The Worship of Idols
There was a great diversity as to cult among those who worshipped idols in Hawaii nei, for the reason that one man had one god and another had an entirely…
From: Unknown To: 1903 C.E.
Location: Hawaii
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
The Worship of Idols.
From Hawaiian Antiquities by David Malo, 1903.
There was a great diversity as to cult among those who worshipped idols in Hawaii nei, for the reason that one man had one god and another had an entirely different god. The gods of the aliis also differed one from another.
The women were a further source of disagreement; they addressed their worship to female deities, and the god of one was different from the god of another. Then too the gods of the female chiefs of a high rank were different from the gods of those of a lower rank.
Again the days observed by one man differed from those observed by another man, and the things that were tabued by one god differed from those tabued by another god. As to the nights observed by the alii for worship they were identical, though the things tabued were different with the different alii. The same was true in regard to the female chiefs.
The names of the male deities worshipped by the Hawaiians, whether chiefs or common people, were Ku, Lono, Kane, and Kanaloa; and the various gods worshipped by the people and the alii were named after them. But the names of the female deities were entirely different.
Each man worshipped the akua that presided over the occupation or profession he followed, because it was generally believed that the akua could prosper any man in his calling. In the same way the women believed that the deity was the one to bring good luck to them in any work.
So also with the kings and chiefs, they addressed their worship to the gods who were active in the affairs that concerned them; for they firmly believed that their god could destroy the king's enemies, safeguard him and prosper him with land and all sorts of blessings.
The manner of worship of the kings and chiefs was different from that of the common people. When the commoners performed religious services they uttered their prayers themselves, without the assistance of a priest or of a kahu-akua. But when the king or an alii worshipped, the priest or the keeper of the idol uttered the prayers, while the alii only moved his lips and did not say a word. The same was true of the female chiefs; they did not utter the prayers to their gods.
Of gods that were worshipped by the people and not by the chiefs the following are such as were worshipped by those who went up into the mountains to hew out canoes and timber: Ku-pulupulu, Ku-ala-na-wao, Ku-moku-halii, Ku-pepeiao-loa, Ku-pepeiao-poko, Ku-ka-ieie, Ku-palala-ke, Ku-ka-ohia-laka. Lea, though a female deity, was worshipped alike by women and canoe-makers.
Ku-huluhulu-manu was the god of bird-catchers, bird- snares (poe-ka-manu), birds limers and of all who did feather-work.
Ku-ka-oo was the god of husbandmen.
Fishermen worshipped Ku-ula, also quite a number of other fishing-gods. Hina-hele was a female deity worshipped both by women and fishermen.
Those who practiced sorcery and praying to death or anaana worshipped Ku-koae, Uli and Ka-alae-nui-a-Hina.
Those who nourished a god an unihi-pili for instance or one who was acted upon by a deity, worshipped Kalai-pahoa.
Those who practiced medicine prayed to Mai-ola. Kapu-alakai and Kau-ka-hoola-mai were female deities worshipped by women and practitioners of medicine.
Hula-dancers worshipped Laka; thieves Makua-aihue; those who watched fish-ponds Hau-maka-pu'u; warriors worshipped Lono-maka-ihe; soothsayers and those who studied the signs, of the heavens (kilokilo) worshipped the god Kuhimana.
Robbers worshipped the god Kui-alna; those who went to sea in the canoe worshipped Ka-maha-alii. There were a great many other deities regarded by the people, but it is not certain that they were worshipped. Worship was paid, however, to sharks, to dead persons, to objects celestial and objects terrestrial. But there were people who had no god, and who worshipped nothing; these atheists were called aia.
The following deities were objects of definite special worship by women: Lau-huki was the object of worship by the women who beat out tapa. La'a-hana was the patron deity of the women who printed tapa cloth. Pele and Hiiaka were the deities of certain women. Papa and Hoohoku, our ancestors were worshipped by some as deities. Kapo and Pua had their worshippers. The majority of women, however, had no deity and just worshipped nothing.
The female chiefs worshipped as gods Kiha-wahine, Waka, Kalamaimu, Ahimu (or Wahimu), and Alimanoano. These deities were reptiles or Moo.
The deities worshipped by the male chiefs were Ku, Lono, Kane, Kana-loa, Kumaikaiki, Ku-maka-nui, Ku-makela, Ku-maka'aka'a, Ku-holoholo-i-kaua, Ku-koa, Ku-nui-akea, Ku-kaili-moku, Ku-waha-ilo-o-ka-puni, Ulu, Lo-lupe this last was a deity commonly worshipped by many kings. Besides these there was that countless rout of (woodland) deities, kini-akua, lehu-akua, and mano-akua whose shouts were at times distinctly to be heard. They also worshipped the stars, things in the air and on the earth, also the bodies of dead men. Such were the objects of worship of the kings and chiefs.
The following gods were supposed to preside over different regions: Kane-hoa-lani (or Kane-wahi-lani) ruled over the. heavens; the god who ruled over the earth was Kane-lu-honua; the god of the mountains was Ka-haku-o; of the ocean Kane-huli-ko’a.
The god of the East was Ke-ao-kiai, of the West Ke-ao-halo, of the North Ke-ao-loa, of the South Ke-ao-hoopua. The god of winds and storms was Laa-mao-mao.
The god of precipices (pali) was Kane-holo-pali, of stones Kane-pohaku, of hard basaltic stone Kane-moe-ala, of the house Kane-ilok'a-hale (or Kane-iloko-o), of the fire-place Kane-moe-lehu, of fresh water Kane-wai-ola.
The god of the doorway or doorstep was Kane-hohoio (Kane-noio according to some). The number of the gods who were supposed to preside over one place or another was countless.
All of these gods, whether worshipped by the common people or by the alii, were thought to reside in the heavens. Neither commoner nor chief had ever discerned their nature; their coming and their going was unseen; their breadth, their length and all their dimensions were unknown.
The only gods the people ever saw with their eyes were the images of wood and of stone which they had carved with their own hands after the fashion of what they conceived the gods of heaven to be. If their gods were celestial beings, their idols should have been made to resemble the heavenly.
If the gods were supposed to resemble beings in the firmament, birds perhaps, then the idols were patterned after birds, and if beings on the earth, they were made to resemble the earthly.
If the deity was of the water, the idol was made to resemble a creature of the water, whether male or female. Thus it was that an idol was carved to resemble the description of an imaginary being, and not to give the actual likeness of a deity that had been seen.
And when they worshipped, these images, made after the likeness of various things, were set up before the assembly of the people; and if then prayer and adoration had been offered to the true god in heaven, there would have been a resemblance to the popish manner of worship. Such was the ancient worship in Hawaii nei, whether by the common people or by the kings and chiefs. There was a difference, however, between the ceremonies performed by the common people at the weaning of a child and those performed by a king or chief on a similar occasion.
Malo, David. Hawaiian Antiquities: (Moolelo Hawaii). Translated by Nathaniel Bright Emerson, Hawaiian Gazette Co., 1903.
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