Octopus Influence

With their superhuman strength, seemingly magical skin, and eerie intelligence, octopuses have inspired artists, storytellers, and even religious leaders from coastal cultures around the world. In the Gilbert Islands of the Pacific, an octopus god, Na Kika, was said to be the son of the first beings. It’s lucky for us land-dwellers that he was born, the story goes: with his many strong arms, Na Kika shoved up the earth from the bottom of the sea to create the islands. The coastal tribes of British Columbia and Alaska revere the octopus as a medicine animal. Tradition holds that the octopus wields power over the weather and is able to restore health to the sick. Hawaiian myths tell how our current world is really the remnant of a previous one, and the only survivor of that prehistory is the octopus. Ancient Peruvians also held the octopus in high esteem, though it’s not known which of its many powers were revered. We know they appreciated them because of the beautiful gold sculptures of octopuses that the people left behind.

To Moorea’s seafaring people, the strong, many-armed octopus was considered the island’s divine protector, its reaching arms a symbol of peace and unity. In fact, today the symbol of the environmental management plan for the many groups working together to protect Moorea’s sea creatures, Plan de Gestion de l’Espace Maritime (Marine Space Management Plan), is an octopus. Its eight arms point to the eight most critical areas designated for special protection.

Across from the community center, near the “octopus church” a mural depicts a tattooed fisherman.

In the village that is now called Papetoai, just a short drive from CRIOBE, there was once a temple dedicated to the octopus. Today, a Protestant church occupies that site. Built in 1827, it’s the oldest church in Moorea. When Keith and I visited it for Sunday services, the pastor, wearing a long garland of colorful flowers, took us outside to show us the view of Mount Rotui; he told us it looks like the profile of an octopus. And today, it’s easy to see that the pretty church, which faces the sea, still celebrates the octopus: it has eight sides!

 

A young member of the congregation of the “octopus church.”

 

The “octopus church.”

 

The congregation of the “octopus church.”