Monday, August 4, 2003.

Relationships between Polynesian and Buru mythology.

The Polynesian Maui cycle looks very much like a collection and systematization of Buru trickster tales starring Siri Bodo, a monkey, or Sigeni.  In Polynesia, apparently, all the best of such tales about clever beings have been incorporated into the Maui cycle, which has then been refined over time.  This has not happened in Buru, where the name of the clever protagonist has remained free to keep changing.  My gut feeling is that the name, "Mau Tiki-Tiki," means nothing heroic.  It probably originated from some Buru phrase like "Mau Sigi-Sigi," with a meaning something like "Jumping Sand Fly" or "Stinging Sand Fly," which would be more appropriate to the character of a clever trickster.

"Hina," on the other hand, must be none other than the Buru "Bok Hena," meaning "Youngest Princess."

"Rangi," of course, is the Buru "langit," meaning "sky," while "Papa" must simply be Buru "fafa," meaning "upper surface."

Surely the "Moko Roa" of Rarotonga must be none other than the Emloko Haa" of Buru.

"Rupe" is "ermuken."

"Mana" is "emhana."

The word, "kolon," must not have appeared in Maluku until after the Polynesians moved on, else the Polynesian goddess, Papa, might have been called "Rahe" or "Kolo" instead.

The following is an incomplete list of similarities between Buru and Polynesian oral literature:

In buru, Bok Hena is usually abducted and raped.  In Polynesia this happens to Hina.
The male hero takes terrible revenge upon the abductor.
Instead of simultaneously attacking one another, contestants take turns attacking in battle.
Puna's roosters announce the coming of Rata, Bokhena's rooster calls out to her husband to tell him of the presence of Bokhena.
Both the "wao" ("kam bali puna opo wao") and the "mu" are a people in Buru and Hawaii.
Craftsmen make weird ritual demands in both cultures.
Tahaki's beauty shines like lightening.  So does that of Buru heros and heroines.
In polynesia the sky has ten upper worlds or layers.  In Buru it has seven.
Tangaroa throws islands from the sky, and Megawa throws trees from the sky.
Tangaroa throws down rocks, and so does Megawa.
Both cultures tell of a land at the bottom of the sea.
At the bottom of the sea lives a Hina or Bok Hena who helps male heros.
Both cultures tell of a land below the earth, entered through a cave or hole in the ground.  In Polynesia, this land seems to have merged with the land at the bottom of the sea.
The Buru tale of a wounded pig followed to the underworld through a cave is linked to Maui through a Palauan tale in which it takes the form of a fishook stuck in the jaw of an old woman at the bottom of the sea.
Certain dangerous people arrive when the rain appears a certain way.
The coconut shell is used as a seagoing vessel.
Incantations are used for everything.
The parts of chopped human bodies are collected and brought back to life by magical means.
There is a little people who build great structures by passing stones from hand to hand.
In Buru, "lata" means to cut.  In Polynesia, "Rata" is the name of a man who cuts down great trees.
Both cultures institute the telling of tales at night.
In both cultures, heros take advantage of dangerous entities by convincing them that they are their kin.
Both cultures have a "one"-something theme.  The Hawaiians tell of a Mr. One-Tooth in the Maui cycle and the Buru people tell of an Old Lady One Firebrand in Buru.
Heroic boys grow to maturity almost as soon as they are born.
Heros hide the clothes of naked women in order to confuse them and slow them down.
Fathers try to kill heroic but difficult sons by setting them deadly tasks or errands.
Some men live in the skins of animals and are mistaken for animals.
Magicians have power to transform themselves into birds.
A gigantic eel explodes and becomes various things.
In Buru, Emloko explodes and falls back to earth as islets.  In Rarotonga, Maui kills the shark, Moko Roa, and throws up his body parts, which become stars.
Myths are personalized by linking them to local topological features.
There is a rock that opens and shuts of its own accord in the tongan tale of Maui and the giant dog, and a rock that opens and shuts to hide two children in Buru.
Maui exchanges heads with his wife.  Asu loses his horns to bijaqan.
Sinilau is half fish.  Waris-Tama becomes half crocodile.
Confusion about sex and family relationships in various tales--in Buru Bok Hena is sometimes the youngest boy in the family instead of the youngest dirl.