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37-511: Scholars of Hawaiian lore including David Malo , Samuel M. Kamakau , John Papa ʻĪʻī , Solomon Peleioholani , Teuira Henry , and Stephen L. Desha support the notion that Pili and Pa'ao immigrated from the Society Islands of Samoa. King Kalākaua , in his Legends and Myths of Hawai'i , theorized that the lineage of "Tahitian" chiefs and their aristocrats and priests descended from Samoa (i.e. Paʻao and Pilikaʻaiea ). His theory comes from

74-552: A Hawaiian intellectual, educator, politician and minister. He is remembered by subsequent generations of Hawaiian people and scholars primarily as a Native Hawaiian historian of the Kingdom of Hawaii . In 1852 he was ordained as a minister at Kēōkea, Maui. David Malo was born in Keauhou on the Island of Hawaiʻi around 1793. He spelled his name Davida, since syllables always end in vowels in

111-402: A chief's personal area to come in contact with his hair or fingernail clippings, to look directly at him, and to be in sight of him with a head higher than his. Wearing red and yellow feathers (a sign of royalty) was kapu , unless an individual was of the highest rank. Places that are kapu are often symbolized by Pahu Kapu , two crossed staffs, each with a white ball atop. The ʻAi kapu was

148-448: A leading ethnobotanist of Hawaii, theorizes that because of the limited "noa" (free) diet for Hawaiian women, seaweeds were relied upon more heavily for Hawaiians than other Pacific islands. The kapu system was used in Hawaii until 1819, when King Kamehameha II , acting with his mother Queen Keōpūolani , his father's other queen Kaʻahumanu , and Kahuna-nui Hewahewa , abolished it by

185-400: A peaceful and egalitarian Hawaiian population. Activists praise these pre-Paʻao days as the real Hawaiian past, to be revived and reenacted in the present, and vilify Paʻao as a source of Hawaiian problems. In this version, all the problems faced by Native Hawaiians can be traced to foreign interference. David Malo David Malo or Davida Malo (1795–1853) was a chiefly counselor,

222-553: A widow much older than him, but they had no children when she died. In 1823 Malo moved to Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui and became a student of Reverend William Richards, learning how to read and write in both English and Hawaiian. Malo converted to Christianity and was given the baptismal name of David. He married again to a woman named Pahia (1796–1845), who took the Christian name Bathsheba ; she also died without children. He

259-595: Is said to have returned to his home island to fetch a chief of impeccable ancestry. He asked Lono-ka-eho, or Lono , who refused, and then recruited Pili-kaaiea , or Pili. Paʻao and Pili, along with Piliʻs sister Hina-au-kekele , chiefs and warriors, and their families, returned to Hawaiʻi, where Pili became the new high chief. All the succeeding chiefs of the island claimed descent from the legendary Pili. Paʻao's descendants became priests, and their line or order, called Holaʻe, continued into historical times. The last high priest, Hewahewa , who acquiesced to Christianity and

296-647: The Big Island of Hawaii . They landed in Puna , where Paʻao built the stone temple platform, or heiau , of Aha-ula , or Red Mouth. This was the first luakini heiau in Hawaii, the first heiau where human sacrifices were offered. He is also said to have landed in Kohala , on the opposite side of the island, and built the famous heiau of Mo'okini . Paʻao believed that the chiefs of Hawaiʻi had become hewa , or degraded, by indiscriminate intermarriage with lesser chiefs and commoners. He

333-452: The Hawaiian language . His father was named Aoʻao and mother was named Heone. He grew up during the period when Kamehameha I united the islands into a single kingdom. Malo was associated with the chief Kuakini , who was a brother of Queen Kaʻahumanu , during this time of great change, probably serving as oral historian and court genealogist. Early in life, he married Aʻalailoa (1790?–1822),

370-449: The Hawaiian religion and cultural history, along with members of the school and instructor Sheldon Dibble . David Malo was part of the class that conducted research into Hawaiian history and published their findings in the work Ka Mooolelo Hawaii, 1838 (a facsimile of this original has been recently reprinted). He helped form the first Hawaiian Historical Society with Samuel Kamakau in 1841. After that group disbanded, another society of

407-423: The kapu system governing contact between men and women. Many aliʻi obtained their power through this system, and then would give thanks to the god of politics Kū . ʻAi means "to eat" and Kapu means sacred. Therefore, it is translated to "sacred eating". In this practice men and women could not eat meals together. Furthermore, certain foods such as pork (the body form of the god Lono ), most types (67 of

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444-477: The "pure" chief brought by Paʻao. Paʻao is said to have introduced human sacrifice , the walled heiau , the red feather girdle, the puloʻuloʻu kapu sign, the prostrating kapu, the veneration of aku fish, and the feather god Tairi . The Paʻao narrative justified and sanctioned the social order as it then existed. The main outlines of the story follow. Many details vary from version to version. In one version told by British missionary William Ellis in 1826 Paʻao

