GODS INFERIOR, OR HOUSEHOLD GODS.
1. ALOIMASINA--_Child of the Moon._
This was the name of a household god, and seen in the moon. On the
appearance of the new moon all the members of the family called out:
"Child of the moon, you have come." They assembled also, presented
offerings of food, had a united feast, and joined in the prayer:
"Oh, child of the moon!
Keep far away
Disease and death."
They also prayed thus before leaving the house to go to battle:
"Oh, child of the moon!
Bury up your hollows
And stumps of trees
And lumpy stones
For our running at ease."
2. APELESA--_Sacred fulness._
1. In one family this god was incarnate in the turtle. While one of
the family dared not partake, he would help a neighbour to cut up and
cook one; only while he was doing that, he had a bandage tied over his
mouth lest some embryo turtle should slip down his throat, grow up,
and cause his death.
2. In another family Apelesa spoke at times through an old man. When
an oven of food was opened the first basket was hung up on the outside
of one of the posts of the house for the god. If the rats, or a dog,
or any hungry mortal took it in the night, it was supposed that
Apelesa chose to come in _that_ form for his offering. He was also
considered the guardian of the family, and if any other gods came
about he frightened them away.
3. In another family a woman called Alaiava, or _means of
entertainment_, was priestess of Apelesa. She prayed at parturition
times, and in cases of severe illness. Her usual mode of acting the
doctor was, first of all, to order down all the cocoa-nut leaf
window-blinds of one end of the house. She then went into the darkened
place. Presently that end of the house shook as if by an earthquake,
and when she came out she declared what the disease was, and ordered
corresponding treatment; the result was that, "some recovered, and
some died."
In this family the first basket of cooked food was also sacred to the
god, but their custom was to take it and hang it up in the large house
of the village where passing travellers were accustomed to call and
rest. No one of the village dared to touch that basket without
risking the wrath of the god. Any passing _stranger_, however, was as
welcome to partake as if he had been specially sent for it by Apelesa.
3. ASOMUA--_First Day._
This was a household god, and particularly useful to the family in
detecting and telling out the name of the thief when anything was
missed. He was called _first day_, as it was supposed that he existed
in the world before mortals.
4. LEATUALOA--_The long god, or the centipede._
This was the name of a god seen in the centipede. A tree near the
house was the residence of the creature. When any one of the family
was ill, he went out with a fine mat and spread it under the tree, and
there waited for the centipede to come down. If it came down and
crawled _under_ the mat, that was a sign that the sick person was to
be covered over with mats and buried. If, however, it crawled on the
top of the mat, that was a sign of recovery.
5. O LE AUMĀ--_The red liver._
This family god was seen, or incarnate, in the wild pigeon. If any
visitor happened to roast a pigeon while staying there, some member of
the household would pay the penalty by being done up in leaves, as if
ready to be baked, and carried and laid in the _cool_ oven for a
time, as an offering to show their unabated regard to Aumā.
The use of the reddish-seared bread-fruit leaf for any purpose was
also insulting to this deity. Such leaves were in common use as
_plates_ on which to hand a bit of food from one to another, but that
particular family dared not use them under a penalty of being seized
with rheumatic swellings, or an eruption all over the body called
tangosusu, and resembling chicken-pox.
6. IULAUTALO--_Ends of the taro leaf._
To this family god the _ends_ of leaves and other things were
considered sacred, and not to be handled or used in any way. In daily
life it was no small trouble to this particular household to cut off
the ends of all the taro, bread-fruit, and cocoa-nut leaves which they
required for culinary purposes. Ends of taro, yams, bananas, fish,
etc., were also carefully laid aside, and considered as unfit to be
eaten as if they were poison. In a case of sickness, however, the god
allowed, and indeed required, that the patient should be fanned with
the _ends_ of cocoa-nut leaflets.
7. O LE ALII O FITI--_The Chief of Fiji._
This was the name of a god in a certain household, and present in the
form of an eel, and hence the eel was never used by them as an article
of food. This god was supposed to be unusually kind, and never
injured any of the family. They showed their gratitude by presenting
the first fruits of their taro plantation.
8. LIMULIMUTA--_Sea-weed._
This was the name by which another protector was known. If any members
of the family went to fight at sea, they collected some sea-weed to
take with them. If in pursuit of a canoe, they threw out some of it to
hinder the progress of the enemy, and make the chase successful in
obtaining a decapitated head or two. If the enemy tried to pick up any
of this deified sea-weed it immediately sank, but rose again and
floated on the surface if one of its friends paddled up to the spot.
9. MOSO'OI.
This is the name of a tree (_Conanga Odorata_), the yellow flowers of
which are highly fragrant. In one place it was supposed to be the
habitat of a household god, and anything aromatic or sweet-scented
which the family happened to get was presented as an offering.
At any household gathering the god was sent for to be present. Three
different messengers had to go at short intervals, as it was not
expected that he would come before the _third_ appeal or entreaty for
his presence.
10. FATUPUAA MA LE FEE--_The pig's heart and the octopus._
Another family supposed that two of their gods were embodied in the
said heart and octopus. Men, women, and children of them were most
scrupulous never to eat either the one or the other, believing that
such a meal would be the swallowing of a germ of a living heart or
octopus growth, by which the insulted gods would bring about death.
11. PU'A.
This is the name of a large tree (_Hernandia Peltata_). A family god
of the same name was supposed to live in it, and hence no one dared to
pluck a leaf or break a branch.
