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forms (kinolau) as manifestations of the akua/'aumakua\ reaches into associations of multiple ancestral ties through common genealogies and, thusly, to other related ‘aumakua.
For example, if someone has a dream of a man with webbed feet coming on a canoe and wearing a red malo (loincloth), that personality is Kanaka-o-Kai (Man-of-the-sea), an ‘aumakua of Moloka'i families who also takes the form of a shark god. If one has a dream of a man in a red malo standing by a clear pool of fresh water, that personality is the god Kane as giver of the wai ola "water of life" (that is, procreative male fluid, drinking water, sea water as the source of man's beginnings, human blood). As the ‘aumakua Kanaka-o-kai is also Kanaka'aukai (Man-who-swims/ sails by sea), persons with the name "'Aukai" are also associated with the migration hero 'Aukele-nui-aiku. Since 'Aukele married the older sister of the volcano goddess (Pele), Na-maka-o-Kaha'i (The-eyes-of-Kaha'i), in the land of Ka-la-ke'e (Ra'iatea, Borabora, Pele's home), the name 'Aukai is related to Pele's parental ancestor, Kane-hoa-lani. As Pele in variant genealogies is given two fathers (po'olua, "two heads"), Ku and Kane, there are two parental lineages, but major maternal descent is from the goddess Haumea, who is called also Papa-hanau-moku (Papa-giving-birth-toislands) and Walinu'u. Haumea (or Papa) married four gods (Ku, Kane, Kanaloa, and Wakea). As Haumea joined with Ku, both she and Ku share the breadfruit tree as kinolau bodies. When Haumea as Papa-hanau-moku joins with Wakea, she is the mother of Ho'ohoku-ka-lani, who in turn is mother of the taro stalk, Haloa.
Haloa (Long-stalk), or the lauloa species of taro, is the symbolic representation of a large extended family of chiefs and commoners descended from Papa and Wakea. Ha is the taro stalk replanted as the huli, or corm and root cutting that regrows the starchy stem; loa (long) means that the ha is enduring. Until the 'oha forms, or the new shoot from the parent stem, the ha stalk is continually replanted as the same individual, so "long" (loa) not only in stalk (ha) but also in living "breath" (ha). A subtle understanding is found here in how Hawaiians view the character of the taro stalk, as it must come up from below water to "breathe," analogous to the human need to breathe out of water and in air (ea, "spirit"). From the joint symbolism involved comes an analogy to the extended family ('ohana). The taro corm is a kinolau of the god Kane, and the lu'au leaves, of Lono. When the Hawaiian family sits down to dinner, and the calabash of taro poi is set before them, a rule of good manners is that no one while eating Haloa should talk expectantly of the future, as "Haloa says no," meaning it is rude to speak before the ancestral staple while eating one's own words, so nothing comes of prophecy.
How does knowing the kinolau bodies of the four-fold godhead help to understand the Hawaiian concept of deity in the "real" and in the "spirit" worlds? The following kinolau outlines for each of the major gods present the holistic view of akua so as to divide the animate and inanimate nature of akua into their proper spheres of control and how they themselves are governed to provide for the daily life of mankind.
1. Symbolization of god Ku:
- a. As god of forest and rain, patronized by canoe-makers and builders of the luakini (po'okanaka type) human sacrifice temples:
- Ku-moku-hali'i: Ku-spreading over land.
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