Ta'aroa
Ta'aroa OceaniaOn the island of Tahiti, he was the supreme being and the creator deity. He was the author of life and death; he was called Rua-i-tupra, ‘source of growth’; his shadows were the whale and the blue shark. Out of his own body Ta'aroa built the first fare-atua, ‘god's house’, which became the model for all temples. This house was called the bed of the great lord, roi-i-te-fatu-Ta'aroa. In 1769, on a visit to Tahiti, Captain Cook noted that ‘the general resemblance between this repository and the Ark of the Lord among Jews is remarkable’.
In ancient times the people were afflicted by a great drought and they exclaimed: ‘Ta'aroa, the world maker, whose curse is death, is angry: he is consuming us!’ So their king ordered the priests to pray for deliverance, but they could not please the god. Then the king said that they must tremble and abase themselves by a human sacrifice, because the gods liked human flesh, which was...
[The entire page is 377 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
