Ancient Hawaii - Polynesian Gensis

Ancient Hawaii, by Herb Kawainui Kane:
POLYNESIAN GENESIS

THE DISCOVERY OF HAWAI'I
Collection of the
Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture & the Arts

In the beginning there was only darkness, an infinite and timeless night. But within that void brooded an intelligence. The Earth Mother, Papa, was created in the darkness. Light was created—the procreative light of the Sky Father, Wäkea. In their embrace male light penetrated female darkness, and from this union of opposites was created a universe of opposites.

So it was that the Universe was given form and life; for only in the union of light and darkness can there be life and growth of living things, all fathered by sunlight and mothered in the darkness of the soil, the egg or the womb.

The great spirits were born. Tane the Creator was the first born, and as the eldest he reigned over the others. He was the spirit of creation, of sunlight, fresh water, and forests, and the male ancestor of all living things, including The People.

There was Tangaroa of the Ocean; and Tu, who in many guises and under many names was patron of the works of men; and Rongo, patron of agriculture and healing. These were the male ancestors of all things in nature, the sources of all power, or mana. When these spirits came to Hawai'i there was a great turbulence of thunderstorms and whirlwinds and blazes of lightning. Their eyes flashed upon the land and the earth shook as they landed upon it.

In the evolution of the Hawaiian language their names would change to Käne, Kanaloa, Ku, and Lono.

PELE'S VOYAGE FROM
THE ANCIENT HOMELAND
Collection of the
William and Kahala Ann Trask-Gibson

Also born was the supreme female spirit, known as Hina in some manifestations and as Haumea in others. Heir to the power of creation, patroness of women's works, she is mother of many spirits. As La'ila'i (tranquility), Haumea was the mother of the first humans. Continually reshaping herself by rebirth, she retreats in old age to the spirit world, then reappears as a desirable young woman, taking many husbands among successive generations of her children and grandchildren. As Hina, she is associated with darkness, in some stories emerging from the ocean depths as a beautiful woman, in others escaping from the cruelties of life into the night sky where she can be seen against the full moon beating kapa. Pele, spirit of volcanoes, was born to Haumea in the ancient homeland, and voyaged to Hawai'i with sisters and brothers in a great canoe, guided by an elder brother in the form of a shark.

These greatest of spirits were ancestors of the People and of all life, and in this way the people were related to all other living things. In the time of the People such spirits have been invisible, appearing only through the many manifestations of their mana.

Mana was the invisible force that flowed from the most senior spirits to energize everything in the universe, whether it be the wind, the growth of a plant, or the surge of an ocean wave. Mana became manifest in humans as outstanding talents, intelligence, strengths, and leadership charisma. Tapu (Hawaiian: kapu) were prohibitions instituted to protect the flow of mana from disruption and conserve it against accidental loss or theft by persons not entitled to it. Today the meaning of tapu is largely confined to signs warning against trespassing, but the terms mana and tapu (as taboo) have entered the English language.

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