Aitu
Template:Short description In Polynesian languages the word aitu refers to ghosts or spirits, often malevolent. The word is common to many languages of Western and Eastern Polynesia. In the mythology of Tonga, for example, Template:Okinaaitu or Template:Okinaeitu are lesser gods, many being patrons of specific villages and families. They often take the form of plants or animals, and are often more cruel than other gods. These trouble-making gods are regarded as having come from Samoa.<ref>In Rotuman similar beings are also called Template:Okinaaitu; this may be a borrowing from Tongan which, owing to historical contact, has provided a considerable part of the Rotuman vocabulary. See http://www.rotuma.net/os/Religion.html.</ref> The Tongan word tangi lauTemplate:Okinaaitu means to cry from grief, to lament.
In Māori mythology, the word aitu refers to sickness, calamity, or demons; the related word aituā means misfortune, accident, disaster.<ref>The -ā suffix of aituā imparts the sense infested with aitu.</ref> In Tahitian, aitu (syn. atua/raitu) can mean 'god' or 'spirit';<ref>Fare vana'a dictionary ('raitu' is also an affectionate word given to a cherished child) [1]</ref> in other languages, including Rarotongan, Samoan, Sikaiana, Kapingamarangi, Takuu, Tuamotuan, and Niuean, aitu are ghosts or spirits.
In Cook Islands Aitu is also the name of ancient tribes who came from the east.
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According to tradition, some of the Aitu tribes settled on the islands of Aitutaki, Atiu and Mangaia. At Aitutaki (Aitu-taki) they were eventually destroyed or driven away. At Mangaia they were from time to time slaughtered in order to provide sacrifice to the gods. There still exists at Mangaia the remains of a great oven named te umu Aitu where large numbers of these people were cooked after being slain.<ref>A dictionary of the Maori language of Rarotonga, Manuscript by Stephen Savage. Suva : IPS, USP in association with the Ministry of Education of the Cook Islands, 1983. For an etymologic interpretation of the name Aitutaki see also "Myth and songs from the South Pacific" William Wyatt Gill, London, 1876.</ref>{{#if:|
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In the Samoa Islands, aitu also means ghost.<ref name=pratt>Template:Cite book</ref> In other Austronesian cultures, cognates of aitu include the Micronesian aniti, Bunun hanitu, Filipino and Tao anito, and Malaysian and Indonesian hantu or antu.<ref name="funk">Template:Cite book</ref>
See also
Notes
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