► 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

► My Stone Is Ancient: Daddy Bray

  The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Tuesday, January 6, 1959 - Clarice B. Taylor's "Tales about Hawaii"

     "The story of my stone is not told in any book. I have not read of it anywhere. I know it as handed down in my family.

     "I got it from my Uncle Kaniho who owned the stone before me. Because the stone is different from any in Hawaii, Uncle Kaniho believed it had originally come from Egypt."

     That was the beginning of the account by Daddy K. Bray Sr. of how he had become the Hawaii's best known practicing kahuna.

     "I come from a long line of praying kahunas who were priests serving the ings of the Island of Hawaii. We are descendants of the Hight Priest Paao who came from Tahiti about the thirteenth century.

HISTORY TOLD

     The history books tell Paao built the first great heiau at Puna on the Big Island and then moved to the royal court at Waipio and built the Mookini temple at Puuepo.

     "You remember Paao mad a trip back to Tahiti to bring a new king to rule the Island. On that trip his canoe was surrounded with schools of opelu and aku.

     "That is what the history books say - but in my family the story is that the fish were moi not opelu.

     "Uncle Kaniho said that Paao brought two stone gods with him. The male god was the stone which I now possess. This stone possessed the spiritual forces of the great god Ku and was named Ku-ka-ili-moku (the Ku who runs over the land).

     "The stone-god Ku was so sacred that Paao kept it in the temple at all times. He had feather images made which the chiefs could carry into battle and which could be shown in public.

     "The priests prayed the spiritual force of the stone-god into the feather images so the images truly represented the real god.

SUPREME CHIEFS
     "The chiefs who whorshi[p]ped Ku-ka-ili-moku and carried him into battle became the supreme chiefs of Hawaii and Ku-ka-ili-moku became the national war god.

     "We Hawaiians believe that Kamehameha was successful because he was the keeper of the war-god and was faithful in his worship of the god.

     "My ancestor Holoae was the High Priest under Kamehameha and the one who carried out the worship of Ku. It was through him that the god eventually came to my family

     Daddy Bray was for several years guide and commentator at the Throne Room, Iolani Palace. He is now retired from government service.

NEXT: The god is hidden

► The True Nature of Pele

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Monday, November 30, 1959 - Clarice B. Taylor's "Tales about Hawaii" 

    "Pele must be mad."

     That is the common remark you hear as soon as a volcanic eruption is announced.

     The remark shows how little modern day people know about Pele. Moderns only know her by her destructive force.

     As a matter of fact the old Hawaiians think of Pele as "The Earth-Warming Woman". Without the warmth which she gives earth, there would be no green vegetation.

Without Pele, there would be no new earth to enrich the world.

BIRTH PLANS
     Before Pele floods the earth with her lava flows, she goes through the pains of childbirth just as a woman does.

    The Hawaiian says, "there must be destruction, before there can be new life." Just so Pele burns the old forests, lays waste the fertile lands and covers them with new.

     Of course Pele does no create the miracle of new-earth alone. She needs the help of the Lono family who bring rain to the new lava and she needs the help of the Kane family whose members strike the new lava with thunder and lightening. Then she needs the help of the Ku family members who spread green trees and vegetation on her flows.

AIDS SICK
     The Pele family are all revered by old Hawaiians for their health restoring abilities. A kahuna (physician) who could not heal a sick person could always pray to Pele and ask her aid. A Kahuna did not pray directly to Pele. He prayed to one of the Hiiaka sisters or one of Pele's brothers and asked for aid.

     Pele in turn, would give assistance to the faithful by asking the aid of one of the great gods in heaven.

GOLDEN RULE
     Pele was a stern upholder of the Golden Rule law of the Hawaiians. The best known stories of Pele are those which tell of her punishment of those who did not follow this rule.

     Pele would appear as an old haggard woman before the house of the proud, rich family. Invariably she would ask for food and be refused.

     According to one story, she pointed to a breadfruit tree and asked for one fruit. She was refused. The next day all the fruit fell from the tree.

     At the home of an old couple, she asked for food and was invited to come in and share their sweet potatoes. 

     The old couple were rewarded. When Pele sent a flow toward their home, the flow divided and went around their sweet potato patch and home.

NEXT: More about Pele's Travels

► A Canoe for Pele

 The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Friday, November 27, 1959 - Clarice B. Taylor's "Tales about Hawaii"

    Father Ku kept his word and provided Pele with a large sea-going double canoe. It was large enough for the big family and contained enough food to last for months.

     The one who prepared the canoe was Ka-moho-alii, King of the Sharks, and Pele's eldest brother. Kamohoalii put his relatives in charge of the canoe.They were Kane - the Whirlwind, Ke-aumiki (The Strong Current) and Keauka (The Moving Seas).

     Pele first visited Bora Bora in the Society Islands and then spent a lot of time visiting mysterious ancestral Islands and finally came to Niihau.

     It is because she came to the Hawaiian Islands that you read that Pele brought the ocean to Hawaii.

     The real truth is that Namaka kept up her quarrel with Pele and followed where ever she went. It was in reality Namaka who brought the ocean to Hawaii. Since Namaka was Queen of the Seas, the ocean naturally followed where she traveled.

