Qasavara
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Qasavara is a spirit from Melanesian mythology, more precisely from the Banks Islands in the northern part of Vanuatu.
The name Qasavara [k͡pʷasaβara] is itself from the language of Mota, but the same deity is known under other names in neighboring islands: Mwotlap Qasvay [k͡pʷasˈβaj], Vurës Qasvar [k͡pʷasˈβar], Mwesen Woqastavav [wɔk͡pʷastaˈβaɸ], and Lakon Qasval [k͡pʷasˈβal]. All of these forms descend from a common Proto-Torres-Banks form *ᵐbʷasaβara, composed of *ᵐbʷasa "bald head" and an element *βara of unknown meaning, though the Mwesen and Lakon forms may contain a different second element.
