Uoke

Uoke is a tectonic and destroyer deity in the Rapa Nui mythology.

Myth

According to the old story, Uoke was able to lift and sink into the sea large lands, using a huge lever.^[1] The legend says Rapa Nui (Easter Island) had been a territory similar in size than a continent, which reached next to other large land mass Puku-Puhipuhi. Uoke with his lever rose and sank Rapa Nui, while Puku-Puhipuhi sagged and rose. The deity had fun in this task, when, at the time that Rapa Nui was almost completely buried and Puku-Puhipuhi at its maximum elevation, his lever suddenly broke. For this reason only emerge today, isolated in the Ocean Pacific, a small portion of Rapa Nui; the part once were their highest mountains. So, too, most of which was the great land of Rapa Nui is now submerged, while the continent of Puku-Puhipuhi has been above the waterline. In mythology Rapa Nui, Uoke and his lever are also responsible for the destruction of the ancestral home of the ethnic group in the mythical island of Hiva.^[2]Although collected versions of the myth also point out that Uoke was standing on Hiva when he broke his stick, leaving Rapa Nui almost completely underwater.^[3]

References