Līloa was a ruler of the island of

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 ...

in the late 15th century. He kept his royal compound in Waipi'o Valley. Līloa was the firstborn son of Kiha-nui-lulu-moku, one of the ''noho aliʻi'' (ruling elite). He descended from Hāna-laʻa-nui. Līloa's mother Waioloa (or Waoilea), his grandmother Neʻula, and his great-grandmother Laʻa-kapu were of the ʻEwa aliʻi lines of

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

. Liloa's father ruled Hawaii as ''aliʻi nui'' and upon his death left the rule of the island to Līloa. Kiha had four other sons, brothers to Līloa. Their names were Kaunuamoa, Makaoku, Kepailiula, and (by Kiha's second wife Hina-opio) Hoolana. Hoolana's descendants were the Kaiakea family of Molokai, from whom

Abraham Fornander Abraham Fornander (November 4, 1812 – November 1, 1887) was a Swedish-born emigrant who became an important journalist, judge, and ethnologist in Hawaii. Early life and education Fornander was born in Öland, Sweden on November 4, 1812, to An ...

's wife Pinao Alanakapu was descended. Līloa had two sons: his firstborn, Hākau, from his wife Pinea (his mother's sister); and his second son, ʻUmi-a-Līloa, from his lesser-ranking wife, Akahi-a-Kuleana. Līloa was the common progenitor of royal dynasties from whom many of the pre- and post-unification ruling ali'i derived their genealogy and

mana According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being a ...

: all of the kings and queens of the

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...

could point to him as their ancestor and source of paramountcy. Hawaiian activist Kanalu G. Terry Young has claimed that the practice of ''

moe aikāne ''Moe aikāne'' refers to intimate relationships between partners of the same gender, known as aikāne, in pre-colonial Hawaiʻi. These relationships were particularly cherished by ''aliʻi nui'' (chiefs) and the male and female ''kaukaualiʻi'' p ...

'' (a type of sexual relationship, frequently homosexual, between members of the ''aliʻi'' classes) originated with Līloa.

Līloa's ''kāʻei''

During the reign of

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 ti ...

Līloa's '' kāʻei'', or royal sash, became part of the regalia associated with the crown jewels: the possession of this sash lent legitimacy to the elected King, by way of association with the ancestor's military prowess and divine power. "Kalākaua valued the sash as a symbol of his inherited ''kapu'' status and the legitimacy of his royal accession. The feather cordon was a rightful possession of the reigning king of Hawai‘i even in the late nineteenth century." Today, Līloa's ''kāʻei'' is one of the Hawaiian crown jewels in the collection of the

Bishop Museum The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1889, it is the lar ...

in Honolulu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liloa Royalty of Hawaii (island) People from Hawaii (island) Hawaiian Kingdom people House of Līloa