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| Notes for Wakea | ||||||
| "Among the various Hawaiian genealogies I consider the Nanaulu line as the most reliable and least affected by the interpolations and confusion introduced by the southern element so often referred to. It was extensively, almost exclusively, patronised by the Kauai and Ohau chiefs, and seldom referred to by the Maui, - hardly ever by the Hawaii chiefs. . . . I would premise by saying that there exist two versions of the earlier portion of this genealogy, from Wakea to Kii, one descending from Wakea's son Haloa, the other from his daughter hoohokukalani. The former was the most generally current of later times, but the latter appears to me to be the most archaic as well as the most trustworthy, for reasons which will appear when I come to treat of the Ulu line, and as the number of generations is the same on both, though the arrangement is somewhat different, I prefer to follow the latter in this earlier portion down to Nana-ulu." 180 Some versions have Haloa's parents listed as Wakea and Papa, instead of going through Wakea and his daughter Hoohokukalani. 1768, 180 "Of the legends which treat of Wakea and his wife Papa, not much bearing the impress of ancient and original tradition has been preserved. What has been preserved, however, establishes the fact, as previously noticed, that Wakea was a chief on one of the Molucca islands (Gilolo), previous to, perhaps contemporary with, the great exodus of the Plynesian family from the Asiatic Archipelago. His reign seems to have been chequered by wars and reverses. Certain great changes in the social system of the people, the strengthening of the Kapus and the introduction of new ones, are vaguely ascribed tohim. His life seems to have been troubled by rebellion at home and by foreign pressure from without. The domestic relations between him and his wife Papa appear to have been very unfortunate, and form by far the greatest portion of the subject-matter of the legends referring to those personages. Wakea, however, seems not to have been without defenders of his good name, for there were legends existing in David Malo's time, say fifty years ago, which asserted that Hooholukalani, the reputed, and on the most prevalent genealogies recognised, daughter of Wakea and Papa, was not their child at all, but was the daughter of Wakea's high priest Komoawa and his wife Popokolonuha; and I have one genealogy which, while it recognises Hoohokukalani as the daughter of Papa and Wakea, give her Manauluae as husband and Waia as their son. The domestic scandal of Wakea's incest, on which later versions of the Wakea legends lay so much emphasis, appears therefore not to have been fully believed in more ancient times, and I feel justified in considering it as an unfounded gravamen of a character remembered only by succeeding generations for its oppressiveness and tyranny." 180 "By counting upwards from the present time, the Hawaiian genealogies and legends have enabled me to establish, approximatively, the period of Wakea at about the middle or latter part of the second century A.D."180 "There was much more pertaining to the kapu loulu. There were four major divisions ot this loulu worship [the kauila nui ceremonies, the fetching of the haku 'ohi'a and the huili and hono rites]. The fifth division was in the Hale o Papa, perhaps named for the wife of Wakea." 177 "Men and women continued to eat apart from the time of Wakea, because of Hoohokukalani. [She was his daughter; and to be with her, Wakea established the kapu nights and the eating kapu, in order to have a reason for being absent from his wife Papa.]" 177 "It is true that a Hawaiian legend relates that Kahiko, an ancestor of the people, had three sons, Wakea, Lihau-ula, and Makuu; that the chiefs, Alii, sprang from the first; the priests, Kahuna, from the second; and the husbandmen, Makaainana, from the last, thus indicating a possible origin of the classification of the people. But this legend, besides being contradicted by other legends of probably older, date, which mention only two sons of 'Kahiko,' and that 'Lihau-ula' was older broather of 'Wakea,' and was not a priest, but a warrior chief whom 'Wakea' conquered in battle, is evidently a composition of later date, when the priesthood had become a tabued institution and caste, and sought a sanction for itself, and a raison d'etre in the ancient folklore." 180 "The generally received genealogies of most of the leading Polynesian groups lead up to Wakea, Atea, or Makea, and his wife Papa, as the earliest progenitors, the first chiefs of their respective groups. . . . Another, a Tahitian legend, goes also back of Wakea to Tii, whom it makes the first settler or discoverer of their group, and whom some Hawaiian legends claim as a broather of Hawaii-loa. . . The Wakea period is almost equally unsatisfactory and difficult a starting-point in computing the age of the Polynesian race in the Pacific. Between the Hawaiian genealogies alone,which lead back to Wakea from the present time, there is a difference between fifty-seven generations on the shortest, and seventy on the longest, a difference representing a period of about 400 years. There may be lacunas on the shorter line; I am morally sure that there are interpolations on the longer. The latter would represent the year 230 B.C. as a medium year, the former the year 160 A.C. Yet admitting the high antiquity of the Wakea and Papa legends, it is obvious