User:KenHage91/Culture of the Native Hawaiians

Religion and Spirituality
Religion has always been a very important part of Native Hawaiian culture, which had reflected in the lives of the people every day. Some of the predominant life events where these beliefs surfaced were marriage, birth, death, and even the construction of dwellings. Unlike Christianity or Islam, the Native Hawaiians believed in numerous gods and goddesses. The deities could be split into two separate categories. The first, Akua, were the Earthly deities. These were the deities that were manifestations of the natural elements. The second were the  'aumakua, which were deities that had once been the living ancestors of the Hawaiians.

Kane

Kane was considered one of the most important gods in Hawaiian religion. Kane was believed to be the god of procreation and was the bringer of life. He was associated with the dawn, the sun, and sky. Unlike other Hawaiian gods, no sacrifices needed to made in order to please the deity. Hawaiian religion claims that before Kan created life, there was an endless dark void named Po that Kane pulled himself free of when he became that he was a separate being from it. After he pulled himself free from Po he created light so that it would push back the darkness. Kane then created man by mixing the red clay found at the four corners of the Earth with his spit, and used white clay to created man's head. Kane breathed life into man, and man was fully created in Kane's image.

Pele

Pele is the goddess of fire and volcanoes. She is one of the most famous deities of Hawaii, and much revered. So revered in fact, that even when Kilauea(one of the Hawaii's active volcanoes) erupts, the Native Hawaiians are fearful yet full of awe. Hawaiians have endure the overthrow of their kingdom, annexation by the United States and policies aimed at obliterating the Hawaiian language. But Like the resilience and adaptability of Native Hawaiian culture, the exaltation of Pele has not only persisted through the centuries, but seems to be strengthening with every bone-rattling eruption of Hawaii's volcanoes.

Pele is also called Pelehonuamea "She Who Devours the Earth". She usually appears to mortals as a beautiful young woman with long black hair and a halo of red flowers on her head. If any mortal disobeys here, they are to face her wrath and volatile temper. She is very respected among her people. It has been claimed by some Native Hawaiians that she will sometimes manifest before them on a road while they are driving. When they stop to pick her up and drive a ways, she disappears in their backseat. One thing that travelers are often warned against is taking one of Pele's precious lava rocks, and it is said that the thief will experience back luck if one were to remove this stone from Hawaii. It is also considered disrespectful to eat the red ohelo berries that proliferate near the caldera of Halema'uma'u, and one is advised to offer them to Pele first before eating them yourself.

Hawaii and Christianity

The Thaddeus landed on Hawaii's shores on March 30, 1820, which carried missionaries that would forever influence the Native Hawaiian religion to what it is today. These missionaries were Congregationalists and Dutch reformers who hailed from New England. The missionaries ultimately ended up converting many of the Native Hawaiians to their Christian faith, and in this process discouraged Hawaiians from keeping with their original beliefs. They also encouraged spreading about the English language among the land and promoted Western practices. The Christian influence was so powerful that even the current monarch of Hawaii, Queen Kaahumanu, fully embraced it and officially banned the practice of traditional Hawaiian beliefs. This is what might be considered the start of Hawaii's Western modernization.

I think one challenge we faced when doing research for this draft was the lack of academic journals on this subject.