► Kapus Restrict the Alii

Honolulu Star Bulletin. June 24, 1953 - Tales About Hawaii, Clarice B. Taylor 

RELIGIOUS KAPUS
RESTRICT THE ALII

HIDDEN ALII, No. 8

     The story of the hidden alii told by Kauhai to Queen Emma and her mother Kekela had as its background the religious ceremonies of old Hawaii which were totally unknown today by Hawaii's young people. 

     The time of the story is about 1800. Kamehameha had conquered and pacified Oahu and had stationed his own alii on Oahu as the rulers of each district. Keulua, an uncle of Moopu'u II, was the Konohiki (district manager) and tax collector for the king at Kalua-nui (Big Hole) near Punaluu on Windward Oahu. 

     The settling of the story is a heiau temple in Kona, Hawaii, dedicated to the war god Ku. 

    The occasion was one of the rigurous 10 day ceremonies for dedicating and setting up a new ohia wood image of the god. Services began when the ohia image had been hauled from a location in the forest to the heiau. Carving of the image had been done in the forest.

DEDICATION SERVICE

     The order of the Ku priests, plus the priests of the Kane and Kanaloa orders were assembled within the walls of the great stone heiau altar. To conduct the services which lased day and night.

     With the priests were the king, all the male alii of the court and as many commoners as would attended such a rigorous service. No women were allowed.

     The king and the highest alii assembled in a grass house built near the heiau altar. The alii were not allowed to go outside the grass house during that 10 day period. The front of the house, facing the altar, was open so that they could take part in the service without being seen by the commoners.

     There were no toilet facilities in this sacred house. Such facilities would be a defilement to the place. Slave attendants of the alii served their masters by thrusting vessels through the thatch of the outside wall of the house.

GODS IN PROCESSION

     Kamohoalii I was one of the principal priests taking part in the services.

     At one point, he led the procession of the priests who paraded about the altar carrying the images of their many gods. At other times, he led the ceremonies in which Kamohoalii and the priests said responsive prayers.

     Within the sacred grass house with the alii were Kamahoalii II and Moopu'u II. It was there duty to see that the kapus were enforced.

     The boy, Kalawainui II, was also present and participating as one of the alii.

Next: Kalawainui II breaks kapu.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Source: https://familysearch.org/patron/v2/TH-300-43958-0-84/dist.pdf?ctx=ArtCtxPublic

► Molokai Iliili-opae: The Priests - 13

Honolulu Star Bulletin. Monday, January 28, 1957 - Tales about Hawaii, Clarice B. Taylor

     The gods were in full attendance in Iliili-opae heiau at the Mapulehu on Molokai before the priests started their dedication ceremonies.

     The attendance of the gods was secured by the praying priests of whom there were two divisions, those who prayed all day without interruption and those who prayed all night.

     These priests were identified by their long hair which they wore knotted on the top of their heads and long beards which fell upon their breasts.

     After the temple had been decorated, these priests entered and sat in rows.


     Their prayers were concentrated on "calling the gods." The service was protracted because each god had to be called by name and his attributes enumerated.

     If the service went properly and no one forgot his lines or confused the words, then the voices of the priest were heard "beyond the clouds" and the gods answered the invitation to attend.

     After all, there was no sense of dedicating a temple to the gods if the gods were not there to receive the prayers of adulation and the offerings.

     There were several "schools" of priests, all of whom played part in the services. Each type of priest could be recognized at once by his garb.

     The priests of Ku were of the highest order. Their high priest wore a flowing robe of spotless white, a white bandeau about his head and he carried a staff.

     While performing on ceremony, he carried a staff of hi kauila wood; at another his staff was decorated with ohia leaves; at another with ieie vine.

     At the crucial point of the ceremony - making the offering - his staff was of ohia wood covered with white tapa cloth.


     The priests of Lono were the next highest in rank.

     They wore robes of pinkish-red, carried a staff covered with vines as needed for the ceremony and wore their hair skewered on top of their heads and daubed with red clay.

     A favorite decoration was made of the pala (lace) fern. With it was often used ohia leaves and blossoms.

DRESSED IN RED
     For important services, the king dressed in red. Since he stood beside the high priest, his red made a colorful contrast with the pure white of the priest.


Although the king was considered a high priest in these ceremonies, he was not required to know more than the answer to prayers and he was not required to keep the six to eight day fasts kept by the priests.

