Kave, Goddess Figure

Kave De Hine Aligi was a powerful female spirit and goddess that presided over the Polynesian people of Nukuoro, a small atoll in the Caroline Islands. This image was carved with shell and stone tools in the early 1800s. The people of this area were matrilineal, where kinship was traced through the mother or the female line. This influence is apparent from this, the most significant figure, from the many Nukuoro gods that were erected on the sacred spaces.

This goddess stood in the community temple, where the local priests sought her favor with offerings of food. By the 1870s, the people of Nukuoro starting to lose their faith in the old gods as the influence of Christianity increased.