Hawaiian Religion, Deities, and Mythology

Hello,
As some of you know, I'm kind of a big religion nerd (well I'm kind of big nerd in respect to a lot of things, but religion is definitely one of them.) I'm afraid that that statement might lead some to think that I am a very religious person, which is not the case at all. In fact, I'm an atheist. That is perhaps why religion is so interesting to me. I minored in religious studies at CU. I love the stories, names, and order associated with every religion. I like looking at how religions affected people and societies and cultures of the past and how they continue to impact people today. All of it is just inherently fascinating to me.

As such I wanted to investigate the religion of native Hawaiians. I took a class in college on the religions of Native Americans, and Hawaiian religion was one of the religions we learned about (that was actually my Professor's academic focus.) I supplemented my knowledge from that class with some internet research. I'll post links to my sources below.

The religion of indigenous Hawaiians is polytheisitic, and as is the case with most polytheistic religions, each deity has its own purpose and role in the environment and the lives of the Hawaiian people. There were different kinds of gods, including the principle deities, demi-gods, and local gods. As was the case with most indigenous religions, the political structure, social structure, legal system, and daily individual actions of Hawaiians were deeply impacted by and designed by their religion.

Image from pinterest.com. The Hawaiian Pantheon.

First things first, let's become acquainted with the primary deities.

The Sacred Eight:

IO (Keawe, Kela, Iao):

• The first god, the source of all other gods.
• Created the sky and the sun
• He created mana, the life force of everything. He sent mana into the darkness (po) and from that his son Kane was created. 
• He is also the "father" of Na Wahine. 
• Gradually his importance as a god lost steam to the Hawaiian people and was eclipsed by the importance of his children  and grandchildren, especially those known as "The Four Gods" (Kane, Kanaloa, Ku, and Lono.)

KANE (Elieli, Eli):

• One of "The Four Gods", the most important deities to native Hawaiians
• First god created by Io
• He is known as "The Creator;" together with Na Wahine he created the world
• God of the West
• God of the sky, the sun, thunder, wind, fresh water, and taro root
• Husband of Na Wahine
• Word for "man" in Hawaiian language is "kane"

NA WAHINE (Uliuli, Uli, Malama, Papahanaumoku):

• Second god created by Io
• She is known to be the highest manifestation of feminine energy, being Io's daughter
• Goddess of serenity and the moon
• Evaluates human behavior: She is able to see all the actions of a person that are righteous (pono) and unrighteous (hewa)
• Wife of Kane
• Together with Kane she had 3 sons (Kanaloa, Ku, and Lono, the remaining three of "The Four Gods") and 3 daughters (Tapo, Hina, and Laka.) Their 3 daughters married their 3 sons. 
• Word for "woman" in Hawaiian languae is "wahine"

KANALOA:

• One of "The Four Gods"
• Son of Kane and Na Wahine
• God of the South
• God of the ocean, which I guess also gives him control of mana, which makes him the god of disease (both giving it and taking it away.)
• Husband of Tapo
• Christian Missionaries interpreted Kanaloa to be The Devil

TAPO (Kapo):

• Daughter of Kane and Na Wahine
• Wife of Kanaloa
• Is feminine side of Kanloa's powers, i.e., she is the goddess of the ocean (specifically the South Pacific) and health
• One of the goddesses of hula

KU:

• One of "The Four Gods"
• Son of Kane and Na Wahine
• God of the North
• God of war, politics, woodlands, and crops
• Particularly worshipped by royalty, warriors, and craftsmen
• Husband of Hina
• Sometime around the 11th century he became the principal deity of the Hawaiian people and was the patron deity of King Kamehameha the Great
• He is associated with the "dry" season in Hawaii (around December to August)
• His rise in prominence as a deity resulted in an increased separation and subjugation of women across the islands

HINA:

• Daughter of Kane and Na Wahine
• Wife of Ku
• Is the feminine side of Ku (goddess of war, politics, and woodlands)
• Called upon to aide pyschological healing
• Mother of Maui (a prominent demi-god)
• A dual goddess with two heads, one for day and one for night
• Guarded the underworld

LONO:

• One of "The Four Gods"
• Son of Kane and Na Wahine
• God of the East
• God of learning, intelllect, wisdom, medicine, agriculture, fertility, and peace
• Husband of Laka
• He is associated with the "wet" season in Hawaii (around September to November)
• The end of the year, Lono's time, was a time of feasting, peace, tax payments to the royalty (ali'i), and fertility
• The Hawaiians mistook Captain Cook to be Lono on his initial contact wtih the islands, as his arrival coincided with the arrival of the time of Lono (more on that story hopefully later.)

LAKA:

• Daughter of Kane and Na Wahine
• Wife of Lono
• Is the feminine side of Lono (goddess of peace, fertility, and agriculture)
• A prominent goddess of hula

Image from libguides.huntingdon.edu. The Goddess Pele.

