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Historical SummaryIn Polynesia the position of chiefs is to be viewed on the background of the conception of mana or divine power in persons or things, and the corresponding tapu concept of the sacredness of objects in which mana resides. What is particular in the Polynesian situation is that the divine and the human are not conceived as two separate universes with some contacts and interrelationships, but that they are for the most part in the same universe on earth, with peculiar distributions, and that their impingement the one upon the other may have and usually does have the most serious consequences. It is known that since a thousand years or more chieftainship and kingship in Polynesia have been associated with the possession of mana. There were specialists in history, with Homeric memories, who traced the descent of rulers for many generations back. (Their memory feats are mentioned in Chap. XVIII.) Kriämer records the genealogy of Samoan kings of the tuimanu’a line for thirty-two generations. That is, he begins with the fifteenth generation on the basis of information from a speaker chief and carries the line of descent down to the present.2 Krämer says with reference to titles in the ruling families:
Since their possessors claimed divine descent their adoration was unbounded. This depended above all on the fact that as title chiefs they were sanctified (pa’ia) and therefore everything with which they came into contact was sanctified (tabu).3
In addition there were ao titles conferred by gods on men, which were not hereditary. They could, however, be transferred by the possessor during his life or by his family after his death to another family and place, but only in certain families.4 It was an application of the concept, considered elsewhere, that personality is inherent in names.
2Krämer, A.n/an/an/an/an/a, , 1: 378–380.
3Ibid., 10.
4 Bülow, W. von, "Matapoo, Savaii, Samoa," Internat. Arch. für Ethnog., 13: 63.
Chicago: Die Samoa Inseln in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed November 22, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=R6LQ9MXDM1UNBEL.
MLA: . Die Samoa Inseln, Vol. 1, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 22 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=R6LQ9MXDM1UNBEL.
Harvard: , Die Samoa Inseln. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 22 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=R6LQ9MXDM1UNBEL.
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