Tangaroa (god of the sea)

Before the introduction of Christianity, Cook Islands people worshipped a pantheon of gods and deities. On some islands, Tangaroa was considered the principal god of the sea and of creation. Images of him took many forms and were made from stone, wood, shell, pandanus leaf, tapa (bark cloth) and human hair. On the islands of Rarotonga and Aitutaki, he took human form in wooden figures carved by ta‘unga (specialists).1

Significance

These figures were distinctive for their heavy-set features — especially the large head, one third the size of the body. Tangaroa was customarily depicted in a squatting stance with flexed legs and hands resting on his rounded stomach, while his procreative powers were denoted by a large phallus. The sculptures were probably carried on fishing trips, wedged into the prows of canoes to ensure a successful catch.

By the early nineteenth century, the manufacture of such figures had declined, largely because of the influence of Christian missionaries. Tangaroa figures were actively targeted: some had their phalluses removed whilst others were surrendered and burned as signs of conversion. A few were retained as trophies marking the ‘success’ of the mission.2

Today, representations of Tangaroa can be found on coins, stamps and countless tourist souvenirs, including miniature wooden replicas of the customary figures.

Acquisition history

This Tangaroa was probably made for the tourist market. It was collected and donated to Te Papa by curator and poet Jean T. Chapman-Mason (Cook Islands/English).

References

1 Te Rangi Hīroa (Peter H Buck), Arts and crafts of the Cook Islands, originally published Bernice P Bishop Museum, Honolulu, 1944, this edition Kraus Reprint Co., New York, 1971, http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BucArts-t1-front-d3.html (accessed 11 January 2017).2 Steven Hooper, Pacific encounters: Art and divinity in Polynesia 1760–1860, British Museum Press, London, 2006, pp. 65–6.