Degei

In Fijian mythology, Degei (pronounced Ndengei), enshrined as a serpent, is the supreme god of Fiji. He is the creator of the (Fijian) world, of fruits, and of men.^[1] He judges newly-dead souls after they pass through one of two caves: Cibaciba or Drakulu. A few he sends to paradise, Burotu. Most others are thrown into a lake, where they will eventually sink to the bottom (Murimuria) to be appropriately rewarded or punished.

He is said to have at first moved about freely, but then in the form of a snake to have grown into the earth with his ringed tail. Since then he has become the god of earthquakes, storms, and the seasons. Whenever Ndengei shakes himself fertilising rain will fall, delicious fruits hang on the trees, and the yam fields yield an excellent crop. But Ndengei is also a god of wrath who declares himself in terrible fashion. He punishes and chastens his people by destroying the crops or by floods; he could indeed easily wipe out mankind from the earth, for since he has lived in the bowels of the earth he has been tormented with so insatiable hunger that he would like to take in and swallow the whole world.^[2]

Degei hatched an egg from which the first humans came to Earth. He is prominent in the kalou-vu, the Fijian pantheon.

Friedrich Ratzel in The History of Mankind^[3] reported in 1896 a religious practice enjoined by Degei that involved tatooing women on the lower part of the body and the thigh, the corner of the mouth, and the finger.

References

1. ^ King and People of Fiji (The Pasifika Library) (Paperback) (ISBN 0824819209 / 0-8248-1920-9)
2. ^ Friedrich Ratzel The History of Mankind. (London: MacMillan, 1896) Vol 1 Page 317. URL: www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/melanesian-gods.htm accessed 9 June 2010.
3. ^ Ratzel, Friedrich. The History of Mankind. (London: MacMillan, 1896). URL: www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/melanesian-tattooing.htm accessed 21 October 2009.

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