► Kalawainui II Breaks Heiau Kapu

Hawaii Star Bulletin
June 25, 1953
Clarice B. Taylor's Tales About Hawaii

The Young Kalawainui Breaks the Heiau Kapu

Hidden Alii, No. 9

     Their was a pause in the rigurous 10 day ceremony of dedicating a new oha god for the heiau in Kona. The priests of Lono had completed the prayers which took four hours to perform during which all the audience knelt rigidly on one knee with their hands and arms uplifted.

     During this pause, the alii gathered in the sacred house near the altar, relaxed and were served dinner of the pork sanctified at the preciding day's sevices.

     The young Kalawainui was about 19. He was attending the service in th company of his foster-father Moopu'u II and had no servant of his own to relieve him during the period of relaxation.

KAPU BROKEN

     The youth was also paralyzed with the need of going to the toilet. Although death awaited the man who broke the kapu by stepping over the doorsill of the sacred house, the youth blindly rushed to the door.

     As he started to step over the doorsill, Kaho'alii, his own grandfather, raised his arm to strike the youth down.

     Moopu'u II was watching. He raised his arm and cried, "Wohi" (the cry of his office as Moopu'u). "There is no life or death in your hands - life and death is in my hands."

     Kaho'alii dropped his arm and the youth looked around in a daze. Moopu'u walked over to the youth, put his arm around him and walked him out of the sacred house as was his right. By putting his arm around the youth he covered the boy with his own kapu.

EXILE
     Not a word was said between the two as Moopu'u walked with the young Kalawainui through the heiau out the path to their own home.

     At the house, Moopu'u quickly gathered a few clothes and food and again taking Kalawainui by the hand slipped through the village to his canoe. He commanded the boy to get in it.

     Taking turns at the paddles, the two men rowed and sailed the ocean until they reached the shores of windward Oahu. The route was familiar to Moopu'u for it was one of his duties to make trips back and forth to Oahu with boatloads of taxes for the King. Ordinarily Moopu'u made the trips with a fleet of rowers.
     
     Once arrived on Oahu, Moopu'u landed at Punaluu where he put the younger Kalawainui in the care of his uncle Keulua at Kaluanui.

Next: Final hiding of the alii.

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

     

► 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