Tapua: "Polished ivory shrines" of tongan gods

Abstract

This paper investigates the tapua-close relative of the Fijian tabua-a secretively sequestered supreme form of godly embodiment in Tonga and argues that the tapua is ancestral of the tabua. The symmetrically crescentic form of tapua is a more salient feature of the objects than the material used to make them. Strong links between tapua and gods receiving the first-fruits demonstrate the likelihood that the object originated as a token plantain presented as a crop fertility offering.