The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-01
The KANAKA WAL

N1' CSiSlS arms, ana near their pierre
ing cry OF "Wulwullah ~ whether it is a
manifestation of grief over a friends
ueath or JOY at meeting after a long seper-
dulon' All the civilization which has
oeen imported here since the days of
CCdpt: COOK has not been able to modify
Ihe character of the funeral wall The
women scream, ting tkc---&rms in the
AR tear their hair and mutter their
sauWe" with the abandonment of utter
uIspalr, while the aged, wrinkled and red
eyed Kahuas chant their wierd dirges and
perform their rites of sorcery. The wall
IS usually started by the supersJitious,
Out II soon enlists all others, whether ig-
norant or educated, civilized or barbaric
1here are many here who still believe
mat the regions of Pc. or death, are pre-
sized over by Milu, a wicked being who
was once king on earth. Accompanying
tnls belief the old gods still teach that
there Is divine above of kuahairo in the
heavens, and that the spirits of the de-
parted often return to the scenes of their
earthly latOrs. These beliefs enable the
kahunas TO dwell here without laboring
4ney prey upon the superstitious, who
are taught that all physical illness is due
either te the anger of the gods, TO witch
craft or TO the prayers of malignant ka-
hunas. In illness the superstitious native
sun sends for his favOrite kahuna, who
lndAdQA
Unfough lncantatlon. Inc cause of every
lndlsposition is attributed to spells or
prayers, which the kahuna seeks TO trans
fer to the enemy who invoked them
These old fakirs still teach that a man
may be prayed to death, and if one of
their disciples believes he is being prayed
to death by one of priestly lineage he
pales, worries and soon goes to bed,
where he refuses to eat or be comforted.
n mo 4yat-H
sheer fright. Ancestor worship is sup
posed to counterfeit the influence of GER
tam evil hahunas, and if an i'll person
ardently reveres the shades of the de-
parted he can sometimes thus put to
night troop of evil demons
PELE, THE DREADFUL.
1t is a difficult matter to obtain a
genealogical tree of the gods of Hawaii,
and it is sometimes hard to tell a living
from a dead god. An old native told me,
through an interpreter, that Pele the
dreadful goddess of volcanic fires, first
made her abode among The islanders in
company with many furious brothers and
sisters many ages ago. Scholars suppose
that Pele and the wind gods were intro
duced into the mythology of Hawaii at
the time of the second influx of Poly
nesians from the south
1t was about this time also that the Gus
tom of deifyiug stones was originated
When a stone was selected for god it
was taken to sacred spot, where certain
ceremonies were performed over it, after
which it was dressed in native clothes
and taken to witness the many games and
pastimes. A prolific source of stone gods
was the beach of Kaloa. on the island of
Hawaii the stones which were believed
to propagate gods by contact with one an
other. There are aged natives here to-
day who sometimes visit the sacred sands
of Kaloa with fear and trembling. The
same people regard the owl and the gentle
alae bird with reverence, half believing
they are gods.
There are still gods of the winds and
tides, gods for the artisan. the hula
dancer, the orator, doctor and sorcerer,
but the gods, of one accord, have aban-
doned the field of politics, probably be-
cause they have been defeated and hu-
inflated by white men in every political
contest of the past.
FAMILY GODS AND OTHERS.
The local and family gods still dwell
here. They haunt lonely spots and dan
gerous places and are supposed in MANY
instances to be the deifed spirits of cele-
brated chieftains. 1t is strange that the
lengthy catalogue of gods in Hawaii has
never contained the names of sun, moon
jects of worship so common in the relig-
ions of the child races of the globe
Many natives believe the old gods exist
as living and active beings, though they
may defy their power and abhOr their
worship The PETTY gods have little
more place here than the horseshoe as a
omen of good luck has among Americans;
but some of the greater gods are believed
to he omnipotent in their own domain
II. ~. l.. 4
Kane is the Oldest and gentlest of the
gods, though the most powerful. He has
existed from the time of primeval chaos
ana night. which is called the period of
Mai la Pc Mai
Kanaloa is Kanes youngest brother,
and he is the deity who introduced
springs and creeks, also the banana trees,
for which horticultural enterprise he is
devoutly worshipped.
The god Ku still lives as the third of
the great quarter of deities 1t is his
chief delight to burn human souls.
Lono is still the god who presides over
the rains, a Hawaiian Jupiter Pluvius.
He generously leaves the Office of sacri-
fcing human beings to his brothers, while
he amuSes himself watching the native
games
Kalaipahou, the poison war goddess of
Molokai, still resides on that leper settled
isle. She came from an unknown country
many centuries ago, in company with
three desperate sisters, and at once dis
tinguished herself by so poisoning q tree
that every bird which few into it died
She is a hideous creature, for whom the
have great fear.
THE SHARK GOD.
a huge shark with all the attributes of
deity is supposed to swim outside the
coral reefs of Honolulu. while Maui, the
creative god, is believed to live hereaEout
still His chief occupation Is to draw
islands from the bottom of the sea with
his magic hook. He has a glorious record,
for he obtained fire for men, and once i'm
mortalized himself by lassoing the sun
and compelling him to move more slowly,
in emulation of Joshua.
The greatest blow ever dealt the old
faith was by a native named Liholiho,
who, in 1919, openly violated the tabu, an
intensely Puritancal code. which, among
many other things. forbade men and
women from eating together. Liholiho
openly deted his god by eating with the
queen, thereby striking at the foundation |
of the ancient faith. The tabu, from |
which the word taboo" sprung, was so
enforced on certain holy days
that babies were covered in bed to pre-
vent their crying, pigs feet were tied. /
dogs were muzzled and chickens were I
covered with calashes lest these Great /
lres' noises offend the gous.
The Kanakas who observed the old tabu /
with de otion have become the best /
Christians and their SUNDAYS are today /