Hawaiian religion Hawaiian religion refers to the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of native Hawaiians, also known as the kapu system. Hawaiian religion is based largely on the tapu religion common in Polynesia and likely originated among the Tahitian ...

, the Kumulipo is the creation chant, first recorded by Westerners in the 18th century. It also includes a

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

of the members of Hawaiian royalty and was created in honor of

Kalaninuiamamao Kalaninuiamamao (sometimes called Ka-I-i-Mamao or Kaeamamao) was a prince of the Big Island of Hawaii, or 1st Alii Nui of Kaū, an ancestor of the Queen Liliuokalani.Alapaiwahine Alapaiwahine was a Princess of the Island of Hawaii and great-grandmother of King David Kalākaua and Queen Lydia Liliuokalani. She was a ''Naha'' chiefess: the product of a rare father and daughter marriage uncommon in Hawaiian history. Biograp ...

Creation chant

In the ''Kumulipo'' the world was created over a cosmic night. This is not just one night, but many nights over time. The ancient Hawaiian ''

kahuna ''Kahuna'' is a Hawaiian language, Hawaiian word that refers to an expert in any field. Historically, it has been used to refer to doctors, surgeons and dentists, as well as priests, ministers, and sorcerers. Background A ''kahuna'' may be ver ...

'' and priests of the

would recite the ''Kumulipo'' during the ''

makahiki The Makahiki season is the ancient Hawaiian New Year festival, in honor of the god Lono of the Hawaiian religion. It is a holiday covering four consecutive lunar months, approximately from October or November through February or March. The focu ...

'' season, honoring the god

Lono In Hawaiian religion, the god Lono is associated with fertility, agriculture, rainfall, music and peace. In one of the many Hawaiian stories of Lono, he is a fertility and music god who descended to Earth on a rainbow to marry Laka. In agricultu ...

. In 1779, Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

arrived in

Kealakekua Bay Kealakekua Bay is located on the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii about south of Kailua-Kona. Settled over a thousand years ago, the surrounding area contains many archeological and historical sites such as religious temples (heiaus) and also ...

on the

island of Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii ) is the largest island in the United States, located in the state of Hawaii. It is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the North Pacific Ocean. With an area of , it has 63% of th ...

during the season and was greeted by the Hawaiians reciting the ''Kumulipo''. Some stories say Cook was mistaken for Lono, because of the type of sails on his ship and his pale skintone. In 1889,

King Kalākaua King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

printed a sixty-page pamphlet of the ''Kumulipo''. Attached to the pamphlet was a 2-page paper on how the chant was originally composed and recited. Years later

Queen Liliuokalani Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

described the chant as a prayer of the development of the universe and the ancestry of the

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

ans. Liliuokalani translated the chant under house arrest in

Iolani Palace Iolani is a masculine Hawaiian name meaning "royal ''hawk''." It comes from the Hawaiian words ''ʻio'', meaning "Hawaiian hawk," and ''lani'', meaning "royal." It may refer to: *ʻIolani School, a private school located in Hawaii *ʻIolani Palac ...

. The translation was published in 1897, then republished by Pueo Press in 1978. The ''Kumulipo'' is a total of 2,102 lines long, in honor of

Kalaninuiamamao Kalaninuiamamao (sometimes called Ka-I-i-Mamao or Kaeamamao) was a prince of the Big Island of Hawaii, or 1st Alii Nui of Kaū, an ancestor of the Queen Liliuokalani.ʻI and Keawe family, who were cousins so his birth stopped the two from feuding. The ''Kumulipo'' is a cosmogonic genealogy, which means that it relates to the stars and the moon. Out of the 2102 lines, it has 16 "wā" which means era or age. In each ''wā'', something is born whether it is a human, plant, or creature.

