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Introduction To Tales From The South Seas

© Virginia Marin

Gentle trade winds, gorgeous beaches, a night sky so close that it wrapes around you like a blanket, lush green foliage, perpetual blossoms and, of course, the folklore of an island people. Folktales in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Well, yes. Folk tales know no boundaries, and they are common to all people. Ireland has its Leprechaun, Hawaii has the Menehunes and Easter Island has the Standing Stones. Join us in April as we follow the Triangle of Oceania's lore.

Oceania. A huge area composed of thousands of inhabited and uninhabited islands scattered across the South Pacific Ocean. They are divided into three groups known as Melanesia (the dark islands), Micronesia (the little islands) and Polynesia (many islands). If lines are drawn from the Hawaiian Islands to the north, Easter Island to the east, and New Zealand to the south, a triangle is formed. Within this triangle are also Tahiti and Samoa. To the west of the triangle lies New Guinea to the south and the Marianas Islands northward. South of Melanesis is the continent of Australia. I prefer to call Polynesia an arrowhead, with a shaft behind it that contains Micronesia and Melanesia.

Micronesia is composed of Guam and the Marianas, Tarawa, Marshall Islands, Caroline Islands and the Gilbert Islands. The deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean, Marianas Trench, is located near Guam.

Polynesia is famous for the Hawaiian Islands, Samoa, Tahiti, Easter Island (the island of huge carved stone heads) and New Zealand.

New Guinea and Fiji are located in Melanesia.

Although Australia is in the South Pacific it is a continent and therefore not a part of Oceania, but its lore is included within the group. The Aborigines, the native population of Australia, have populated the island continent for over 50,000 years and possess their own body of stories.

Each of these people, though they possess some similarities, have great variety physically as well as in their cultures, mythologies and folklore.

Oceanic myths and folklore deals primarily with nature, the birth of community and a system of rules and punishment. Many of their stories reflect a seafaring way of life. Ancestor worship, probably introduced by the Southeast Asians, is prevalent in their tales.

Christianity was introduced to the people in the late 1800s, but prior to this they worshiped many different gods, goddesses and spirits of the water, land and air. Today, most of the islanders have been Christianized, though there are isolated tribes which have not had visits from missionaries or have rejected their Biblical mission.

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