Hoʻohōkūkalani is a Hawaiian

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

, mentioned in the ancient chants. She is described as a beautiful woman, who became a consort to her own father. Her full name is given as Kahoʻohokuokalani-i-kau-i-kaheahea ("she who sets the stars in

heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

and adorns the celestial regions").

Mythology

According to the myth, Hoʻohōkūkalani is the daughter of the god

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 Olalowa ...

(

Sky Father In comparative mythology, sky father is a term for a recurring concept in polytheistic religions of a sky god who is addressed as a "father", often the father of a pantheon and is often either a reigning or former King of the Gods. The conc ...

) or the expanse of the heavens and his wife

Papahānaumoku In the religion and mythology of the ancient Hawaiians, Papahānaumoku (pronunciation: apahaːnaʊmoku — often simply called Papa — is a goddess and the Earth Mother. She is mentioned in the chants as the consort of the sky god Wākea. Th ...

(

Earth Mother A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, a ...

),Kamakau, Samuel (Hawaiian historian). 1868. ''Ka Nupepa Kuokoa'' (newspaper). who are the deities of male and female creative energy. Wākea and Papahānaumoku (which means "to adorn the heavens with stars") created the Hawaiian islands, and then, Hoʻohōkūkalani was born. When Hoʻohōkūkalani grew up, Wākea was enchanted by her beauty, and he had a sexual desire for her, although she was his child. However, he could not sleep with his daughter because he was afraid of Papahānaumoku. He then ordered his

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

to take away Papahānaumoku. When Papahānaumoku went away with the priest, Wākea and Hoʻohōkūkalani had sexual relations, and she bore a

stillborn Stillbirth is typically defined as fetal death at or after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without signs of life. A stillbirth can often result in the feeling of guilt or grief in the mother. T ...

son, called

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 Papahā ...

. The son was then buried facing the rising sun in the East. From this spot, ''

taro Taro (; ''Colocasia esculenta'') is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and Petiole (botany), petioles. Taro corms are a ...

'' sprung. The plant, which had heart-shaped leaves and was rather large, was named Hāloanakalaukapalili. This plant was very important for the diet of the Hawaiians. Later, Wākea and Hoʻohōkūkalani produced another, living child, also called Hāloa, who was the first of the

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

People. This is where the saying "mamo na Hāloa," or descendant of Hāloa originate from. It is a popular belief throughout the Native Hawaiian people that through their relationship to Hāloa, they are related to the kalo (or taro) and are thus related to the rest of the world.

Sources

{{Authority control Hawaiian goddesses