Wākea

In Hawaiian mythology, Wākea is the eldest son of Kahiko (Ancient One), and lives in Olalowaia. Wākea is the ancestor of the aristocracy, the ali‘i. The priests and common people come from his brothers. In another legend, Wākea lives in Hihiku and marries Pāpā, also called Pāpā-nui or Pāpā-nui-hanau-moku, who is a princess of Olalo-i-mehani and a granddaughter of Princess Kaoupe-alii. The Hawaiian Islands were created by Wākea and Pāpā. Wākea had sexual relations with Hina and she gave birth to the island of Moloka‘i. In the genealogies, Wākea and Pāpā are 37th in the Kumuhonua genealogy, and 28th in the Kumu‘uli. Kumuhonua the ancestor of the Kumuhonua genealogy was believe to be the first man in one tradition. In one tradition, the first person on Earth was the woman Lai‘la‘i. She and her husband Keali‘iwahilani are the parents of Kahiko, the father of Wākea. Wākea made the land and sea from the calabash or gourd (‘ipu) of Pāpā. He threw it up high, and it became the heavens. He made the rain from its juice and from the seeds he made the sun, moon, and stars (Tregear 1891:28-29, 392).

ee also

*Atea, Marquesan god of light
*Vatea, a god from Mangaia in the Cook Islands
*Rangi and Papa, primordial parents in Māori tradition

References

* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~barbpretz/ps05/ps05_158.html Wakea]
*E.R. Tregear, "Māori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary" (Lyon and Blair: Lambton Quay), 1891.