The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world; vol. 2 of 2 / Being a comprehensive account of their manners and customs, and of their physical, social, mental, moral and religious characteristics

by J. G. Wood

CHAPTER CIX.
THE SOCIETY ISLANDS—Continued.
RELIGION.

RELIGION OF THE SOCIETY ISLANDS — THEIR IDOLS — PARALLEL BETWEEN THE IDOLATRY OF MODERN POLYNESIA AND ANCIENT SYRIA — ORO, THE GOD OF WAR — EXTENT OF HIS WORSHIP — LEGEND OF A SHELL — ORO’S MARAE, OR TEMPLE — THE HUMAN SACRIFICE — HIRO, THE GOD OF THIEVES — HIS WORSHIP AND APOTHEOSIS — TANE, THE CHIEF GOD OF HUAHINE — HIS MARAE AND HIS BED — DRESSING TANE — THE TREES AROUND HIS MARAE — HIS UNFORTUNATE TAIL — HIS HIGH PRIEST — AN INGENIOUS EVASION — TANE’S HALF-WAY HOUSE — TANE AVERSE TO BLOODSHED, BUT NEEDING THE SACRIFICE OF LIFE — TANE’S STONE CANOE — THE SHARK GOD, AND HIS WATER TEMPLE — APOTHEOSIS OF A LIVING MAN — SINGULAR PERFORMANCE OF THE INSPIRED PRIESTS — MOVABLE SHRINES.

We now come to the somewhat complicated subject of the religious belief of the Society Islanders. It is not an easy subject, involving, as it does, a great variety of national customs, including the all-pervading tapu, the burial of the dead, and the human sacrifices which accompany a funeral or are offered on great occasions. We will begin with a brief account of the religious system of these islanders, as far as it is possible to reduce to a system a subject so obscure in itself, and so little understood by the first travellers, who alone would be likely to witness and gain information about the various religious ceremonies.

As might be expected from these islanders, their religion is pure idolatry, or rather, it consists in the worship of certain images which are conventionally accepted as visible representatives of the invisible deities. The idols are of two different kinds, the one being rude imitations of the human figure, and the other, certain combinations of cloth, sinnet, and feathers, rolled round sticks, not having the slightest similitude to the human form, or being recognizable as idols except by those who understand their signification. The human figures are held as being inferior to other idols, and are considered in much the same light as the Lares and Penates of the ancient Romans. They are called by the name of Tu, and are supposed to belong to some particular family which is taken under their protection.

The other gods are, in the ideas of the natives, possessed of far more extensive powers, sometimes being supposed to watch over particular districts, or even particular islands. There are gods of the valleys and gods of the hills, exactly as we read was the belief of the Syrians nearly three thousand years ago: when Ahab had repulsed Benhadad, “the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, their gods are gods of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.” (1 Kings xx. 23.)

Fully believing in the protection which these deities are able to extend over their worshippers, it is no matter of wonder that the latter consider that they have a right to the good offices of their gods, and complain bitterly when anything goes wrong with them. So, if a god has been worshipped in some locality, and the ground becomes barren, or the cocoa-nut trees do not produce their full amount of fruit, or the district is devastated by war, the people think that their god is not doing his duty by them, and so they depose him, and take another in his place.

Although these gods are in a manner limited in their scope, many of them are acknowledged throughout the whole of the group of islands; and the chief, because the most dreaded, of them is Oro, the god of war.

This terrible deity is held in the greatest awe by his worshippers, and at one time was feared throughout the whole of the islands. His name was associated with sundry localities, and with many objects, so that his dreaded name was continually in the mouth of the people. There was even a small species of scallop shell which was held in such fear that not a native would dare to touch it. It was called tupe (pronounced toopeh), and was said to be the special property of Oro. When a man died, and was to be converted into a spirit, the body had to be entirely consumed. This was done by Oro, who scraped the flesh from the bones with a tupe shell, and thus ate the body.

The subsequent career of the spirit was rather peculiar. After issuing from Oro in its new form, it betook itself to a great lake in Raiatea, round which is a belt of trees, which from some cause are quite flat at the top, presenting a level surface like a leafy platform. On this place the newly enfranchised spirits danced and feasted, and after they had passed through that stage of their existence, they were transformed into cockroaches.

In Huahine there was an enormous marae, or sacred enclosure, dedicated to Oro. It was a hundred and fifty-six feet long by eighteen wide, and was built by a fence made of flat slabs of coral-rock placed on their edges, and the intervals between them filled in with earth. One of these blocks of stone measured nine feet by ten, so that the labor of cutting them and conveying them to such a distance from the sea must have been enormous.