TRADITIONAL HAWAIIAN METAPHORS

  

I.  Importance of Genealogies

         A.  "Hawaiian Time"

                  1.  the past = Ka wā mamua ("the time in front or before")

                  2.  the future = Ka wā mahope ("the time which comes after or behind)

                  ==> back to the future with eyes fixed on the past

         B.  Histories of the Hawaiian people

                  1.  about the AliÔi Nui

                  2.  AliÔi Nui were not merely individuals

                           a) genealogies = sum total of their identity

                           b) ancestral identities in names (i.e. KaÔahumanu)

                  3.  makaÔāinana descended from AliÔi

         C.  Purpose of genealogies

                  1.  ancestors as role models

                           -- moÔolelo (stories) accompany names

                  2.  links those alive today with mana of the past

                  3.  psychological comfort & reinforcement

                  4.  a role in politics -- Kalākaua & Emma debates (1873)

II.  Historical Metaphors from Wākea & Papa

         A.  Mālama ÔĀina: Caring for the Land

                  1.  roles of siblings are reciprocal

                           a) younger -- love, honor, serve older

                           b) older -- feed & protect younger

                  2.  perfect harmony between man & nature = pono

                  3.  How did the Hawaiians care for the land?

                           a) role of AliÔi Nui as mediator & protector

                           b) Hawaiian land division

                                    -- mokupuni (island)

                                    -- moku (district)

                                    -- ahupuaÔa ("pig altar")

                                    -- Ôili & lele

                           c) complex agricultural system

                                    -- Ôauwai (irrigation system)

                                    -- konohiki administered

                                    -- personal names for land

                           d) Makahiki  festival to honor Lono

                                    -- collection of hoÔokupu  

         B.  ÔAikapu: Metaphor of Separation (ordering of society)

                  1.  men &  women eating separately

                           a) phallic symbols & kinolau (forbidden to women)

                                    -- pig (Lono)

                                    -- coconut (Kū)

                                    -- bananas (Kanaloa)

                                    -- red fish (KūÔula)

                           b) practical aspects

                                    -- men do all the cooking

                                    -- only men sacrificed to Kū

                                    -- forbidden foods not a hardship

                  2.  underpinning of entire Kapu system

                           a) great distance between AliÔi & makaÔāinana

                           b) rituals at heiau

                                    -- Hānaipū for Lono

                                    -- ÔAha for Kū

         C.  NīÔaupiÔo Mating: Metaphor of Incest

                  1.  acceptable & desirable among AliÔi Nui

                           a) formula for creating divinity

                           b) proof of divinity

                  2.  children can rank higher than parents

                  3.  multiple matings were acceptable

                           a) poÔolua ("two heads")

                           b) punalua ("two springs)

III.  Importance of religion

         A.  ÔImihaku = to search for a source of mana

                  1.  path of Lono (god of fertility) -- sexual

                  2.  path of Kū (god of war) -- violence

         B.  MōÔī must have mana to be pono

 

  

 

Think/Write Questions

Do you think the history of HawaiÔi is more accurately written if it has a Native voice, either a Native Hawaiian historian or by reconstructing metaphors of a past culture as KameÔeleihiwa does?

 

KameÔeleihiwa argues that the women of ancient HawaiÔi were quite powerful and the ÔAikapu does not prove that women were inferior to men. Do you agree with the explanation she gives? Why or why not?