Varima-te-takere occupies the lowest interior of Avaiki (the underworld/origin-place) and is presented as the very beginning or generative substrate. In accounts attributed to Mangaian/Rarotongan tradition she was anxious for progeny and created six principal children by plucking three bits of flesh from each side of her body, which were moulded into forms that became the primary gods (commonly named Vatea/Avatea, Tinirau, Tango, Tumu-te-ana-oa, Raka, and Tu-metua). In some linked variants an earth-goddess (Papa) is described as plucked from her left side and later partnered with Vatea. A minority variant describes Varima-te-takere as formed within an egg-realm called Te Enua-teki; this egg-image is recorded as an alternate cosmological motif in some sources.
Sources consistently describe Varima-te-takere as occupying an extremely confined posture in her realm — so narrow that "her knees and chin touch, no other position is possible." William Wyatt Gill characterises her as "a female spirit (or demon) of flesh and blood." In at least one variant she is associated with an egg-realm (Te Enua-teki, "the Silent Land") and is said to have been formed inside an egg, giving rise to alternate cramped-womb and egg-origin images.
Her documented role is creative origination: she produces the principal gods and the ancestors of humankind by deliberately plucking portions of her own body and fashioning them into beings. Named offspring include Vatea (Avatea), Tinirau, Tango, Tumu-te-ana-oa, Raka and Tu-metua; some accounts add Papa as an island-specific variant. Ritually she is associated in chants with being fed raw taro "at appointed periods of worship," but beyond origination and occasional cultic feeding the sources record no additional supernatural powers.
Aitu (Māori)
Malevolent spirits in Māori tradition, often taking the form of plants or animals and associated with trouble-making and mischief. (Note: - Power tier should be Greater, not Lesser (Aitu being lesser gods in some cultures, but also associated with deity-level abilities) - Abilities: Add detail about their role as patrons of specific vil)
Aiwohikupua
Aiwohikupua is a personal name attested once in the supplied corpus of collected Hawaiian-language narrative material. The available sources provide only a short fragmentary occurrence of the name and no corroborating description, role, or attributes.
Akava'ine
Akava'ine is a Cook Islands Māori social and gender category for people assigned male at birth who live or present as women or otherwise occupy a gender-variant/transgender role. The term (Cook Islands Māori) literally means "to behave as a woman" and has both historical ethnographic mentions of gender-variant individuals in the Cook Islands and a contemporary use (since the 2000s) among Cook Islands Māori, including diaspora communities.
Akua
Akua is the Hawaiian common noun for a god, deity, or divine being; in the provided sources it functions as a lexical category applied to indigenous Hawaiian deities and as the translation-term for the Christian God in Hawaiian-language liturgy and scripture.
Ascalapha odorata (Hawaiian)
A nocturnal moth associated with death or misfortune in Hawaiian tradition, possibly tied to Central and South American folklore. (Note: - Summary should note that Ascalapha odorata's association with death/misfortune is found in Central and South American folklore, not explicitly mentioned in Hawaiian tradition. - Power tier: Primordi)
Atanua
Atanua is the Marquesan (Polynesian) goddess of the dawn who, in local cosmogony, is the consort of Atea and mother of the first man; she is also credited in the surviving summary accounts with creating the seas as the result of a miscarriage.
Atea
Atea is a primordial creator-associated being in multiple Polynesian traditions (Marquesas, Tuamotu, and Māori) closely associated with light and the ordering of the cosmos. Variants depict Atea as a self-originating giver of light, a progenitor who fathers gods and humans, or as the cosmic universe that is sex-differentiated into Heaven and Earth in one reported account.
Atua (Māori Deity)
In Māori mythology, Atua are supernatural beings believed to have created the world and all living things. They are considered rulers of the spiritual realm with powers over nature, fertility, and human destiny. (Note: 1. Power tier: Based on the abilities described (controlling nature, fertility, and human destiny), Atua likely belong to the Primordial power tier, not Greater. 2. Weaknesses: Add a specific weakness)
Avatea
Avatea (also spelled Vatea in some sources) is a primordial parent figure in Mangaian (Cook Islands) mythology, described as a lunar deity and god of light whose eyes were thought to be the Sun and the Moon, and who is called the father of gods and men in the island's origin narrative.
Binabinaaine
Binabinaaine (also spelled pinapinaaine) is a culturally specific third-gender role from the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati) that has been loaned into Tuvaluan usage; it denotes people assigned male at birth who adopt feminine gender expressions, social responsibilities, and roles and are regarded locally as neither men nor women but a distinct social category.
Dakuwaqa
Dakuwaqa is a Fijian shark deity and powerful sea-being who functions in tradition as both a fierce sea monster and a guardian of islands and fishermen. In recorded myths he can threaten islands in specific narratives but also becomes protector of places and is placated by offerings such as kava libations.
Earth deity
An earth deity is the personification or deification of the Earth in a culture's cosmology, often tied to fertility, the ground/land, chthonic or underworld aspects, and communal protection of territory or Dharma. Specific named examples include Papa (Polynesian/Maori), Geb (ancient Egyptian), and Prithivi (in Buddhist textual contexts).
Community Record
- [1]Varima-te-takere - Wikipedia. Wikipedia: Varima-te-takerewiki
- [2]Wikidata entry for Varima-te-takere. Wikidata: Q4008809other
- [3]VARIMA-TE-TAKERE - the Mangaian Goddess of Populating (Polynesian mythology). Godchecker: VARIMA-TE-TAKEREfolk
- [4]Varima-te-takere: The Primordial Mother of Cook Islands | Mythlok. Mythlok: Varima-te-takereother
- [5]Oceania Myths - What Ancient Legends Shaped The Pacific?. Bugbog: Oceania Myths (summary source)other
- [6]Papa (mythology) - Wikipedia. Wikipedia: Papa (mythology) — cited for variant linking of Papa as plucked from Varima-te-takerewiki
- [7]Goddesses and Gods: Goddess Varima Te Takere. Goddesses-and-Gods blog: Varima-te-takere (secondary summary)folk