PAU PAGE 224 11=15-14 1778 ROAD to STATEHOOD 1959 The
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PAU PAGE 224 11=15-14 1778 ROAD TO STATEHOOD 1959 The following is quoted from www.freehawaii.org: History 1 - The Beginning to Pa‘ao All quotes, unless otherwise noted, are taken from Daniel Kikawa's excellent book, Perpetuated in Righteousness. The language of the Polynesian peoples is basically one language, the missionary translators who first assigned a written spelling for the different island groups, heard the words differently and represented these sounds that they heard with different letters. For instance the Hawaiian word for 'woman' is wahine (vah-hee-nee), the Tongan word for 'woman' is fahine (fah-hee-nee). Much like the differences between American English and British English - there is understanding but differences in accents and idioms. So, the oral traditions of the Polynesian peoples, with minor differences, give a remarkably similar account of their history and beliefs. There are Polynesians today, who can recite their lineage back to one common ancestor. Here are some excerpts from those accounts. Note that these predate the coming of the missionaries and were not influenced by Biblical record. These legends include stories from Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, Marquesa and the Maori of New Zealand. Fornander (leading foreign source of Hawaiian history) said, ". I learned that the ancient Hawaiians at one time worshipped one god, comprised of three beings, and respectively called Kane, Ku and Lono, equal in nature, but distinctive in attributes..." This Polynesian god had many titles, but one name, too holy to be mentioned in casual conversation and this name was`Io. The first group of Proto-polynesians probably left the middle east around BC 2300, about the time of the tower of Babel heading toward Sumatra. The second leaving around 1400 BC, going to India' with the first group making it to Fiji a hundred years later (1300 BC). The Marquesans first settled in 100 AD and the Marquesans reaching Hawaii, the most geographically remote archipelago in the world, around 400 AD. The Maori landing in New Zealand in 700 AD and the Tahitians beginning to arrive in Hawaii between 1100-1200 AD. The conquering war chief, Pa'ao from Tahiti around 1300 AD. Pa'ao to Kamehameha I In the period of 100 years, 1300-1400 AD, an unknown number of warlike Tahitians arrived on the peaceful islands of Hawaii. At some point the warrior/priest Pa`ao came to Hawaii and found that the religion (that of the Tahitians) was at a 'low ebb'. He was disturbed that the people lived in peace and that the ". kapus were few and the ceremonies were easy: that human sacrifices were not practiced, and cannibalism was unknown; and that the government was more patriarchal than regal in nature." (Fornander, An Account of the Polynesian Race, Vol.1,p 209) To him, it seemed that the previous invasions from Tahiti, had failed. 1 There being no real class distinctions and the newcomers being assimilated into the culture was with typical Hawaiian Aloha. This could not be tolerated. He went back to Tahiti and then returned with warriors, priests (kahuna) and royalty (ali'i) of much mana (spiritual power). With this force, he invaded the peaceful land. He killed the priests of 'Io and changed the attributes of Ku, Lono and Kane, from detesting human death, to demanding it. He brought bloody stones from a human sacrificial site in Tahiti and used them to desecrate the primary heiau (temple) of 'Io on the "Big Island" and then built his luakini (human sacrificial) heiau on top of it. A few of the priests of `Io escaped to New Zealand, before Pa'ao had the great voyaging canoes burnt, his own included. I don't know if the great Hawaiian navigators were put to death with the destruction of their vessels, or their escape so infuriated the invader that he burnt the remaining canoes as retaliation, but Hawaii had very little contact with the outside world for the next 100 years. Pa`ao is credited with, not only the destruction of the peaceful culture of the Hawaiians and the perversion of the worship of Ku, but with the introduction of many elemental spirits (like Pele - one chant mentions 400,000 lesser 'gods'), but also of the cruel 'kapu' system. This forbid many things and demanded many more, with any infraction being punishable by death. The laws were strict and always favored the kahuna and the ali`I. British explorer Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawai‘i in 1778 was the beginning of a close relationship between the British and the Hawaiian ali‘i (the ruling class - Kings, Queens, Chiefs, Chiefesses). A few Chinese men and at least one German man arrived with Captain Cook. Ships arriving after Captain Cook’s arrival and prior to 1800 brought more Chinese men and a few German and Portuguese men to Hawai‘I. When Captain Cook arrived in Hawai‘i, the population of Hawai‘i was about 300,000. Over the course of time, a substantial decrease in the Hawaiian population was caused (1) by the Hawaiian vs. Hawaiian military battles and (2) diseases new to Hawai‘i such as sexually transmitted diseases (syphilis, gonorrhea, etc.), leprosy, measles, smallpox, Asiatic cholera, whooping cough, scarlet fever, diphtheria, influenza, bubonic plague, dysentery and Hansen’s disease. When Captain Cook arrived in Hawai‘i, some of the inhabited islands had multiple Chiefs, one for each geographically defined part of the island. Other inhabited islands had one Chief for the entire island. In A Cultural History of Three Traditional Hawaiian Sites on the West Coast of Hawai‘i Island (1993), Diane Lee Rhodes described pre-1778 Hawaiian society as follows: Chapter I: BEFORE THE WRITTEN RECORD . 