Divisions

The ''Kumulipo'' is divided into sixteen ''wā'', sections. The first seven ''wā'' fall under the section of ''pō'' (darkness), the age of spirit. The Earth may or may not exist, but the events described do not take place in a physical universe. The words show the development of life as it goes through similar stages as a human child. All plants and animals of sea and land, earth and sky, male and female are created. Eventually, it leads to early mammals. These are the first twelve lines of the ''Kumulipo'', in Hawaiian, in Liliuokalani's English translation and in Bastian's German translation. Two other significant English translations - Rock's translation of Bastian and Beckwith's translation - appear in Beckwith's 1951 book ''The Kumulipo''. : The second section, containing the remaining nine wā, is ''ao'' and is signaled by the arrival of light and the gods, who watch over the changing of animals into the first humans. After that is the complex genealogy of Kalaninuiamamao that goes all the way to the late 18th century.

Births in each ''wā''

The births in each age include:Hawaiʻi: Center of the Pacific, Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa. ''Kumulipo''. # In the first ''wā'', the sea urchins and ''limu'' (seaweed) were born. The ''limu'' was connected through its name to the land ferns. Some of these ''limu'' and fern pairs include: ʻEkaha and ʻEkahakaha, Limu ʻAʻalaʻula and ʻalaʻalawainui mint, Limu Manauea and Kalo Maunauea upland taro, Limu Kala and ʻakala berry. These plants were born to protect their sea cousins. # In the second ''wā'', 73 types of fish. Some deep sea fish include ''Naiʻa'' (porpoise) and the ''Mano'' (shark). Also reef fish, including ''Moi'' and ''Weke''. Certain plants that have similar names are related to these fish and are born as protectors of the fish. # In the third ''wā'', 52 types of flying creatures, which include birds of the sea such as ʻIwa (frigate or man-of-war bird), the Lupe, and the Noio (Hawaiian noddy tern). These sea birds have land relatives, such as '' Io'' (hawk), '' Nene'' (goose), and ''

Pueo The pueo (''Asio flammeus sandwichensis'') is a subspecies of the short-eared owl and is endemic to Hawaii. The pueo is one of the more famous of the various physical forms assumed by '' aumākua'' (ancestor spirits) in Hawaiian culture. Pueo in ...

'' (owl). In this wā, insects were also born, such as Peʻelua (caterpillar) and the Pulelehua (butterfly). # In the fourth ''wā'', the creepy and crawly creatures are born. These include ''Honu'' (sea turtle), ''Ula'' (lobster), ''Moʻo'' (lizards), and ''Pololia'' (jellyfish). Their cousins on land include ''Kuhonua'' (

maile ''Alyxia stellata'', known as ''maile'' in Hawaiian, is a species of flowering plant in the dogbane family, ''Apocynaceae'', that is native to Hawaii. It grows as either a twining liana, scandent shrub, or small erect shrub, and is one of the f ...

vine) and ''ʻOheʻohe'' bamboo. # In the fifth ''wā'', ''Kalo'' (taro) is born. # In the sixth ''wā'', ''Uku'' (flea) and the ''ʻIole'' (rat) are born. # In the seventh ''wā'', ''ʻĪlio'' (dog) and the ''Peʻapeʻa'' (bat) are born. # In the eighth ''wā'', the four divinities are born: Laʻilaʻi (Female), Kiʻi (Male),

Kāne In Hawaiian mythology, Kāne is considered the highest of the three major Hawaiian deities, along with Kū and Lono. He represented the god of procreation and was worshipped as ancestor of chiefs and commoners. Kāne is the creator and gives ...

(God),

Kanaloa In the traditions of ancient Hawaii, Kanaloa is a god symbolized by the squid or by the octopus, and is typically associated with Kāne. It is also an alternative name for the island of Kahoolawe. In legends and chants, Kāne and Kanaloa are por ...

