International Women's Day Reflection: The Goddess Hikule’o
By: Chris Taufatofua
For International Women’s Day I would like to share a brief account of the Tongan Goddess Hikule’o.
Many of us have heard of the gods Māui (God over the Earth) and Tangaloa (God over the Heavens), but fewer of us know that the two brothers had a sister, Hikule’o. And even fewer know that of the three, Hikule’o was the most powerful by far. Hikule’o was fierce but fair and had a strength and gentleness that somehow sat alongside a well known apocalyptic temper.
Hikule’o’s powers reached across all realms. From shaking the earth to raining down rocks from the skies, I know I wasn’t the only person who thought of Hikule’o on 15 January 2022, when the eruption occurred. Indeed it was Hikule’o that cast the rocks that created the volcanic islands, amongst them Kao and Tofua, where my people come from. Nb: #Māui would later pull up the coral atolls with his legendary (now Disneyfied) hook.
Hikule’o was worshipped. She was loved, feared and revered. Hikule’o would often visit the dying (in the form of a Kingfisher), letting loved ones know it was time for farewells before then accompanying the souls of the departed as they set sail to Pulotu.
Why then do we know so little about Hikule’o?
Here are two very short parts (of a longer story):
Part 1
We know Hikule’o was more powerful than her two brothers. And the brothers both knew this also. Fearful for their own interests, the brothers schemed and eventually trapped Hikule’o in Pulotu (the underworld). They bound Hikule’o with a Kafa (a traditional coconut fibre rope) warning far and wide that if Hikule’o were ever freed, she would destroy the world.
Part 2
When the missionaries arrived in #Tonga, they came across statues and figurines of Hikule’o, bare breasted and naked. The worship of Hikule’o was promptly made illegal, her Fale ‘Otua’s (temples) burned and all (or so they thought) statues and figurines depicting her, destroyed. That a God (and the most powerful God, at that) be a Goddess and, even worse, be depicted bare breasted was not something that the Church was going to accommodate.
As time went by they continued to try to wipe out the collective memory of Hikule’o, or to change it, including efforts to rewrite Hikule’o as a male figure. Luckily however six original figurines managed to avoid destruction, and helped set the record straight.
Of course there are many accounts of the story of Hikule’o. That the disparity between them be so wide is of itself telling…yet another example of a strong, proud but ultimately fragile oral tradition and culture forever lost in the wake of explorers who claimed to have “discovered” us, missionaries to have “saved” us and a system of laws and norms to have “civilised” us.
Happy International Women’s Day to all the many Hikule’o’s out there. I look forward to the day you are freed from the Kafa and the insecurities of others that have been used to restrain you.
Chris Taufatofua - International Women's Day
