The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Wednesday, January 7, 1959 - Clarice B. Taylor's "Tales about Hawaii"
"It was a dreadful time of fear for those of us who believed in the old Hawaiian gods when Kaahumanu broke the kapus ordered the temples burned and the gods wth them.
"My ancestors, the keepers of the stone god Ku-ka-ili-moku, burned the feather god images but they hid the real god which was the stone I possess today."
David K. Bray Sr., Hawaii's best known practicing kahuna, continued his story of how the stone "had walked" to his house and had been the spiritual force behind his work.
"It may have been at that time (1820) that the stone came into the possession of Ku-amoo, son of Kamehameha the Great. Ku-amoo was priest of Kohala. His mother belonged to of family of priests.
KE ALII
"Ku-amoo called the stone 'Ke Alii' (The Alii). It would be bad manners to address it as Ku-ka-ii-moku, just as you did not address Kamehameha by his name, you called him 'Ke Alii.'
"The people called the stone Ku-ka-pihe the death stone. The name arose from the gathering of mourners at the death of a warrior killed by Kamehameha's men."
"The transference of the name was Hawaiian etiquette. Hawaiian did not call the stone Ku-ka-ili-moku anymore that they would refer to Kamehameha by name as the one who had caused their loss. That would be bad manners.
"They could not speak disrespectfully of the great war god, so they spoke f him as Ku-ka-pihe.
PLACE OF HONOR
"In my youth there were many Hawaiians living who had seen Ku-ka-pihe set up in a place of honor in the Kohala home of Ku-amoo. The god was kept in a clean bowl in a nest of red silk with a yellow lei about it.
"Ku-amoo believed that his healing powers came from the stone. He offered sacrifices and prayers to it every day. He spread his prayer rug before it, drank awa for the god and sprinkled a little of the awa over it before offering sacrifices.
NEXT: The Female God
"It was a dreadful time of fear for those of us who believed in the old Hawaiian gods when Kaahumanu broke the kapus ordered the temples burned and the gods wth them.
"My ancestors, the keepers of the stone god Ku-ka-ili-moku, burned the feather god images but they hid the real god which was the stone I possess today."
David K. Bray Sr., Hawaii's best known practicing kahuna, continued his story of how the stone "had walked" to his house and had been the spiritual force behind his work.
"It may have been at that time (1820) that the stone came into the possession of Ku-amoo, son of Kamehameha the Great. Ku-amoo was priest of Kohala. His mother belonged to of family of priests.
KE ALII
"Ku-amoo called the stone 'Ke Alii' (The Alii). It would be bad manners to address it as Ku-ka-ii-moku, just as you did not address Kamehameha by his name, you called him 'Ke Alii.'
"The people called the stone Ku-ka-pihe the death stone. The name arose from the gathering of mourners at the death of a warrior killed by Kamehameha's men."
"The transference of the name was Hawaiian etiquette. Hawaiian did not call the stone Ku-ka-ili-moku anymore that they would refer to Kamehameha by name as the one who had caused their loss. That would be bad manners.
"They could not speak disrespectfully of the great war god, so they spoke f him as Ku-ka-pihe.
PLACE OF HONOR
"In my youth there were many Hawaiians living who had seen Ku-ka-pihe set up in a place of honor in the Kohala home of Ku-amoo. The god was kept in a clean bowl in a nest of red silk with a yellow lei about it.
"Ku-amoo believed that his healing powers came from the stone. He offered sacrifices and prayers to it every day. He spread his prayer rug before it, drank awa for the god and sprinkled a little of the awa over it before offering sacrifices.
NEXT: The Female God
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