481-410: The 70 varieties) of bananas (body form of the god Kanaloa ), and coconuts (body form of the god Kū ) were considered kapu to women. This not only prohibited women from eating these, but also their contact in contexts such as the manufacture of coconut rope. Taro (body form of the god Kāne ) was kapu for women to cook and prepare. Some large fish were also kapu for women to eat. Isabella Abbott,

518-458: The Big Island in the village of Upolu named after Samoa (or Western Samoa called Upolu). Most historians have concluded that Pili and Pa'ao both came from the islands known today as Samoa. ʻUpolu is the capital city of Western Samoa; and is linguistically and politically closer to Hawaii in the past. Legends suggest that Paʻao introduced certain customs (such as human sacrifice , primary worship of

555-454: The Boys' Dormitory after him, and has an annual celebration of his contribution in mid-April. All of Maloʻs writing, his intellectual production and the moʻokūʻauhau (genealogies), kanikau (laments), letters and published works were all composed in the Hawaiian language. Maloʻs kanikau for Kaʻahumanu is regarded as one of the most beautiful and complex of any kanikau composed in the 19th century, and

592-452: The W. Pacific, strongly resembled the Hawaiian ʻihe (spear), mahiʻole (war helmet) and ahaʻula (cape of royalty). Many Native Hawaiians and scholars who have studied the narratives believe the Paʻao narrative contains elements of actual history, and reflects a literal wave of migration from the south. The Polynesian Voyaging Society 's undertakings, such as Hōkūleʻa canoe's voyages, indicate

629-417: The breaking of the kapus or ʻAi Noa in 1819, claimed descent from Paʻao. Until fairly recently, Hawaiian historians relied primarily on recorded oral history and comparative linguistics and ethnology. The "two migrations" theory was widely accepted. That is, in a first migration, Polynesians (specifically, Marquesans ) settled the Hawaiian islands. In the second migration, Tahitians came north, conquered

666-487: The feasibility of long voyages in ancient Polynesian canoes and the reliability of celestial navigation; these demonstrations show that the types of voyaging mentioned in the Pa'ao stories were indeed feasible, but the recreated voyages do little to prove the authenticity of the Pa'ao legends. Hawaiian attitudes towards the high chiefs have changed; the ancient high chiefs are often seen today as oppressors, invaders who descended upon

703-458: The god Kū , red feathered girdles "Kāʻei", Kāʻeke drums and veneration of the bonito fish ) to Hawaii. He is also said to have brought a "pure" chief to rule over Hawai'i Island , deposing the tyrant and highest ranking chief, Kapawā . At this time in Hawai'i's history, the four island kingdoms were Kauaʻi (Kauaʻi and Niʻihau), Oʻahu, Maui (Maui, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, and Kaho'olawe), and Hawai'i. After

740-411: The kingdom of Maui. Having done so, Kamehameha was able to complete his conquests, bringing about the unification of the Hawaiian islands under one rule. The Paʻao story makes its first documented historical appearance in 1835–1836, in a collection of Hawaiian traditions called Moolelo Hawaii assembled by Hawaiian students of Lahainaluna High School , on the Hawaiian island of Maui . This collection

777-521: The manuscript was lost. In 1852 he supervised building Kilolani Church on Maui. Its ruins are now on the grounds of the Trinity by-the-Sea Episcopal Church near modern-day Kihei , located at 20°45′42.32″N 156°27′10.65″W  /  20.7617556°N 156.4529583°W  / 20.7617556; -156.4529583 . His grave is located above the Lahainaluna school on Maui. The Lahainaluna School has named

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814-417: The meanings of "keep out", "no trespassing", "sacred", "consecrated", or "holy". The opposite of kapu is noa , meaning "common" or "free". The Kahili were restrictions placed upon contact with chiefs (kings), but these also apply to all people of known spiritual power. Kapu Kū mamao means prohibited from a place of the chief, while Kalu noho was to assemble before the chief. It was kapu when entering

851-580: The original settlers, and established stratified chiefdoms. Hawaiian archaeology then came into its own and sought material evidence for two migrations. Evidence is found of migrations that originated from the S. China Sea - Lapita (Kirsch, 1999). Then later, followed by migrations that originated from the E. Pacific i.e. Galapagos and Easter Island, which traversed a mostly submerged archipelago pathway leading directly into Tahiti. Thor Heyerdahl theorized that Polynesians originated from S. America and drifted to Hawai'i by luck, but his ethnocentric thought processes

888-529: The overthrow by Pāʻao and Pili, Kapawā fled to the Island Kingdom of Maui where his royal relatives, through the ancient ʻUlu bloodlines, provided him with shelter and protection. The two bloodlines between Hawai'i (Pili) and Maui (ʻUlu) would often go to war, with Maui usually remaining victorious. It wasn't until the time of King Kamehameha the Great , who was a direct descendant of Pili, that Hawai'i fully conquered

