Cosmogony

Agunua

Agunua is a primordial male serpent associated with the mythological traditions of the Indigenous peoples of San Cristobal, in the Solomon Islands. According to tradition, after creating the sea, the earth, humankind, animals, thunder and the other forces of nature, Agunua created the first woman. When the woman grew old, she went to a river, shed her wrinkled skin and regained her youth. Her daughter, however, failed to recognize her in this transformed state. The woman therefore returned to the river, put on her old skin once more and was immediately recognized and addressed as “mother.” The narrative is commonly interpreted as a meditation on mortality, the natural cycle of ageing and the impossibility of escaping the fundamental conditions of human life.

Barkolkol

Barkolkol is a mythical figure associated with the island of Ambrym, in present-day Vanuatu. According to legend, he brought the sea into existence by uncovering a pit concealed beneath a layer of grass. When the grass was removed, water poured from the opening and spread across the surrounding land, eventually forming the sea. The story presents the marine world as emerging from a hidden primordial source revealed through Barkolkol’s intervention.

Hatuibwari

Hatuibwari is a winged serpent regarded in certain traditions of the Solomon Islands as a creator of humankind. According to the myth, he descended from the heavens and landed on Mount Hoto, where he fashioned the first woman from hard red clay.

Later, while the woman slept in the sun, Hatuibwari removed one of her ribs, combined it with additional clay and created the first man. From this original couple, humanity multiplied.

The narrative displays certain structural parallels with the biblical account of human creation, although it belongs to a distinct cultural and mythological tradition. Hatuibwari was described as possessing a human torso, two wings upon his shoulders, four eyes and four teeth. Although represented as male, he was also said to have breasts with which he nourished human beings, combining masculine and maternal attributes within a single creator figure.

Hilibob and Manup

Hilibob and Manup are creator brothers and ancestral figures in the mythology of the inhabitants of the Yabob Islands, near New Guinea. Hilibob was described as dark-skinned, while Manup was portrayed as light-skinned. Their contrasting physical appearances may symbolically express the memory of encounters between populations of different cultural or ancestral origins who reached the islands through the Dampier Strait. In this interpretation, the myth preserves a symbolic account of migration, contact and social difference.

Koevasi

Koevasi is a primordial female serpent and creator deity particularly associated with traditions from the Solomon Islands. In some Melanesian mythologies, the primordial serpent appears not only as a creator figure but also as a protector of humankind. According to certain narratives, human beings were once serpentine creatures who lived beneath the earth, shed their skins each year and possessed immortality. This condition came to an end following a mythical catastrophe through which death entered the world. Koevasi was also revered as a totemic being and invoked through ritual formulas and magical practices. These invocations were intended to provide protection against fever, theft and destructive natural forces, reflecting her role as both an ancestral creator and a guardian of human life.

Lata and Sinota

Lata and Sinota form a contrasting pair of mythological figures in the traditions of the Reef Islands. Lata is portrayed as wise, benevolent and creative, whereas Sinota embodies deception, disorder and destruction.

According to the myth, Lata created the world and all that it contained, while Sinota repeatedly attempted to destroy his work. Lata nevertheless restored what had been damaged and ultimately established his superiority over his adversary.

The narrative expresses a fundamental symbolic opposition between order and chaos, creation and destruction, and constructive intelligence and destructive force.

Malai

Malai is a creator serpent associated with the traditions of the Manus people of the Admiralty Islands. According to the myth, Malai created the world from a cliff and brought into being the first man and the first woman.

Through the union of this primordial couple, the ancestors of the Manus people were born. Malai thus occupies a central position within Manus cosmogony as both a creator deity and an ancestral source of human life.

Ndenge

Ndenge is a primordial serpent and creator deity in Fijian mythology. With the assistance of his son, Rokomanku, he is said to have raised the Fiji Islands from the ocean. He is also associated with the primeval flood and with the transmission of essential knowledge to humanity, including the use of fire and the construction of canoes.

Ndenge is traditionally believed to dwell in a cave on Mount Kauvandra, where he also acts as a judge of the dead. In one account of creation, he brought forth the ancestors of humankind by hatching a bird’s egg. Although he occupies the position of a supreme creator, he does not appear to have been the focus of an extensive or highly organized cult.

His cosmic significance is emphasized in a myth according to which darkness descends when he closes his eyes in sleep and disappears when he awakens. This motif has sometimes been compared with Asian and Pacific traditions involving cosmic serpents or dragons, although it remains rooted in a specifically Fijian mythological context.

Offerings were reportedly presented to Ndenge principally to request rain, agricultural fertility and protection from environmental instability. Like many serpent and dragon deities, he is closely associated with water and is sometimes held responsible for the great flood.

Ndenge is described as possessing the head and body of a serpent and a tail made of stone. His movements are believed to cause earthquakes, suggesting an ancient conception of the deity as a powerful being connected with the foundations, balance and physical structure of the world.