Editing Rongo (section)

==Rongo in the Cook Islands==
In southern [[Cook Islands mythology]], Rongo was the god of agriculture and one of the children of [[Vatea]] (sky father) and [[Papa (mythology)|Papa]] (earth mother). His twin brother was [[Tangaroa]], the god of the sea. Rongo was the principal deity of Mangaia.

In the Mangaian legend of origin, Rongo's sons by his wife Tavake (his daughter by his wife Te-po-tatango), Rangi, Mokoiro, and Akatauira, lifted the island of Mangaia up out of the [[underworld]], becoming the first settlers and the ancestors of the [[Nga Ariki (Mangaian tribe)|Nga Ariki]] tribe,<ref>{{cite book|author=Alphons M.J. Kloosterman|date=1976|title=Discoverers of the Cook Islands and the Names they Gave|publisher=Cook Islands Library and Museum|page=16}}</ref> with Rangi becoming the first [[paramount chief|chief]]. The traditional name of the island was ''A'u A'u'', which literally means 'terraced', short for ''A'u A'u Nui o Rongo ki te Ao Marama'' ('Great Terraced Land of Rongo in the Land of Daylight').<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Mangaia|url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/rarotonga-and-the-cook-islands/mangaia/history|publisher=Lonely Planet|accessdate=8 February 2014|archive-date=5 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180505070152/https://www.lonelyplanet.com/rarotonga-and-the-cook-islands/mangaia/history|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Image:Taro leaves --by tom burke.jpg|right|thumb|220px|[[Taro]]]]
In Mangaian society, the ritual system to become the principal chief, ''Te Mangaia'', emphasized the worship of Rongo. The installation of a new ''Te Mangaia'' after a war of conquest of the ''puna'' lands required a human sacrifice to Rongo. He was both the god of war and god of taro [[irrigation]]; his regular peacetime offerings were parcels of cooked taro. The ideological linkages between Rongo, war, taro, and human sacrifice were complex: Rongo assured success in war and fertility of the land, but these required continual sacrifices in both human bodies and taro in an endless cycle.<ref>{{cite book|editor1=Jared Diamond |editor2=James A. Robinson|date=2010|title=Natural Experiments of History|publisher=Harvard University Press|pages=28–29|isbn=978-0674035577}}</ref> He would feast on the souls of those who died in battle.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220504165744/https://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/docs/Volume119/JPS_119_4_02.pdf#page=358 "A Prehistory of the Mangaian Chiefdom"], Richard Walter and Michael Reilly (2010), University of Otago</ref>

Principal places of Rongo's Mangaian worship were at two ''[[marae]]'' in the Keia district; the inland Akaoro marae, and the coastal Orongo marae,<ref name="MangaianSociety174"/><ref name="MangaianSociety175">{{cite book|author=Te Rangi Hiroa|date=1934|title=Mangaian Society|publisher=Museum Honolulu, Hawaii|page=175}}</ref> which was arguably the most important of all ''marae'' on the island, and constructed at the site of an abandoned village of the same name.<ref>[http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/docs/Volume119/JPS_119_4_02.pdf#page=349 "A Prehistory of the Mangaian Chiefdom"], Richard Walter and Michael Reilly (2010), University of Otago</ref> Both have since been destroyed along with many other symbols of old gods with the introduction of [[Christianity]] in the early 19th century. They were presided over by two hereditary High Priests of Rongo. At the Orongo marae a human sacrifice was laid on a smooth block of [[limestone]] or [[sandstone]] in front of Rongo's image.<ref>{{cite book|author=Gill, W. W.|date=1876|title=Life in the southern isles}} cited in {{cite book|author=Te Rangi Hiroa|date=1934|title=Mangaian Society|publisher=Museum Honolulu, Hawaii|page=173}}</ref> Human bone fragments can still be found among the remnants at the site. At the Akaoro marae, it is evident that a platform of [[Pandanus tectorius|hala]] wood was erected for human sacrifice, although no traces of raised platforms have been found.<ref name="MangaianSociety176cite6"/> In the Ivirua district was also Ivanui marae,<ref name="MangaianSociety175"/> but this was abandoned in favour of Orongo marae; it was referred to in an ''eva'' dance:

:{|
| '''Cook Islands Māori'''
| '''Translation'''

|-
| 
'''Aore oa te paepae o Rongo e taea,''<br/>
''E paepae tuatinitini tuamanomano,''<br/>
''Kota'i 'ua e tae''<br/>
''O te 'i'iri, o te rarama.''
| 
The platform of Rongo cannot be ascended,<br/>
A platform open to the thousands and to myriads,<br/>
One only can reach it,<br/>
Wisdom and learning<ref name="MangaianSociety176"/>
|}

A reference to Rongo is such:

:{|
| '''Cook Islands Māori'''
| '''Translation'''

|-
| 
'''A va te ua i ta'aruku''<br/>
''A tomo a Rongo i roto i tona 'are,''<br/>
''E 'are turu ariki.''

| 
When the rain is heard on the leaves,<br/>
Rongo enters into his house,<br/>
A house of chiefly prestige.<ref name="MangaianSociety177">{{cite book|author=Te Rangi Hiroa|date=1934|title=Mangaian Society|publisher=Museum Honolulu, Hawaii|page=177}}</ref>

|}