Tangaroa- Polynesian GodDeity"God of the Sea"

Ta'aroa and the Cosmic Egg

In Tahitian tradition, Tangaroa is known as Ta'aroa, the self-created supreme being who existed before all else. In the beginning there was nothing but darkness and Rumia, the cosmic egg. Within this shell Ta'aroa dwelt alone, the only consciousness in existence. He had no father, no mother, no companion.

Finally Ta'aroa broke free from the egg. Finding himself in limitless void, he used the fragments of Rumia to build the cosmos. One half of the shell became the dome of the sky; the other became the foundation rock of the world. From his own body he fashioned creation: his spine became mountain ridges, his intestines became clouds, his flesh became the richness of the earth, his feathers became vegetation. Having created the physical world, he brought forth the other gods from himself.

Tangaloa and the Bird Tuli

In Samoan tradition, Tangaroa appears as Tagaloa, the supreme god who presided over the primordial ocean. In the beginning there was only sea and sky. Tagaloa dwelt in the expanse of heaven and sent down a bird, Tuli, to search the waters for dry land. Tuli flew and flew but found nothing. Only endless waves in every direction. The bird returned exhausted and complained that there was no place to rest.

Tagaloa cast a rock into the sea, and it became the first island: Manu'a, the most ancient of the Samoan islands. From this first land, other islands arose. Tuli became the agent of further creation, and from the interaction of rock, earth, and divine will, human beings eventually emerged.

Son of Earth and Sky

In Māori tradition, Tangaroa is not the supreme creator but one among several sons of Ranginui and Papatūānuku. When Tāne succeeded in forcing the parents apart and light flooded the world, each brother claimed a domain. Tangaroa chose the sea, descending into the ocean depths and claiming dominion over every creature beneath the waves. The great whales that sang through deep waters, the sharks that patrolled the reefs, the shoals of fish that moved in silver clouds through the currents: all were his offspring or subjects.

The War with Tūmatauenga

After the separation, Tāwhirimātea the storm god attacked his brothers in fury. Most of the gods fled. Tūmatauenga stood firm and defeated the storms. Having proven himself, Tū then turned against each brother who had failed to support him. He wove nets and fashioned hooks, built canoes and learned the ways of the sea, and raided Tangaroa's domain. He pulled fish from the ocean and ate them: the origin of fishing and of humanity's predatory relationship with the sea.

Tangaroa never forgave this violation. When fishermen cast their nets, they are soldiers in Tū's ancient war. When storms capsize canoes and drown sailors, Tangaroa takes his revenge. When the sea surges against the land and swallows the works of men, Tangaroa remembers what was taken from him.

Father of Fish and Reptiles

All sea creatures belong to Tangaroa. But in Māori tradition, when Tāne created the forests and filled them with birdsong and shelter, some of Tangaroa's children fled the sea and hid among the trees. These refugees became the lizards, geckos, and tuatara, reptiles that inhabit the land but retain their aquatic ancestry in cold blood and scaly skin.

Tangaroa regarded the loss as theft. Tāne sheltered the refugees as his own. In retaliation, Tangaroa's waves continually gnaw at the coastline, undermining Tāne's forests where they meet the sea, toppling trees into the surf. And humans, children of Tāne, use the fallen trees to build canoes, carrying the war back into Tangaroa's waters.