Tradition / Region: Papua New Guinea Mythology
Alternate Names: Sorea, snake of Davare
Category: Snake
The Myth
The Tabio people once encountered an enormous snake in the bush at Davare. When they attempted to kill it, the creature did not flee or strike. Instead, it coiled itself into a great ring, placing its head at the center. From there, it beckoned to them, moving its head and flickering its tongue.
This, the people understood, was the way of snakes when they wished to make friends. To show this intent more clearly, the snake also beat the ground with its tail, signaling peace rather than threat.
The people named the snake Sorea. Rather than destroying it, they chose to settle at Davare, living alongside the great serpent. Sorea became their ororora—a protective and ancestral being bound to the land and the people.
One night, Sorea moved through the land with great force, cleaving a path as it crawled. This track became the Sorea-creek, known as Soreaturi, a lasting mark of the serpent’s passage through the earth.
Thus Sorea remained not as a monster, but as a guardian and origin-being, shaping the land and establishing a bond between the Tabio people and the place they came to call home.
Gallery
Sources
Landtman, G. (1970). The Kiwai Papuans of British New Guinea: A nature-born instance of Rousseau’s ideal community.
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Sorea