ORIGIN: Polynesian (Maori)
TYPE: Chthonic mother goddess
INFORMATION: According to tradition she evolved spontaneously in the cosmic night personified by Te Po and became the apotheosis of Papa the earth. In other traditions she was engendered, with the sky god Ranginui by a primordial androgynous being, Atea. Paptuanuku and Ranginui are regarded as the primal parents of the pantheon who, through a prolonged period of intercourse, produced at least ten major deities as their children. In Maori culture Papatuanuku, like all deities, is represented only by inconspicuous, slightly worked stones or pieces of wood and not by the large totems, which are depictions of ancestors.