     Pele kept in the canoe her magic digging tool, Pa-oa. During her travels, Pele used Pa-oa to dig holes in the sandy beaches. She hoped to dig a home for herself and family. But, Pele was always disappointed. Every time she dug a hole, she would find Namaka filling the hole with water and putting out Pele's fires.

     Pele was well received and lavishly entertained on the Island of Niihau - but she found the Island small and quickly passed over to Kauai.

     It was on this Island in Haena she met the first of her famous lovers. He was a mortal named Lohiau. Pele transformed herself into a maiden and was married to Lohiau. However, she was not satisfied with her mortal life because she could not dig a fire-hole at Haena to make a home.

     Legends from Kauai about Pele differ from the popular legends coming from the Big Island.

     Kauai people say that Pele was the daughter of Kanehoalani and Hina. Others say Kane-hao-lani was her brother and Hina was the goddess who created the great tidal wave on which Pele arrived from her south Sea home.

     It really doesn't matter, because those names mean nothing today. The older legends which gave Ku as Pele's father follow the pattern which makes the great god Ku progenitor of mortals.

     The Kauai folks make matters more confusing by saying that Pele spent much time searching the Islands of the South sea for her stolen husband.

     Our story of Pele is a condensation of the Pele stories run in Hoku-o-ka-(P)pikapika (Star of the Pacific) in 1861 and Ke Kuokoa in 1864 and 1865.

For personal interest, I've highlighted a part of the text. As a previous long time resident of Kauai, I've learned the same version of this mo'olelo from Kauai kupuna.

► Pele's Family Gods

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Thursday, November 26, 1959 - Clarice B. Taylor's "Tales about Hawaii"

     If you are fortunate, you may see Pele and her Hiiaka sisters when visiting Kilauea Iki. There are seven Hiiaka sisters, all younger than Pele and devoted to her as good alii sisters should be.

     Each Hiiaka has a name that distinguishes her from the others. The name indicates her personality.

     The first is Hiiaka-Kapu-Ena-Ena (Hiiaka of theburning tabu) If she is called Hiiaka-Pu-Ena-Ena, the name means "Hiiaka of the burning hills."

     The second sister is Hiiaka-Wawahi-lani (Hiiaka breaking the heavens for the heavey rain to fall.)

     The third is Hiiakanoholani (Hiiaka-dwelling in the skies).

     The fourth is Hiiaka-makole-wawahi-waa (Hiiaka the fire-eyed canoe breaker).

     The fifth: Hiiaka-kaa-lawa-maka (Hiiaka with the quick glancing eyes).

     The sixth: Hiiaka-ka-lei-ia (Hiiaka encircled by garlands of smoke clouds).

     The seventh and youngest Hiiaka is the best known of the sisters. She is Hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele (Hiiaka in-the-bosom-of-Pele).

     These girls were born long, long ago to Haumea, the goddess known as Earth's pali. Their father was the great god Ku. They lived far, far away in the South Seas on a beautiful Island.

     The Hiiakas had two elder sisters, Namaka-o-ka-hai, Queen of the Ocean, and Pele, the fire goddess.

     These two sisters were always quarreling. Their quarrels were the eternal battle between fire and water.

     Pele aggravated Namaka by building fires and littering the nice sandy beaches of their Island home.

     Pele was angered when Namaka swept away the fires she had built.    

     The row between Namaka and Pele became intense when Namaka caught Pele flirting with her husband.

INTENSE
     The row was so intense that Pele decided she would have to leave home.

     So, Pele called in her brothers and sisters and announced she was seized with wanderlust and she asked her father for a sea-going canoe which would carry her and her brothers and sisters to foreign lands.

     "What will you do with your little egg sister?" asked Ku.

     Pele took the egg, wrapped it in her skirt to keep it warm, and said the egg would always remain near. This is how the youngest of the Hiiakas received her name Hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele (Hiiaka-in-the-bossm-of-Pele.)


NEXT: Pele and her canoe

► The Kahuna: Importance of Prayer

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Monday,June 15, 1959 - Clarice B. Taylor's "Tales about Hawaii"

     "Daddy Bray, how many of these haole "seekers of the truth" ask you about prayer?"

     "To date there have boon only four," he replied. I asked:

     "Isn't it prayer that unlocks the secrets of the ancient Kahuna?"

     "Yes," he said. "I try to tell them - but a man has to have a certain spiritual development before he is willing to ask. Each of these seekers for truth has to learn that they do not know all and that they must learn from a higher power.

OPEN BIBLE

     "I try to tell them that they d not need to pray to Kane, Ku or Lono. They have only to open their Bibles and truth will be unfolded.

     "I give them certain chapters to read. If they are sick or in trouble, I tell them I will assume their burdens for a certain length of time... after that, it is up to them.

     "To help them focus their minds, I give them simple little rituals to carry out at the time they read the Bible.

     "I teach them about the four elements of the Hawaiian - earth, air, fire and water. These four elements account for all life. Then there are the upper and the lower forces.

     "Upper forces come from the heaven. They bring enlightenment and harmony. Lower forces are of the earth - they bring greed envy and hate.