2 E. Major Aspects of Traditional Hawaiian Culture 1. Social Organization a) Stratification During the period from about A.D. 1400 to European contact, Hawaiian society underwent a systematic transformation from its ancestral Polynesian descent-group system to a state-like society. The stratification that came to characterize Hawaiian society — consisting of a highly cultivated upper class with territorial control supported by a substructure of an underprivileged lower class — was somewhat reminiscent of ancient Mediterranean and Asian civilizations as well as of medieval Europe, and indeed has been referred to as feudal in nature. The ali‘i attained high social rank in several ways: by heredity, by appointment to political office, by marriage, or by right of conquest. The first was determined at birth, the others by the outcomes of war and political intrigue. At the time of European contact in 1778, Hawaiian society comprised four levels: the ali‘i, the ruling class of chiefs and nobles (kings, high chiefs, low chiefs) considered to be of divine origin; the kahuna, the priests and master craftsmen (experts in medicine, religion, technology, natural resource management, and similar areas), who ranked near the top of the social scale; the maka‘ainana, those who lived on the land, the commoners — primarily laborers, cultivators, fishermen, house and canoe builders, bird catchers who collected feathers for capes, cloaks, and helmets, and the like; and the kauwa, social outcasts! "untouchables" — possibly lawbreakers or war captives, who were considered "unclean" or kapu, that is, ritually polluting to aristocrats. Their position was hereditary, and they were attached to "masters" in some sort of servitude status. b) Rights and Duties of Each Class Earlier it was stated that the ali‘i are thought to have arrived in the Hawaiian Islands after initial colonization had occurred. According to E.S. Craighill Handy, the origin and cultural heritage of the ali‘i, who had earlier invaded and conquered aboriginal populations in central Polynesia, distinguished them from the older Hawaiian population. Historically and socially different, they maintained the purity of their blood and the integrity of their cultural heritage through barriers of kapu that isolated them from the lower echelons. Varying degrees of sanctity existed among the ali‘i, the highest kapu belonging to an ali'i born to an ali‘i of supreme rank and his full sister. In his/her presence, commoners prostrated themselves. The Hawaiian Islands are the only place in Polynesia where this type of extreme inbreeding was sanctioned, although only among the chiefly class, and the only place where the prostration kapu (kapu moe) was imposed. Recognized degrees of superior sacredness demanded special deference. All nobles of lesser rank had to observe prescribed forms of obeisance to those of the several sacred ranks and avoid their persons and personal property. Death resulted from failure to observe the proper form of homage. Lesser nobles occupied degrees of rank that were significant in connection with marriage and offspring but not in relation to the entire community. The 3 mass of the people, the maka‘ainana, probably descended from the aboriginal Hawaiian population. They performed many duties for their social superiors, producing food, supplying items for clothing and home furnishings, and laboring on community projects such as roads, water courses, taro patches, fortifications, and temples. A division existed not only between classes but also between the duties of commoner men and women. While men engaged in farming, deep sea fishing, manufacturing tools and weapons, building houses, and conducting religious rituals, women raised the children, helped in some agricultural tasks and in-shore fishing, collected wild foods, and made barkcloth, mats, and baskets. c) Role of the Kapu System The Hawaiian concept of the universe embodied the interrelationship of the gods, man, and nature. The former, although the ultimate controlling influence in this system, granted their direct descendants — the nobility — secular control over the land, the sea, and their resources: The aristocracy fiefed these resources to commoners, and commoners allowed the pariah to attach themselves to their households in domestic servitude.