View source for Momo (Tonga)

{{multiple issues|
{{more footnotes|date=December 2020}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2020}}}}{{Infobox royalty
| reign        = Around 1100
| predecessor  = {{okina}}Afulunga
| successor    = [[Tu'itatui|Tu{{okina}}itātui]]
| dynasty      = [[Tuʻi Tonga]]
}}
'''Momo''' ''(meaning: crumb)'' was the 10th king in the [[Tu'i Tonga|Tu{{okina}}i Tonga]] dynasty of [[Tonga]], who lived in the 11th or 12th century CE. He was named after one of the original gods of Tonga, a trio known as [[Kohai, Koau, mo Momo]]. The [[Tu'i Tonga Empire|Tu{{okina}}i Tonga maritime empire]] began to expand during his reign.

King Momo had his court in Heketā, near the village of [[Niutoua|Niutōua]] ''(doubly planted coconuttrees)''. His people were known as the Ha{{okina}}a-mene-{{okina}}uli ''(dirty bottoms Clan)'', because in order to honour him they had to keep their heads lower than his, and thus shuffled around on their bottoms instead of their feet.

== Marriage ==
One day the king fell in love with a beautiful girl and sent his envoy, Leha{{okina}}uli, to her father, Lo{{okina}}au, the Tu{{okina}}i-Ha{{okina}}amea ''(Ha{{okina}}amea king)'' with a request for a [[Yam (vegetable)|yam]] for his plantation. Lo{{okina}}au understood the real meaning of the request, and responded that he was unable to help as one yam was still immature and the other had already sprouted. He meant that his youngest daughter was still too young while his older daughter, Nua, had already had a child and was therefore an old woman. Her husband was Ngongo kilitoto from [[Malapo]], chief of the Ha{{okina}}angongo Clan( The clan of Ngongo).

The next day, Momo sent his envoy back to Lo{{okina}}au with the words: Fena kā ko Nua ''(sprouted, but still it is Nua)'', and so Lo{{okina}}au went to Malapo to ask Ngongokilitoto to give up his wife, which he did. Nua became Momo's wife, and their son became the greatest Tu{{okina}}i Tonga of that period, [[Tu'itatui|Tu{{okina}}itātui]]. His elder stepbrother, Fasi{{okina}}apule, later became a kind of governor.{{clarify|date=December 2020}}

The location of Ha{{okina}}amea is not certain. Some{{who|date=December 2020}} claim it was the centre of [[Tongatapu]], near [[Matangiake]], in which case Lo{{okina}}au was only a minor prince. It is also possible that the name is a variant of Ha{{okina}}amoa ''([[Samoa]])'', in which case Lo{{okina}}au was also a powerful king, meaning the marriage story was a mythical way to represent the alliance between Tonga and Samoa, and the start of the empire, although the alliance would only last one generation.

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{{succession box |title=[[Tu'i Tonga|Tu{{okina}}i Tonga]] |years=around 1100 |before= {{okina}}Afulunga |after=[[Tu'itatui|Tu{{okina}}itātui]]}}
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==References==
* I.C. Campbell, ''Classical Tongan kingship'', 1989
* E. Bott, ''Tonga society at the time of Captain Cook's visit'', 1982
* {{okina}}O. Māhina, ''Images from the history and culture of Tonga,'' 2006

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[[Category:Monarchs of Tonga]]
[[Category:11th-century monarchs]]
[[Category:12th-century monarchs]]