Bible Encyclopedias
Bulotu

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

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a word used to denote the invisible world among the inhabitants of the Tonga Islands. It was supposed to be peopled with the spirits of departed chiefs and great persons of both sexes; and it was' to these chiefly that worship was paid and sacrifices were offered. These spirits in Bulotu were thought to act as intercessors with the superior gods, who could not be approached by men except in this way; and to revisit the earth in the form of birds or fishes. The souls of chiefs were all supposed to go straight to Bulotu after death; but there was. no certainty as to the fate of the common people, who, indeed, were scarcely thought to have souls. See Mariner, Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands (Lond. 1817).