirits and came across a Polynesian God named "Ku"

Yep. Ku.

Needless to say, I read the entry, and I think it's plausible that Octopath Traveler II took some inspiration from this diety! I'll attach a photo copy of the text and a transcription below.

-----------------------------------------------

The first page reads as follows...

Ku

Also known as: Tu

Origin: Polynesia

Ku is a warrior spirit; Lord of War as well as a spirit of abundance of the sea. The essence of male generative power; he is the spirit of testosterone. In Hawaiian cosmology, Ku is the essence of masculinity, as Hina epitomizes feminine energy. Ku is among the four major Hawaiian deities alongside Kane, Kanaloa and Lono but was mainly venerated, at least in his warrior form, by the elite. Formal ceremonies were reserved for the nobility and priesthood and were performed under severe taboos. The practice of human sacrifice seems to have been introduced to Hawaii largely by Ku's priesthood. King Kamehameha worshiped Ku as Lord of War in his eventually successful efforts to unite the Hawaiian Islands under his rule.

Ku has many paths and aspects ranging from brutal and bloodthirsty to nurturing and kind. He is the patron of ear, fishing, forests and certain types of agriculture and sorcery.

Ku's name means "to strike" or "to stand." He is a versatile, many faceted spirit with concerns other than war. He was also the patron of Hawaii's master canoe builders and wood—

-----------------------------------------------

The second page reads as follows...

workers, considered a sacred occupation. Ku dwells in deep places: the depths of the forest and the sea.

Manifestations: Ku can manifest in any form he likes; he is a master shape-shifter. However, common forms include man, caterpillar, and cucumber

Iconography: Fierce carved wood tiki statues

Botanicals: Breadfruit; coconut; cucumber: 'Ohi'a lehua tree (Metrosideros collina; M. macropus): images of Ku were traditionally carved from this wood

Color: Red

Direction: East

Sacred animal: Pig; eel

Bird: Hawk

Planet: The rising sun

Time: The first, second and third days of each month

See also: Akua; Haumea, Hina; Kanaloa, Kane; Kihawahine; Kukauakahi; Ku'ulaki; Lono

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It's almost impossible not to see the parallels here! This book is called Encyclopedia of Spirits: the ultimate guide to the magic of fairies, genies, demons, ghosts, gods & goddesses by Judika Illes for those who are curious! ^^

[actuallyastingray]

I need a break from my usual posts, so have this thought experiment instead

I'm curious as to why every time a cartoon chooses to focus on using either divine figure or mythological monsters as characters or a plot element, they choose either Greek/Roman, Chinese, Japanese, Norse, or Egyptian as if those stories haven't already been told via cartoon, movie, or comics hundreds of times already. Not that I dislike this is any way, but I'm wonder that why in an era where diversity and uniqueness are paramount in media, why has nobody picked up other pantheons of deities to make shows about?

How about a cartoon where two Irish siblings invoke a spell left to them by their grandmother that accidentally resurrects the demigod warrior Cu Chulainn? Now you have an ancient symbol of Irish culture trying to adjust to the modern era all whilst protecting two disfunction kids from the myriad of cryptids their spell also awakened.

Or how about a Haitian girl who lives in New Orleans striking a deal with a god in order to impress the guy she loves? After she pays back her debt in full, she finds out that, since mortals have been historically terrible at paying off debts while alive, her soul has already been auctioned off to an unknown spirit. You now have a teenager searching the spirit realms with Baron Samedi and Maman Brigette for the Lwa who holds her contract.

How about a Hawaiian native teenager who finds out he is the demigod son of Pele? Cool as this sounds, his aunt Nāmaka does not allow him to leave the island and constantly sends monsters from the sea after him thinking he will wake up his mother and destroy the island. Demigod teen ends up caught in the middle of a centuries long family feud and has to piece his godly family back together.

What about a Māori girl who discovers she is the descendant of Kupe? When a plague ravages her home, she is forced to repeat Kupe's grand voyage, taking her to all matter of mystical and magical islands in order to find the cure.

Or what about a teenage girl from India who, while reciting the Ramayana, brings Rama and Hanuman to life in her hometown? She now helps Rama and Hanuman search for lady Sita and fight off Ravana's armies who are searching for her as well.

[the-swift-tricker]

my take of tricksters from different myths and folklore

maui (polynesian mythology)/ sun wukong (chinese mythology)/ loki (norse mythology)/ anansi (african mythology)/ hermes (greek mythology)/ reynard the fox (european folklore)

[disneyboot]

[15pantheons]

Pele: When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your darn lemons, what am I even supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Pele lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the person who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm gonna get my sisters to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!

[sophiesdailywritingprompts]

Prompt #48: Date a God for a Day

The gods have come down to Earth. That is, all gods to have ever existed in human stories throughout the world (Greek, Norse, Japanese, Hindu, Egyptian, Polynesian, Chinese, Celtic, Germanic, Persian, Babylonian, African, Mayan, Inca, Aztec, Finnic, Native American, Buddhist, Australian Aboriginal, etc.). They are fascinated by how human culture has evolved and - after outlawing war and ensuring everyone’s living standard goes up just by being a huge, magical deterrent to evil - decide to spend some time among humans. Cue strange game shows such as “Date a God For a Day”. Your character is the lucky winner of one such blind date, with a deity of your choosing.