The same god was also supposed to be incarnate in the octopus, and
also in the land crab. If one of these crabs found its way into the
house, it was a sign that the head of the house was about to die.
12. SAMANI.
This was the name of a family god. It was seen in the turtle, the sea
eel, the octopus, and the garden lizard. Any one eating or injuring
such things had either to be _sham_ baked in an unheated oven, or
drink a quantity of rancid oil as penance and a purgative. This god
predicted that there was a time coming when Samoa would be filled
with foreign gods.
13. SATIA.
1. In one place the member of the family supposed to be the priest of
the god was noted for cannibalism. At times he would cry out furiously
and order those about him to be off and get him some of his "sacred
food." He professed to be doctor as well as demon. A great chief when
ill was once taken to him, and the doctor's bill for a cure was the
erection of a mound of stones, on the top of which a house was to be
built. The bill was paid by the retinue of the chief.
2. In another family it was supposed that their god Satia had the
power to become incarnate in a man or a woman. If he wished to go to a
particular woman, he became a man; and if he desired a man, he changed
into a woman.
14. SENGI VAVE--_Snatch quickly._
An old man named Sengi, or _snatch_, was an incarnation of this
household god. All the fine mats and other valuables were in some
mysterious way under his control. On returning from any kind of daily
work in the bush every one on entering the house had to salute him, as
the representative of the god, in some apologetic phrase, such as "I
beg your pardon." If any one omitted this mark of respect, the
penalty was the disappearance of a fine mat from the family bundle
without any one knowing how it was taken.
15. SOESAI.
This was the name of a household god in some families. In one, the god
was seen in the domestic fowl. In another, the incarnations were the
eel, the octopus, and turtle. Prayers for life and recovery were
offered in cases of great danger, and also at child-birth.
16. SI'U--_Extremity or end._
The family in which this god was worshipped said that he appeared in
the form of a _skull_ once a year, about the month of May. Lemana, or
the Powerful, was the name of the priest. If in time of famine or
pestilence the family had been preserved thanks were specially offered
to Lemana for having been so successful in his pleadings with the god.
17. SINA 'AI MATA--_Sina the eye-eater._
This god was incarnate in the bird called Ve'a, and was the juvenile
scarecrow of the family. "Do not make such a noise; Sina, the
eye-eater, will come and pick out your eyes." The eyes of fish were
sacred to this god, and never eaten by any of the family.
18. TONGO.
1. In one family this god was incarnate in the bat, and was supposed
to be specially attentive to turmeric. When a party of women were met
to grate the root and prepare some of this native dye and cosmetic
they usually had some food together. If at such a time a woman
concealed a tit-bit to eat by the sly, when she came to put it to her
mouth it had been changed into _turmeric_ by the anger and power of
Tongo.
2. The stinging ray fish was the incarnation of Tongo in another
family. If they heard of any neighbour who had caught a fish of the
sort, they would go and beg them to give it up and not to cook it. A
refusal would be followed by a fight.
3. In another family Tongo was incarnate in the mullet, and the
penalty for eating that fish by any of them was a disease ending in a
squint.
19. TUIALII--_King of Chiefs._
1. In one family this god was greatly praised as being a good and kind
deity. In a time of scarcity, for instance, he led them to some place
in the bush where they could dig up plenty of wild yams.
2. In another family this god was prayed to for life and health before
the evening meal; an offering of a blazing fire was essential to the
success of the prayer, which ran as follows:--
"This is our fire to you, it burns bright; other fires are dim and
going out; send these families to the lower regions, but give us
life and health."
The sea eel, octopus, and mullet were incarnations of this god. He
was also seen in the _ends_ of banana leaves. If any one used the end
of a banana leaf as a cap, baldness was the punishment. All the
children born in the family were called by the name of the god.
20. TUIPANGOTA--_The King of Criminals._
A household god, and the special guardian of a particular family
against thieving. If any thing was stolen the unknown culprit was
given over by prayer to be put to death in some way by Tuipangota. A
raised stone platform was erected in the house on which he was
supposed to sit, and close beside it was another to serve the purpose
of an altar, on which offerings were laid.
21. TAUMANUPEPE--_Fight creature butterfly._
This family god was incarnate in butterflies. Any one of that
household catching or killing these beautiful winged insects were
liable to be struck dead by the god.
In another family this god was supposed to have three mouths. There it
was forbidden to drink from a cocoa-nut shell water-bottle which had
all the three eyes or openings perforated. Only one, or at the most
two, apertures for drinking were allowed. A third would be a mockery,
and bring down the wrath of his butterflyship.
22. ULAVAI--_Fresh-water prawn, or crayfishes._
This was a household god in a family in one of the villages of Aana. A
woman had been bathing and brought on a premature event which happens
sometimes. When she told her friends they went to search for the
child. Nothing could be seen, however, but an unusual number of prawns
or crayfishes, into which they supposed the infant had been changed.
And so they commenced to regard the crayfish as the incarnation of a
new household god, gave it food, and offered prayers before it for
family prosperity.
To these may be added the names of forty-six other gods, making in all
one hundred and ten, but of whom I have little to say different from
the descriptions of Samoa Zoolatry, etc., already given. A few more
are referred to in the Cosmogony and other details, making up the
number of Samoan deities of which I have heard to about a hundred and
twenty, all claiming and receiving the two essentials of
religion--something to be believed and something to be done.