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from notes archived at Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai'i |
Category: | Religion | Topic: | 'Aitu | Consultant: | Rosiama | |
Maraasetariagfiri is a Noa'tau 'aitu who is the dead ancestor of several Noa'tau people, including Rosiana, Clara, Maraf, etc. He comes to members of the family and tells them things they wish to know. Rosiana said that if they still believed in this 'aitu, when the late Maraf died in Suva, one of the family would call upon it, and ask him about the circumstances of the case, and it was the spirit of a dead ancestor of this man. When this spirit and other family spirits ended their conferences they always said, "Remember a powerful god is coming to you at some time." | ||||||
Category: | Religion | Topic: | 'Atua (1) | Consultant: | ||
The word 'atua means dead people, ghosts or souls. Everything that is seen and is not alive is considered 'atua. 'Atua also means one killed in war or defeated in wrestling. | ||||||
Category: | Religion | Topic: | 'Atua (2) | Consultant: | Undisclosed | |
When a person died he at once became an 'atua. The spirit is the 'atua (spirit = 'ata). This 'atua was able to go about and the people would call their dead relatives to come and converse with them. They had great faith in the 'atua of their friends, and great faith in the 'atua of premature children and miscarriages. This was the most powerful 'atua. When a man is killed in war or beaten in wrestling, the winner says, "Ia ete 'atua" = He is my 'atua, but ete (my) is only used with food and drink. 'Otou is used otherwise. Is this an insult, to be eaten? | ||||||
Category: | Religion | Topic: | 'Atua (3) | Consultant: | ||
The women who died in chldbirth went to Jönfuha, a hill in Itu'ti'u. Their spirits travelled around the island about every day. One day they took (a man) Raumairo from the dilo tree in front of the tamura Vaimea in Oinafa and carried him to Jönfuha where he lived with them until he was an old man. He did not die when he was captured and thought the women were real. | ||||||
Category: | Religion | Topic: | 'Atua (4) | Consultant: | ||
At Feavai there is a place called Jönfuha where the souls of one boy and many women dance together. When another woman dies they always dance because they know that there is another spirit coming to join them. This is the song about them:
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Category: | Religion | Topic: | 'Atua (5) | Consultant: | |
Uarepa were crawling/creeping or spread out 'atua. They were seen at night. They were white and broad, crawling on the ground. One such inhabited a cave at Savlei. | uarepa = kind of 'atua having a broad flat body and many legs: acc.to some, a composite 'atua made up of the spirits of deceased infants (Churchward). | ||||
Category: | Religion | Topic: | 'Atua (6) | Consultant: | ||
There was a woman who lived in the bush at Raksa'a, a place just west of Savlei, who was a devil and flew about with a baby in her arms. People sometimes saw her at dawn, giving the baby a bath at a spring near the sea, and often heard the baby crying out when they passed near Raksa'a. The devil's name is Hanfufrahi. | ||||||
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