HUMBLENESS

     "The Kahuna approaches God in humbleness. He prays to know his own sins then asks forgiveness for them. He them seeks harmony between himself and the people amongst whom he lives. It is only them the Kahuna achieves harmony with God.

     "It is only then that the Kahuna can ask for blessings or the knowledge of how to treat the sick or those in trouble.

     "Most people do not know how to pray. They pray aloud to be heard. They make demands upon God.

     "As a result, they make a god of themselves and they arose hate in themselves and in others.

     "Instead of receiving an answer to their prayer, they become confused - for hatred breeds confusion."

NEXT: The rathole

► Molokai's Iliili-Opae: A Lono Temple - 16

Honolulu Star Bulletin. Friday, February 1, 1957 - Tales about Hawaii, Clarice B. Taylor   

     So great was the consternation caused bu the destruction of Iliili-opae Heiau at Mapulehu that generations went by before the temple was again put to use.

     Those priests of Ku who had not been killed in the downpour which destroyed the temple fled in fear to other islands.

     The people of Molokai nodded their heads and said,  " You see Lono was offended by the number of sacrifices required. He has decreed that men are sacred to him."

     So, in time, the people forgot their horror and since they needed a special heiau to Lono at each annual Makahiki (harvest festival), they rebuilt the heiau.

     Kaalauohua was the name of the king who gathered up the stones of the old temple and rebuilt it.

DEDICATED TO LONO

     Instead of dedicated the entire structure to Ku, he dedicated it to Lono, god of peace and fertility.

     Lono's lama house was again located at the east corner of the heiau platform, where it was accessible to the farmer.

     A platform, 268 feet in length and 85 feet wide, with terraces on three sides, was salvaged and again made the home of Ku.

     Instead of holding sacrificial services at the Ku kapu a  sacrifice was made once a month on the night of Kane (24th of the month).

     Drums were beaten to call the people to the temple. Common men knelt in ranks outside and about the temple. Women hid in the hills where they were not seen.

ALL COULD SEE

     There was no wall about the temple, so all could look upon the ceremony. The sacrifice was carried in alive and tied to a scaffold and strangled.

     At the conclusion of the ceremony, the sacrifice was burnt in a pit at the southeast corner of the temple.

     Services to Lono were carried on at almost any time and anyone could attend (except women).

     The farmer brought his first fruits to an outer wall of the Lono temple where they were received by an underling priest.

SAYS PRAYER

     The priest said a prayer over them.

     In his prayer was correctly said without faltering or without a mistaken word, the first fruits were accepted and taken into the inner temple where they were laid before Lono.

     The farmer went away happy. The acceptance of his offering brought him a blessing and he knew that his next crop would be bountiful.

NEXT: Molokai Mana

► 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."

► Paradise Gained and Lost - 1: Paliuli

Honolulu Star Bulletin. Tuesday, January 8, 1957 - Tales about Hawaii, Clarice B. Taylor  

     The birth of a child as an egg was a rather common thing in the days when the gods lived on earth and were begetting human beings to inhabit the Hawaiian Islands.

     The reason was that the first human beings were part divine and part human. They had supernatural qualities as granted them by their godly parents.

     Kepakailiula was born an egg in a family at the point Keaau in Puna.

     He was the first born of Hiwahiwa (the beloved one), called Hina, and her husband Ku.

     His name Ke-paka-ili-ula means "the person with a red skin."

     The family of Ku and Hina included grandparents and two brothers of Hina. The brothers were Kiinoho (the stay at home) and Kiihele (the traveler).

MANY DREAMS
     All Kiinoho did was to stay around the house and dream.

     His dreams were important because the family aumakua (gods) visited Kiinoho in his dreams and foretold events to come or guided the family actions.

     Kiihele, on the other hand, loved to be on the go. He could run around the Island of Hawaii in one day, starting from Puna before sunset of the same day.

     In the highlands above the family home at Keaau was located Paliuli, the paradise of the gods.

     No human being had ever seen Paliuli. The gods had built it for their private home, when they first came to live on earth.

HID BY MISTS
     They had located it in a grove of trees and hidden it with mists. The Moo (supernatural lizards) guarded the path to Paliuli with earthquakes.

     The gods who lived at Paliuli were fed and guarded by other gods in the form of birds.

     Mortals never saw these things but heard about the great lake of fish and the fine fruits which grew abundantly in Paliuli.

     The fame of Paliuli had spread throughout the Islands and it had been the ambition of many high-born chiefs from Kauai, Oahu and Maui to find Paliuli and woo the fabulous beauty who lived there.

     All had been turned back by the supernatural creatures who guarded Paliuli.

NEXT:  *Unavailable*

He Mana'o...
The written form of Hawaiian, of course not an indigenous development but a foreigner concept, was not written at that time with kahako and okina. Since the renaissance of Hawaiian language learning, Hawaiian scholars must have initiated the use of kahako and okina the help new learners and readers to accent Hawaiian words as close to how they should be pronounced...you must have noticed there are none in this writing. Another passing thought is that the computer wasn't around in 1957... owning a typewriter was a big deal for many of us... just thinking.