925-449: The purity and reliability of these traditions, but academic scholars believe that much from these traditions have been shaped by easily available published versions of the narrative. However, there is no reason to doubt that the Paʻao story was widespread in pre-contact times. A lineage of Hawaiian high priests claimed descent from Paʻao, and Hawaiian high chiefs from the Big Island of Hawaiʻi traced their genealogies to Pili-kaaiea (Pili),

962-425: The royal fishpond, or with stealing fruit. Paʻao was angry at his brother's persecution and in his anger, he killed his own son and ripped open the corpse's stomach, showing that there were no remnants of kapu fish or of fruit, in another version these partially digested foods were found. Paʻao brooded over his misfortunes and decided to migrate to a distant land, far from his brother. He readied three large canoes for

999-503: The same name was founded in 1892. Also in 1841 he was elected as representative from Maui to the first House of Representatives of the Kingdom . In 1858 more stories were added to his book and a second Hawaiian edition was published. The book was translated by Nathaniel Bright Emerson and published in English in 1898, and again in 1951 and 1987 editions. He wrote a history of Kamehameha I, but

1036-458: The symbolic act of sharing a meal of forbidden foods with the women of his court. Abolishing the ʻai kapu assured political power to the line of Kamehameha rulers as monarchs because it limited the power of the rulers below them. Originally, it was from this political system that the rulers throughout the island would gain rank, power, and prestige. The ambiguities in the Polynesian concept (from

1073-462: The voyage. He placed a kapu over the boats; no one was to touch the canoes without his permission. One evening, Paʻao discovered his nephew, the son of Lonopele, touching one of the sacred canoes. Paʻao killed his nephew and buried him in the sand under one of the canoes, which was elevated on blocks. Flies buzzed around the decomposing corpse, so the canoe was named Ka-nalo-a-muia, "the buzzing of flies." Paʻao hurriedly assembled his retainers, launched

1110-416: The voyaging canoes, and departed. He left in such a hurry that one of his followers, an aged priest or prophet named Makuakaumana, was left behind. Makuakaumana climbed a cliff and called out to Paʻao; Paʻao refused to stop, saying that the canoes were full, all save the projection of the stern. Makuakaumana leapt from the cliff and gained his position in the canoe. Paʻao sailed by the stars until they reached

1147-457: Was kapu was often a capital offense, but also often denoted a threat to spiritual power, or theft of mana . Kapus were strictly enforced. Breaking one, even unintentionally, often meant immediate death, Koʻo kapu . It is related to the concept of tapu or tabu found in other Polynesian cultures, from whence came the English word " taboo ." The Hawaiian word kapu is usually translated to English as "forbidden", though it also carries

Paʻao - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-430: Was a Caucasian chief. Paʻao is said to have been a priest and a master navigator. He lived on a distant island called Kahiki in the oldest versions, and identified as either Tahiti or Samoa by believers in the historicity of the narrative. His older brother, Lonopele, was the chief priest in some versions of the story, or the ruler of the island in others. Lonopele accused Paʻao's son of removing some kapu fish from

1221-461: Was a member of the first class at the Lahainaluna School , later serving as school master. He married a third time to Lepeka (1810–1853), who took the Christian name Rebecca, and had one daughter he named Aʻalailoa after his first wife, given the Christian name Emma (1846–1886); she later married John M. Kapena with whom she had a daughter Leihulu Kapena (1868–1930), the wife of Henry Carter. He

1258-579: Was debunked chiefly by Polynesian Voyaging Society , who showed that non-instrumental navigation was practical. However, there is some evidence that supported Heyerdahl's incorrect theory: Sweet potato and coconut originated from the E. Pacific. These along with sugar cane, that originated in India, are among several Hawaiian crops that are now termed "canoe plants"; they were extremely important to voyaging way-finders i.e. Paʻao, who migrated to Hawaii. Furthermore, war implements of S. America, which were not typical in

1295-501: Was ordained into the Christian ministry and settled down in the seaside village of Kalepolepo on South/West Maui where he remained until his death on October 25, 1853. When Queen Kaʻahumanu died in June 1832, Malo composed a grief chant in her honor titled He Kanikau o Ka'ahumanu . He worked alongside Rev. William Richards to translate the book of Matthew, as he was Richardsʻ Hawaiian language teacher. From about 1835 he started writing notes on

1332-472: Was published several times over the course of the 19th century in Hawaiian language newspapers. Malo composed several kanikau for prominent women in his life, here is a list of some of Maloʻs writings that appeared in newspapers, including the kanikau. Kapu (Hawaiian culture) Kapu is the ancient Hawaiian code of conduct of laws and regulations. The kapu system was universal in lifestyle, gender roles, politics and religion. An offense that

1369-554: Was the basis of Sheldon Dibble 's 1838 history of Hawaii. David Malo was one of the Lahainaluna students active in collecting oral traditions. He continued collecting legends and when he died in 1854, he had completed an unpublished manuscript that was finally translated to English and published in 1898. Martha Beckwith , in her Hawaiian Mythology (1940, as republished in 1970), notes these historical sources: The Paʻao story also survives in various oral traditions passed down through Native Hawaiian families. Some Hawaiians insist on

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