(Octopus), respectively. # In the ninth ''wā'', Laʻilaʻi takes her eldest brother Kiʻi as a mate and the first humans are born from her brain. # In the tenth ''wā'', Laʻilaʻi takes her next brother Kāne as a mate after losing interest in Kiʻi, she then had four of Kāne's children: Laʻiʻoloʻolo, Kamahaʻina (Male), Kamamule (Male), Kamakalua (Female). Laʻilaʻi soon returned to Kiʻi and three children are born: Haʻi(F), Haliʻa(F), and Hākea(M). Having been born during their mothers being with two men they become "Poʻolua" and claim the lineage of both fathers. # The eleventh ''wā'' pays homage to the Moa. # The twelfth ''wā'' is very important to Hawaiians because it honors the lineage of

Wākea In the Hawaiian religion, Wākea, the Sky father weds Papahānaumoku, the earth mother. The two are considered the parent couple of the ruling chiefs of Hawaii. ''Wākea'' was the eldest son of Kahiko ("Ancient One"), who lived in Olalowaia. ...

, whose son

Hāloa Haloa () is a Hawaiian mythological figure who was born of Hawaiian gods, and is the ancestor of the Hawaiian people. The title of a well-known chant about him and the creation of the Hawaiian Islands is also "Haloa". Birth of the islands Papahān ...

is the ancestor of all people. # The thirteenth ''wā'' is also very important to Hawaiians because it honors the lineage of Hāloa's mother Papahānaumoku. # In the fourteenth ''wā'' Liʻaikūhonua mates with Keakahulihonua, and have their child Laka. # The fifteenth ''wā'' refers to Haumeanuiʻāiwaiwa and her lineage, it also explains Māui's adventures and siblings. # The sixteenth ''wā'' recounts all of Māui's lineage for forty-four generations, all the way down to the ''Moʻi'' of Māui,

Piʻilani Piʻilani ("ascent to heaven") (born ca. 1460) ruled as Mōʻī of the island of Maui in the later part of the 15th century. At the time Maui was an independent kingdom within the islands of Hawaii. He was the first ''Aliʻi'' to unite the isl ...

. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, anthropologists

Adolf Bastian Adolf Philipp Wilhelm Bastian (26 June 18262 February 1905) was a 19th-century polymath best remembered for his contributions to the development of ethnography and the development of anthropology as a discipline. Modern psychology owes him a great ...

and

Roland Burrage Dixon Roland Burrage Dixon (November 6, 1875 – December 19, 1934) was an American anthropologist. Early life and education Born at Worcester, Mass, in 1897 he graduated from Harvard University, where he remained as an assistant in anthropology, taki ...

interpreted a recurring verse of the Kumulipo as describing the octopus as the sole survivor of a previous age of existence. In her 1951 translation of the Kumulipo, ethnographer

Martha Warren Beckwith Martha Warren Beckwith (January 19, 1871 – January 28, 1959) was an American folklorist and ethnographer, appointed to the first chair in Folklore established in the U.S. Early life and education Beckwith was born in Wellesley Heights, Mass ...

provided a different translation of the verse, although she does discuss the possibility that "octopus" is the correct translation and describes the god

Comparative literature

Comparisons may be made between marital partners (husband and wife often have synonymous names), between genealogical and flora-fauna names, and in other Polynesian genealogies.

Cultural impact

The

supermassive black hole A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical obj ...

M87*, captured by the

Event Horizon Telescope The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a large telescope array consisting of a global network of radio telescopes. The EHT project combines data from several very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) stations around Earth, which form a combined arr ...

, was informally given the Hawaiian name "Pōwehi", a poetic description of generative darkness or the spirit world taken from the ''Kumulipo''. In 2009, the poet Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio performed her poem, Kumulipo, at a poetry event at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

Notes

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Kumulipo
Another copy of "The Kumulipo" with commentary and translations by

.
The Kumulipo: a Hawaiian creation chant
Another online copy of the Beckwith book, Paperback edition 1981.

University of Hawaii Press A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

Into the Source
Article about Kumulipo translations by Shannon Wianecki. ''

Maui No Ka 'Oi Magazine The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

'' Volume 12 Number 6 (November 2008). Hawaiian mythology Creation myths