Tangaroa

Common card · No. 460853

Tangaroa (Māori; Takaroa in the South Island dialect; cognate with Tagaloa in Sāmoan) is a god (atua) in Māori mythology. A god of creation in Polynesian tradition, he is considered the god of the sea, lakes, rivers, and creatures that live within them, especially fish. In the Cook Islands, Tangaroa is usually depicted as a male human-like figure with a swollen belly and a prominent genital organ, symbolising his role as fertility god. As Tangaroa-whakamau-tai, he exercises control over the tides. In other places, he is sometimes depicted as a whale. In Manihiki, he is the fire deity that Māui steals from (which elsewhere in Māori mythology is instead Mahuika, a goddess of fire).

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