Summary

The five generations of the mythological account are summarized in Tables 1 and 2.

The first generation comprises the four spirits, who, though at varying distances away in space, are co-existent. The distances give the order in which they are placed to express the Mangaian concept of the factors that precede human life. They are the Threadlike-root, Breath, Sustained-breath, and Material-in-which-growth-may-take place. As compared with other Polynesian cosmogonies, which include aeons of time and dimensions of space before plant growth and human growth are reached, the Mangaian version is extremely simple. The peculiarities of the Mangaian account can be better followed by grouping the characters into the five generations, as in table 2.

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In the second generation, Vari produced six children who had no father. Yet both Vatea and Tinirau married women whose fathers and mothers are given. These married couples were, therefore, contemporaries of Vari, and Vari's daughters-in-law came into the world through physiological reproduction. Similarly, both Raka and Tango married women whose parents, though not given, must have been contemporaries of Vari. The Mangaians are derived from a primary concept, personified in Vari, by a process of plant growth; the anomaly is that Vari had contemporaries who produced biological families. Vatea and Papa appear as primary parents in other parts of Polynesia. Tinirau is also well known, but in the more carefully kept genealogies of other areas he does not appear until a considerable time after Vatea.

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In the third generation the well-known gods Tangaroa, Rongo, and Tane are born of Vatea and Papa. This part of the account is orthodox and widely spread. Tinirau, however, becomes an uncle to the gods instead of living several generations later. The god Tonga-iti occurs in Rarotonga and may be accepted as in his correct chronology. Tangiia, however, occupies a unique position as a full brother of Tangaroa, Tane, and Rongo. Tangiia as a god does not occur elsewhere, except in Rarotonga, where he represents an ancestor who was made a god after his death. This Tangiia lived about 26 generations ago and was never confused as a son of Vatea. It is thus evident that Tangiia is another local misplacement. The children of Tinirau, Raka, and Tango are all made contemporaries of Rongo and his brothers. Human population was increasing in the other lands of Avaiki when the ancestors of the Mangaians were still in the god stage.

In the fourth generation is Rongo's daughter, Tavake. Her second cousins who descended through Tango were skilled fishermen using nets and stocking the fishponds of Motu-tapu.

The fifth generation brings the genealogy to the human ancestors who were to occupy Mangaia. In the more authentic myths and traditions of other Polynesians the god Rongo and his brothers are placed at a fairly remote period. Following the mythological period is an exploratory or migrational period occupied by movements in the great voyaging canoes to various islands in the Pacific. This period in most accounts covers several generations—as many as 60 in Rarotongan traditional history—and among the ancestral names are those of such culture heroes as Maui and Tinirau and such famous explorers as Iro and Tangiia. In the Mangaian account the exploratory voyaging period is missing, and the length of time from the god Rongo to the human first settlers is reduced to two generations.