Editing Avatea (section)

{{Short description|Moon god of the Cook Islands}}
[[File:Stone carving in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.jpg|thumb|200px|A basalt stone [[relief]] depicting Avatea in [[Rarotonga]], Cook Islands.]]

In [[Cook Islands mythology]], '''Avatea''' (also known as '''Vatea'''; meaning 'noon' or 'light')<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AT2ENAHoS28C&pg=PA91 Cook Islands Maori Dictionary; p.91]</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-TreMaor-c1-5.html#n168 |title=Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary |author=Edward Tregear |publisher=Lyon and Blair |location=Wellington |date=1891 |page=168 |via=NZETC}}</ref> was a [[lunar deity]] and the father of gods and men in [[Mangaia]]n myth of origin. His eyes were thought to be the Sun and the Moon;<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/mythsandsongsfr02mlgoog#page/n46/mode/2up |title=Myths and Songs from the South Pacific |author=William Wyatt Gill |publisher=Henry S. King & Co |location=London |date=1876 |page=44}}</ref> he was also known as the god of light.<ref>{{cite book |title=Cook Islands Custom |author=William Wyatt Gill |publisher=Institute of Pacific Studies |location=Fiji |date=1979 |page=23}}</ref>