{{Short description|Deity of the Rapa Nui people}} {{About|the Rapa Nui deity|other uses|Hauā (disambiguation)}} {{For|the companion of the dwarf planet Makemake|S/2015 (136472) 1}}
'''Haua''' ({{IPAc-en|'|h|aʊ|ə}}<!--per the OED transcription ('taʊa) for Maori 'taua'. The NZ pronunciation of Maori 'paua' as /'pɑːwə/ might be a model, but Rapa Nui had no /w/-->) or '''Haua tuꞌu taketake''', also known as the 'Chief of the eggs', was the companion of the creator god Makemake of Easter Island. Little is known of him, or of any aspects of indigenous religion on the island, but prayers said before eating were made to the two of them. His wife was ''vîꞌe'' '''Hoa'''<!--rendered per Metraux 1940 p.335-->.<ref>Routledge p. 260</ref>
Only a few details of Haua have been preserved. Along with Makemake, he was central to the Birdman sect of Eastern Island. He and Makemake had removed nesting seabirds to the offshore islets of Motu Nui ('big islet') and Motu Iti ('little islet'), because people were eating all of their eggs, and established the Birdman sect through a priestess who came across the two gods.
Haua and Makemake instructed the priestess to tell the Rapa Nui that before eating, when they took the food from the oven, they should set aside a portion and say 'Take for Haua, for Makemake!'<ref>Métraux 1940, p. 313, 1957, p. 126</ref> (''Ka toꞌo ma Haua, ma Makemake'').<ref>Routledge 1917, p. 135</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} * Alfred Métraux. [1940] 1971. ''Ethnology of Easter Island.'' Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 160. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press.[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012116151&view=1up&seq=329] * ———— 1957. ''Easter Island: stone-age civilization of the pacific'' [https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.6905/page/n145] * Katherine Routledge ''The Mystery of Easter Island'', 1917 [https://archive.org/details/mysteryofeaster00rout/page/260]
Category:Rapa Nui gods Category:Makemake
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