NEXT: Rituals

► Molokai's Iliili-Opae: The Service - 12

The Saturday Star Bulletin. Honolulu, T.H., January 26, 1957 - Tales about Hawaii, Clarice B. Taylor

     Before the Iliili-opae Heiau at Mapulehu on Molokai could be dedicated, the land in which it was situated and people had to be purified.

     The priests and king went about the district holding services and collecting offerings for the temple.

    Other priests and the people decorated the temple. They gathered the ie-ie vine, lace fern, ti leaves, lama and ohia branches to decorate all the images and houses.

     They spread freshly woven mats of lauhala on the altar pavements.

     The services lasted about a month. On each required night, some one article or thing was dedicated: that is each house and god required a different service as did the aha from the sea, the drums, etc.

     The offerings of the human sacrifices culminated the whole and the people believed that they had prayed the spirit of the gods into their images.

     A great kapu was placed on the people and the land on the night the services began.

Its purpose was to keep the people from sin and to secure absolute silence so that the voice of the priests would "rise beyond the clouds and reach the ears of the gods."

     All the men and boys of the community were commanded to attend the ceremonies. If the men were "religious," they went inside the heiau and sat on the pavement in front of the altar.

     If the men and boys were afraid of the severities of the service, they gathered outside the heiau and on the high places about it, where they were subject to the rigors of the required etiquette.

     The women and children were forbidden to leave their houses.

     Silence was secured by binding the snouts of the pigs and dogs and placing the chickens under calabshes.

     The men could not leave the temple and the women and children could not leave their houses to attend the toilet needs.

     The success of the service depended upon its conduct without the interruption of a cry of a wild bird, the squeak of a rat, twisting clouds, thunder or lightening or the cry of a human being.

     To enforce this silence, priests sent a special order of the priests, men called Mu, to go about and listen to fringements.

     Anyone who made a noise was subject to death.

Next: The Priests

Note: The words, "severities" and "fringements" are original to this text.

► Molokai: Iliili-Opae: Ohia Timber - 8

Honolulu Star Bulletin. Tuesday, January 22, 1957 - Tales about Hawaii, Clarice B. Taylor

     In Polynesian theology, the great god Ku created the forests and breathed his own spirit into each living tree.
 
     The ohia tree was his own embodiment.

Hawaiian god, Ku

Photo credit

      So when the Molokai king prepared the fittings for Iliiliopae Heiau at Mapulehu Ridge, he went to Ku's forest for the timbers for Ku's temple.

     The main god, the timbers for the oracle tower, the drum house, the lele and the Mana house must be of the ohia since the heiau was Ku's temple. 

     An important ceremony was held before going into the forest to get the timber.

TEMPLE CEREMONY 
     The priests and kings assembled in a  chapel where they put the adzes to be used "to sleep" under a god.

     The main idea was that the adzes would gain mana (spiritual force) to assist in cutting down the ohia tree.

     On the morning of a propitious day, a great procession was formed of all the people (excluding the women), headed by the king and high priests.

     They marched to the forests high in Mapulehu Reidge, singing and shouting on their way. When they reached a great ohia in perfect condition, the procession was stopped.

     Tow priests holding the sacred adzes, stood on either side of the tree. When a prayer was said, each hit the tree with his axe.

MAKE OFFERING
     The king made the offerings, a live pig which he killed by dashing against the ground, a human sacrifice killed in the same manner,  red fish, bananas and coconuts.

     Artisans then took over the felling of the tree. While they were working, others dug and underground oven, and baked the pig.

     Everyone in the party shared in the eating of the pig after the tree was felled. All scraps of food and the human sacrifice were then buried at the foot of the tree.

     While the tree was being felled, the people wandered through the forest gathering ferns and lehua blossoms with which they decked themselves.

CARRY LOG
     On the march down the mountain, strong men carried the ohia log on their shoulders so that it would not touch the ground or its bark be injured.

     The procession chanted as it ...... chanting and the people responded. Their voices rose and fell in a cadence from murmurs to shouts.

     The ohia log was placed on the temple floor in silence and was covered with flowers and ferns.

 Note: I regret to tell you that sequence no. 9 and no.10 was not part of grandma's collection. Therefore we will have to skip over this section and move forward to no. 11.

NEXT: Dedication (no.11) 

He mana'o
 

Reference  to human sacrifice, p. 26, "Hawaiian Mythology" by Martha Beckwith: "A human sacrifice was was offered as payment for the tree both a the spot where it was cut down and at the posthole where the image was set up."