View source for Tangaroa

== Elsewhere ==
===Polynesia===
Tangaloa is one of the oldest Polynesian deities. In Western Polynesian traditions such as [[Culture of Samoa|Samoa]] and [[Culture of Tonga|Tonga]], Tangaloa is considered the supreme and [[creator deity]]. In Eastern Polynesian cultures, however, he is usually considered of equal status to Tāne and thus not supreme.

*In [[Easter Island|Rapa Nui]] tradition, Taŋaroa was killed at the bay of [[Hotu-iti]] and was buried in the surrounding area.
*In [[Ra'iātea]], a legend reported by Professor [[Friedrich Ratzel]] in 1896<ref>{{cite book|last=Ratzel|first=Friedrich|author-link=Friedrich Ratzel|year=1896|chapter=Cosmogany and mythology; views of Nature|title=The History of Mankind|url=http://www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/cosmogany-mythology.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706145107/http://www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/cosmogany-mythology.htm|archive-date=2011-07-06|volume=I|publisher=MacMillan and Co.|page=308|access-date=16 Feb 2011}}</ref> gave a picture of the [[Tahiti and Society Islands mythology|Tahitian god]] [[Taʼaroa]]'s all-pervading power.
*In [[Hawaii|Hawai{{okina}}i]], the god of ocean, healing, and long travels is called [[Kanaloa]], the [[cognate]] term in the [[Hawaiian language]]
*In [[Sāmoa]], the god [[Tagaloa]] is the almighty sky-father deity, the creator of the universe.
*In the [[Marquesas Islands]], the equivalent deities are Tana'oa or Taka'oa.
*In the [[Rennell Island|Rennell]] and [[Bellona Island|Bellona]] Islands in the southern [[Solomon Islands]], Tangagoa is a sea god who stayed on the coastal cliff of [[East Rennell]] known as Toho and flew in the night with a flame in the sky. Tangagoa was believed to take the spirits of the dead, so the sparkling fire would be seen at night when someone was near death. Some can still recall when this god appeared in the night as a flame in the sky, and there are many tales of it. Tangagoa started disappearing in the 1970s and early 1980s when Christian missionaries visited the cliff and reportedly 'cast' him out.
===Melanesia===
A legendary figure named Tagaro is also featured in the Melanesian cultures of northeastern [[Vanuatu]]. In the beliefs of northern [[Pentecost (island)|Pentecost]], Tagaro appears as a destructive trickster,<ref>J P Taylor 2008, ''The Other Side: Ways of Being and Place in Vanuatu''</ref> while in other areas, he is an eternal creator figure, and names cognate with {{lang|bi|Tagaro}} (such as [[Apma language|Apma]] {{lang|app|Takaa}}) are applied nowadays to [[God in Christianity]].<ref>Gray 2013, ''The Languages of Pentecost Island''</ref>