Tabakea

Lore

Tabakea (God) - Kiribati - A primordial turtle god.

Tabakea occupies the central place in the oldest Kiribati creation myths. This turtle is viewed as the primordial cosmic covering: her shell represents the sky-vault, the earth’s surface, and the very foundation of existence. From that body the land, the heavens, and the stars were born.

In appearance Tabakea is most often a gigantic sea turtle, yet she can change shape—first taking on the form of a spirit-person, then materializing as an aged elder. In human guise she is considered ruler of the land; in turtle form, sovereign of the sea.

Early Kiribati lore sets out a clear “geography” for the episodes of Tabakea’s life.

• Banaba, the small stand-alone coral island in mid-Pacific (today part of the Republic of Kiribati), is where Tabakea’s physical story ends. In the version recorded by the ethnologist Arthur Grimble, during the world’s creation Tabakea turned her own shell into the island; in other words, her body lies beneath Banaba’s coral mass, and the island’s high “hump” is the exposed part of the carapace. Because of this, Banaba once held the oldest stone shrines dedicated to her, and the site itself was an inviolable cemetery of the first creator—no one was allowed to remove stone, sand, or shells without ritual.

• Tarawa, the nation’s most populous atoll, by contrast appears as the place where Tabakea and her people lived. In spirit-human form, Tabakea settled on the shore of the lagoon. There, together with her children, she did the usual ancestral things—fished, held contests, and, as the tales stress, regularly staged dances on the sand. During these dances the performers wore garlands and belts made of coconut-leaf, ti leaves, and fragrant pandanus—decorations meant to echo the bright colors of the sea floor and thus underscore the god’s dual nature, both marine and terrestrial. Elders explain that today’s Kiribati war and wedding dances copy the moves of that first troupe of Tabakea: the slow circling stands for a turtle’s stride, while sudden claps of the hands mimic waves slapping the shell.

Throughout, the deity’s behavior highlights creativity and mentorship: she helps shape the world and humankind, and her actions serve as a model for training young warriors. Tabakea’s character combines authority, wisdom, and discipline with the potential for fearsome punishment.