► The Power of the Stone: Daddy Bray

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Thursday, January 8, 1959 - Clarice B. Taylor's "Tales about Hawaii"

     "My Uncle Kaniho told me that the stone god demonstrated its powerful mana (spiritual power) in a marvelous way.

     David k. Bray Sr. was continuing the story of how the stone god "walked to his house" and became the source of his spiritual power as a kahuna in a modern world.

     "One day a rainbow appeared before their house in Kohala. Kaniho;s father Ku-amoo announced that some alii or great person was approaching.

     "Soon appeared two strangers carrying  pig, chicken, awa and puau wrapped in ti leaves like offerings.

     "The strangers announced themselves as kahuna from Kauai. They asked to see the god Ke Alii. They knelt before it, prayed and made offerings.

KNEW PRAYERS
     "To my Uncle's surprise, they knew the correct prayers and addressed the stone by name Ku-ka-ili-moku.

     "The rainbow which hung over the house disappeared and the Kauai priests sat down to explain their mission.

     "It seems that they were keepers of the female god similar in appearance to Ku-ka-pihe. They claimed their god had been brought from Tahiti at the same time as ours by the High Priest Paao.

     "The Kauai goddess had come to her priests in a dream and told them of the male god on Hawaii and bring back the male god so that the two could be reunited.

     "Now Kuamoo did not want to give up his god, the source of his spiritual power. He sparred for time.

     "There followed a contest in chanting in which the Kauai priests tried to outdo Kuamoo. We Hawaiians call such a contest Hoopapa, the art of debating.

WINS ALL
     "The winner not only wins the contest, he takes away the spiritual power or skill of the loser.

     "The chanting went on through the day and night. Kuamoo's memory never failed him because he felt secure in the power of his god.

     "Finally the Kauai priests gave in and conceded that Kuamoo had the greater spiritual power. They said nothing more about taking the god - but invited Kuamoo to come to Kauai and get the female companion.

NEXT: Kaniho

► My Stone Is Hidden: Daddy Bray

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

► 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 Kahuna and Use of Offerings

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 9, 1959 - Clarice B. Taylor's "Tales about Hawaii"

     Daddy (David K.) Bray has found that haole "seekers of the truth" are very anxious to know about the offerings made to Hawaii's old gods and the meanings of the offerings.

     The haole thinks there might be a clue to the secret which "unlocks" the powers of heaven in an offerings.

     The human offering is the best known of all the mohai. Daddy Bray explains that the human being was offered to atone for sins just as it was in the Old Testament of the Bible.

     The most common human offering was the enemy captured in battle. Enemy offerings were made the war god Ku-ka-ili-moku in the belief that the prowess and bravery of the enemy would become the property of the victor.

ABUSED POWERS
     Daddy Bray says the priests of old Hawaii abused their powers just as some moderns abuse their authority. If a priest wanted to curry favor with his chief, he saw to it that the chief's enemy was sacrificed.

     If the chief has a retainer who was a nuisance, the chief would get rid of the man by asking the priests to take him as a sacrifice. It was a splendid way of keeping down freedom of speech.

     Awa, a narcotic drink, was the special offering to the gods. In modern times, brandy, and gin have been substituted because the Hawaiian word for brandy is palani and in Hawaiian, palani is the name of a certain kind of human sacrifice.

     The Hawaiian for gin is gini, pronounced kini. The meaning of kini is "a multitude." so the Hawaiian offers gin and in doing so, asks for a multitude of blessings.

     The list of food and plants used as offerings numbers about 20. Pig was the most important animal offering and taro the most important vegetable.

SPECIAL PIG
     Just any pig would not do. The pig had to be a special breed and color fro the type of offering required and the god to whom it was to be offered.

     Taro represented all life - the running water, the productive earth, fire and air.

     Other offerings included fish from the sea, fish from the fresh water, eggs, chickens, bananas, seaweed, sugar cane, and certain material.

     Each god had its particular list of offerings and the offerings varied according to sin to be forgiven or the purpose of the ceremony.

NEXT: The Gods