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 Tahitia ...

, Kū is one of the four great

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...

. The other three are

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 p ...

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 l ...

, and

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 ...

. Some feathered god images or ''akua hulu manu'' are considered to represent Kū. Kū is worshiped under many names, including Kū-ka-ili-moku (also written Kūkailimoku), the "Snatcher of Land". Rituals for Kūkailimoku included

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherei ...

, which was not part of the worship of other gods.

Names of Kū

Owing to the multiplicity inherent in Hawaiian concepts of deity, Kū may be invoked under many names such as the following, which reference subordinate manifestations of the god.

Forest and rain

* Ku-moku-haliʻi (Ku spreading over the land) * Ku-pulupulu (Ku of the undergrowth) * Ku-olono-wao (Ku of the deep forest) * Ku-holoholo-pali (Ku sliding down steps) * Ku-pepeiao-loa/-poko (Big and small-eared Ku) * Kupa-ai-keʻe (Adzing out the canoe) * Ku-mauna (Ku of the mountain) * Ku-ka-ohia-laka (Ku of the ohia-lehua tree) * Ku-ka-ieie (Ku of the wild pandanus vine)

Husbandry and fishing

* Ku-ka-o-o (Ku of the digging stick) * Ku-kuila (Ku of dry farming) * Ku-keolowalu (Ku of wet farming) * Ku-ula or Ku-ula-kai (ku of the abundance of the sea)

War

* Ku-nui-akea (Ku the supreme one) * Ku-kaʻili-moku (Ku snatcher of land) * Ku-keoloewa (Ku the supporter) * Ku-hoʻoneʻenuʻu (Ku pulling together the earth)

Sorcery

* Ku-waha-ilo (Ku of the maggot-dropping mouth)

Religion

Also known as Akua, he was the (god) of war, politics, farming and fishing. As the husband of the goddess

Hina Hina may refer to: People and deities * Hina (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Hina (chiefess), a name given to several noble ladies who lived in ancient Hawaii * Hina (goddess), the name assigned to ...

, it's been supposedly suggested a form of complementary dualism exists, as the word ''kū'' in the

Hawaiian language Hawaiian (', ) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language ...

means "to stand" while one meaning of ''hina'' is "to fall".Pukui ''et al.'' (1992): p.25 However, this assertion remains unsupported by evidence from other

Polynesian languages The Polynesian languages form a genealogical group of languages, itself part of the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family. There are 38 Polynesian languages, representing 7 percent of the 522 Oceanic languages, and 3 percent of the Austro ...

which distinguish the original "ng" and "n". The Hina in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

mythology, for example, is associated with the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

, rather than Hinga, "fallen down". Thus, the Hawaiian name "Hina" is likely more connected to the other Polynesian meanings of ''Hina'', denoting a silvery-grey color like that of ''Mahina'' (i.e.,

the Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

in the

). As primordial gods who have existed for

eternity Eternity, in common parlance, means infinite time that never ends or the quality, condition, or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas sempit ...

, Kū, Kāne, and Lono caused light to shine in upon the world.

Guardian statues of King Kamehameha I

Kūkailimoku was the guardian of

Kamehameha I Kamehameha I (; Kalani Paiea Wohi o Kaleikini Kealiikui Kamehameha o Iolani i Kaiwikapu kaui Ka Liholiho Kūnuiākea; – May 8 or 14, 1819), also known as Kamehameha the Great, was the conqueror and first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Th ...

, who unified the Hawaiian archipelago under one ruler and established the Hawaiian kingdom. He had monuments erected to the deity at the Hōlualoa Bay royal complex as well as his residence at

Kamakahonu Kamakahonu, the residence of Kamehameha I, was located at the north end of Kailua Bay in Kailua-Kona on Hawaiʻi Island. History Kamehameha I (also known as Kamehameha the Great), who unified the Hawaiian Islands, lived out the last years of ...

, both in the district of Kona, Hawaiʻi. Three colossal statues of the god Kū were reunited for the first time in almost 200 years at the Bishop Museum in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...

in 2010. They were dedicated by Kamehameha I at one of his temples on the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arch ...

in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries. These very rare statues (no others are known extant) were later acquired by the Bishop Museum, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in London. One feathered god image in the Bishop Museum is thought to be Kamehameha I's own image of his god. However it is still unclear whether all feathered god images represent Kū.

Kinolau (body forms)

In the animal world Kū is believed to embody the forms of Manō (shark), Kanaka (man), ʻIo (Hawaiian hawk), Niuhi (man-eating shark), ʻĪlio (dog), Moa (chicken) is also for Kane, Iʻa ʻUla (certain red fish). In the plant world, he is believed to embody the forms of ʻIeʻIe (Freycinetia arborea) vine, ʻŌhiʻa Lehua (metrosideros polymorpha)flower, ʻulu (breadfruit), niu (only the coconut tree trunk), and noni (Morinda citrifolia) fruit.

Notes

References

* (1970): ''Hawaiian Mythology''. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. * (1891):
Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary
'. Lyon and Blair, Wellington.. * (1992): ''New Pocket Hawaiian Dictionary with a Concise Grammars and Given Names in Hawaiian''. University of Hawaii PRess, Honolulu. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ku Hawaiian gods War gods Hawaii (island) Artefacts from Africa, Oceania and the Americas in the British Museum Ethnographic objects in the British Museum