Rā

The Sun, the solar-deity. He was known under this name almost everywhere in Polynesia, and in many places received worship.

In New Zealand, where adoration proper was not paid to any god by the mass of the people, he was regarded with reverence and the respect that all must feel for the great source of light and warmth. He is said to have been born as the son of Haronga, and his wife Tongo-tongo, his sister being Marama the moon. Hence the proverb: Nga tokorua a Tongotongo ("The two children of Tongotongo"), for the Sun and Moon.¹ Haronga was the son of Rangi-pōtiki, one of the props of heaven, and Hine-ahu-papa.

Another tradition says that Rā was the son of Rangi and Wero-wero; that he took as wives Rikoriko and Ārohirohi, and begat Kau-ata-ata, the first woman.²

In the days of Māui, it seems that the sun passed on his daily course across the sky too quickly, and made the days too short, so the hero, with the help of his brothers, caught the sun in nooses, and beat him unmercifully until he promised that for the future he would go more slowly and make the days longer. In order to capture his solar enemy, Māui repeated the karakia, commencing with:

Te Māui-mua, te Māui-roto, te Māui-pae, Māui-taha

Ka notia, ka herea, ka whakamaua.

Having caught the sun, he then repeated an incantation known as a punga, to cause the sun move more slowly through its course:

Te punga, te Kahu-kura uta, te Kahu-kura tai,

Hai kona ra koe, E te Rā! Tu mai ai —

Tu ki tupua, tu ki tawhito, tu ki maneanea.

It was when he was being beaten by Māui, that the sun called out his second name, saying. "Why should you wish to kill Tamanui-te-Rā?" Then was it that men found out that the sun had another name.³ In very old myths the sun is often termed Te Manu-i-te-Rā (the Bird in the Sun).⁴

On Samoa, the sun is Lā and on Tahiti, Ra'a. In Tongan the sun is La'a; and in Polynesia generally, at death, or the transferance of a king's temporal power, it is said "The Rā has set," the king being called "the man who holds the sun," or "the sun-eater."

As the "eye of day" the sun is alluded to.⁵ In Mangaia the sun god Rā sinks every night to his home in Avaiki (Hawaiki), the netherworld.

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