► The Human God of Kamehameha

Honolulu Star Bulletin. June 22, 1953 - Tales About Hawaii, Clarice B. Taylor 

THE HUMAN GOD OF KAMEHAMEHA

HIDDEN ALII, No. 6

     An important position in the preiesthood of old Hawaii on the Big Island was that of Kamohoalii, the priest who took the part of a human god in religious ceremonies.

     He became a human god in the minds of the Hawaians because his duty included the enforcement of kapus (taboos) which regulated worship of the great gods.

     It was much easier for Kamohoalii to decree the death penalty if the peoplethought of him as a god in human form. Death was a punishment for all those who broke the rules and regulations daown by the priesthood as the proper worship of the gods.

NAKED GOD
     To further the idea of his godhood, the Hawaiian priests had Kamohoa(m)alii take part in temple ceremonies naked. He only wore the garments of a priest only when traveling with the king. Nakedness was the symbold of modesty and by going naked, Kamahoalii showed is respect for the god he represented.

     Kamohoalii had many important fundctions to perform. He took part in the opening cermonies which opened the opelu fishing season and those which closed the opelu season and opened the aku fishing season.

     At the end of the month, when the moon disappeared for a night, he hid in a darkened house as the symbol of the dying moon renewing its life by spending the night with the great god Kane, giver of life. He spent the night praying life into the moon.

     During the harvest festival (Makahiki), he traveled with the banner of the god Lono and enforced the kapus for this god and incidentally helped gather the taxes.

PRIVILEDGES OF A GOD
     Wherever he went, Kamohoalii was preceeded by his own heralds whe carried his tabu stick which had the white feathers of the white haupu bird attached to one end.

     Being a god, Kamohoalii was allowed priviledges no other men possesed. He could eat with alii women without breaking his sanctity or harming them.

     But, the greatest of ll his privledges was the law which allowed him to break all kapus without offending.  For instance, when other male members of the alii were shut up for for four to 10 days at a time in a house within the temple to take part in a ceremony, he could that kapu without suffering the penalty of death.

     It was the priviledge that leads to our story of the hidden alii.

Next: Moopu I

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

► 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

► 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