Other Important Deities:

WAKEA:

• The god (Father) of the Earth
• Prevailing god for all of the gods and goddesses associated with nature
• Married to Papa

PAPA (Haumea, Ka-luahine):

• The goddess (Mother) of the Earth
• Prevailing goddess of all nature deities, second only to Wakea
• Married to Wakea

HONUA:

• Daughter of Wakea and Papa
• The spiritual being that is literally the Earth
• Mother of the goddess Pele

PELE:

• Daughter of Honua (The Earth)
• Goddess of fire, volcanoes, lightning, and wind
• Often referred to as "Madame Pele" or "Tutu (grandmother) Pele" out of respect
• One of the best known Hawaiian deities, both on the islands and off. She is still a subject of much contemporary artwork
• She is often portrayed as jealous, envious, and petty
• She has many siblings, also associated with various elements such as wind, rain, fire, waves, and clouds. She is often in competition or in a rivalry against one or many of her siblings
• Her home is in the crater of Kilauea on the Big Island, but her domain is all of the volcanoes on the islands
• "The Curse of Pele" is a superstition that is still prominent today. The curse follows any foreigner to the islands who takes something without permission (such as a rock or shell, or of course, stealing something.) The curse is basically that bad things will happen to that person until they return what they have unrightfully taken.

MAUI:

• Son of Hina and the god who is the "supporter of heavens" (I couldn't find his name)
• He is known as "The Shark God" because he looks half human, half shark. Also supposedly his father held some sway over the sharks and Maui asked him to help keep the sharks from messing with humans' lives too much
• A bit of a trickster god, he was always working to deceive the gods and his siblings, often for the benefit of humanity
• He is credited with being the creator of the islands. The legend is that he was out fishing with his brothers when he tricked them (the story here varies as to why he tricked them) into paddling as hard as the can while he (with a special hook his father gave him) essentially fished the islands from the sea. As soon as his brothers stopped paddling (again for varying reasons) the hook line went slack and Maui stopped pulling up lands. He supposedly was going to create a whole continent, but since his brothers stopped rowing, he only created the Hawaiian archipelago
• He is also credited with raising the sky to more comfortable height for humans to live under and for lengthening the days on the bequest of his mother Hina by slowing down the sun.
• He is one of the greatest loved gods among human, despite him being only a demi-god, and thus less powerful. The island Maui was named after him.

Image from sites.google.com. Maui pulling the islands from the sea.

Some other important facts about the Hawaiian religion:

• Kahiki is the land of the gods, where they typically dwell and thus the source of creation. It is beieved to be a reference to Tahiti, where it is widely believed the first Hawaiians are from.
• Kahuna are spiritual and mystical people who are in a close relationship with the gods or one particular patron deity. They were spiritual advisors (priests) to the royalty (ali'i)
• Kapu are religious laws. They are largely what governed the Hawaiian islands up until King Kamehameha II around 1820 AD. It was not uncommon for someone who has broken a kapu to be sentenced to death. If such a criminal were to make it to a place of refuge (pu'uhonua) and there be ritually cleansed, then they were no longer subject to punishment for their previous crimes.
• Hieau are the religious temples of the native Hawaiians. They were places of ceremony and often dedicated to a particular patron deity. Women were not allowed on hieau for about 2000 years.
• Hula is a commonly known dance associated with the Hawaiian islands. It likely originated as a ritualistic dance to appease deities such as Lono and Pele; over the years it turned into a common form of entertainment and celebration and as such was performed outside of hieau.
• Native Hawaiian society largely relied on a caste system. The caste system was designed on which people had the most mana. Naturally, the ali'i (royalty,) kahuna (spiritual advisors,) and warriors had the most, in that order. Craftsmen and farmers had more midde rankings, where as the kauw were essentially the "untouchable" caste. It was thought that the kauw had no mana, and thus were forced to live seperately from everyone else so as to not drain them of their mana. 
• Mana was seen as a feminine force. Men were thought to be in the domain of form whereas women were in the domain of energy. Therfore men could not be persuaded to action without the feminine force. Likewise, women would be nothing without the creations and actions of men. It is in this way that men and women are seen to be co-dependent.
• As could probably be seen from the geneology of gods above, incest was not an entirely uncommon practice amongst the elites of ancient Hawaii. If one's family had a lot of mana it made sense to simply marry one's sister and thus keep the mana strong within the family. This is obviously still not practiced today.

Image from claremont.collegiatelink.net. Hula dancers.

Sources (other than my class):

• http://www.ancienthuna.com/gods_diagram.htm
• http://hawaii-guide.info/past.and.present/religion/
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_religion
• http://www.darksites.com/souls/pagan/lana/gods.html
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Māui_(Hawaiian_mythology)
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pele_(deity)