Editing Avatea

{{Short description|Moon god of the Cook Islands}}
[[File:Stone carving in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.jpg|thumb|200px|A basalt stone [[relief]] depicting Avatea in [[Rarotonga]], Cook Islands.]]

In [[Cook Islands mythology]], '''Avatea''' (also known as '''Vatea'''; meaning 'noon' or 'light')<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AT2ENAHoS28C&pg=PA91 Cook Islands Maori Dictionary; p.91]</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-TreMaor-c1-5.html#n168 |title=Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary |author=Edward Tregear |publisher=Lyon and Blair |location=Wellington |date=1891 |page=168 |via=NZETC}}</ref> was a [[lunar deity]] and the father of gods and men in [[Mangaia]]n myth of origin. His eyes were thought to be the Sun and the Moon;<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/mythsandsongsfr02mlgoog#page/n46/mode/2up |title=Myths and Songs from the South Pacific |author=William Wyatt Gill |publisher=Henry S. King & Co |location=London |date=1876 |page=44}}</ref> he was also known as the god of light.<ref>{{cite book |title=Cook Islands Custom |author=William Wyatt Gill |publisher=Institute of Pacific Studies |location=Fiji |date=1979 |page=23}}</ref>

==Mythology==
According to one myth, [[Varima-te-takere|Vari-Ma-Te-Takere]] (The primordial mother) created six children from her body. Three were plucked from her right side and three from her left. The first of which was Avatea, the first man, who was perceived as a [[moon god]]. As he grew he divided vertically into a [[Mythological hybrid|hybrid being]]; the right half was a man and the left half a fish.<ref>''Myth: a handbook'' by William G. Doty; p. 52-53 </ref><ref>Gill (1876), p. 1-3 </ref>

In song, the gods are called "children of Vatea". The same shortened phrase is in use at [[Rarotonga]]: at [[Aitutaki]] and [[Atiu]] the full form "Avatea" is used, e.g. ''kia kakā te mata o Avatea Nui'' meaning "when the eye of Great Avatea is open;" in other words "when the sun is in its full glory;" still in contrast with the darkness and gloom of [[Avaiki]], or the [[Underworld]].<ref>Gill (1876), p. 18</ref>

In Mangaian myth, a beautiful woman visits Vatea in his dreams, and he is certain that she ascends from the [[underworld]] to his side, but when he wakes he can never find her. He strews scraped [[coconut]] about, and, at last, watchers see a slender hand reach for the delicious food. Vatea catches her and discovers that her name is [[Papa (mythology)|Papa]], and marries her. [[Tangaroa]] and [[Rongo]] are their twin sons. Rongo's wife bears a daughter named Tavake. Tavake gives birth to Rangi, Mokoiro, and to Akatauira. Rangi pulls up Mangaia from the underworld, and becomes the first king of the island. His wife's name is Te-po-tatango.<ref>Tregear (1891), p. 392</ref>

==See also==
* [[Atea]]
*[[Wakea]], a god from [[Hawaii]]
*[[Rangi and Papa]], primordial parents in [[Māori mythology|Māori tradition]]
* [[List of lunar deities]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* ''Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology'' by Robert D. Craig, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1989; {{ISBN|0313258902}}
* ''Myths and Songs from the South Pacific'' by William Wyatt Gill; {{ISBN|9780766188518}}
* ''Myth: a handbook'' by William G. Dotty, 2004; {{ISBN|9780313326967}}

==External links==
* [http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/KloDisc-fig-KloDisc007a.html Vatea or Avatea — The father of gods and men] at [[NZETC]]

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[[Category:Cook Islands mythology]]
[[Category:Lunar gods]]
[[Category:Mythological human hybrids]]
[[Category:Legendary progenitors]]