from the legends themselves that the islands now held by the Polynesian race were already peopled int he time of Wakea, and that too by people of his own race and kindred. When or how that people arrived is now an absolute blank. . . . The Wakean era, however, was undoubtedly one of great disturbance, displacement, and change in the ancient Po9lynesian homesteads. The very fact that so many of the principal tribes have retained his legend, though under different forms,and have attempted to localise him and his wife on their own groups, proves to me that he was anterior to, or at least contemporary with, some great popular movement preceding or attending the first considerable exodus into the Pacific, the memory of hwich was linked to his name and thus handed down to posterity. His wars with Lihaula, his brother; his wars with Kaneia-Kumu-honua, in which he was conquered, driven out of the land and fled over the sea, though he is said to have recovered his kingdom afterwards; his changes in the religious and social institutions of the people, or which have been ascribed to him; all point to an area of unrest, tribal if not ethnic displacement and material modifications among the Polynesian forefathers, but still occurring in some common country, ere the original stream of migration had divided itself over the different Pacific groups where the legend is still preserved. Now this period of Wakea, counting on the shortest Hawaiian genealogy, corresponds with the commencement of the Malay Empire in the Indian Archipelago. In the year 76 A.D., according to Javanese historians, Tritestra invaded Java, and commenced those wars against the Rakshasas, the Polynesio-Cushite pre-Malay inhabitants, which ended in their subjugation, isolation, or expulsion throughout the ARchipelago. Eighty years from that time bring us to the period of Wakea, and the same time possibly brought the Malays from Java and Sumatra, where they first set foot, to Timor, Gilolo, and the Philippines. Taking this epoch, therefore, as the starting-point for the great exodus and general appearance of the Polynesian family in the Pacific, there is an interval of time of 900 to 1000 years in which to people the various islands and groups now held by the family, until we meet with the uncontested Hawaiian traditions which affirm that twenty-eight generations ago that group was already densely peopled by that family." 180 "Among the Hawaiian genealogies now extant, I am, for reasons which will hererafter appear, disposed to consider the Haloa or Hoohokukalani-Nanaulu-Maweke line as the most reliable. It numbers fifty-six generations from Wakea to the present time; twenty-nine from Wakea to and including Maweke, and twenty-seven from Maweke until now. Fifty-six generations, at the recognised term of thirty years to a generation, make 1680 years from now (1870) up to Wakea, the recognised progenitor and head of most of the Southern and Eastern Polynesian branches, and brings his era at about A.D. 190, which would in a great measure correspond with the invasion and spread of the Hindu-Malay family in the Asiatic Archipelago. But the first thirteen names on the Haloa line, to Nanaulu, are now allowed to have been shared, partially if not wholly, with the Marquesan and Tahitian branches of the Polynesian family, possibly also by the Samoan, though I have not now the means of ascertaining. These, then must have existed elsewhere, and been introduced byt he pre-Maweke occupants of the hawaiian groups, which would leave sicteen generations, or about five hundred years, inw hich to discover and people this group previous to the era of Maweke and his contemporaries, the Pauma-kua of Oahu, the Kuhiailani of Hawaii, the Puna familyh of chiefs on Kauai, the Hua family of Maui, the Kamauaua family on Molokai, and other renowned int he legends and sons of the people. By which of these sixteen generations, from Nanaulu down to Maweke, these islands were settled upon,there is nothing positively to show. The historical presumption, however, would indicate Nanaulu, the first of these sixteen, as the epoch of such settlements; and ther still exists a Hawaiian tradition concerning his grandson Pehekeula, who was a chief on Oahu. The first thirteen generations just referred to, from Wakea to Nanaulu, would thus represent the period of arrival and sejour on the Fiji group, and subsequent dispersion over the Pacific. . . Hawaiian leends claim this same Tii or Kii - who was the last of the thirteen from Wakea that lived elsewhere than on the Hawaiian goup - as the father of Nanaulu, with whom Hawaiian aristocracy on Hawaiian soil commences." 180 "In several of the Hawaiian legends respecting Wakea, he is said to have been a chief over a country called O-lolo-i-mehani. This word is composed of the prefix O, the name lolo, and the epithet mehani. That lolo and the reference to it as the western home of Wakea point ot hat one of the moluccas which by Spanish, Dutch, and English navigators is variously called Gi-lolo, Ji-lolo, Dji-lolo, and I-lolo, I think there is little doubt." 180 "Other legends of Wakea mention that his father Kahiko lived in O-lalo-waia; others again give Wakea a land, which they call Hihiku, as his residence; and Hawaiian commentators on these legends suggest that O-lalo-waia was some place on Oahu, Hawaiian group, saying that such was one of the ancient names for Oahu, or a portion of it, as Kana-wai-lua-lani was an ancient name for the island of Kauai. But a critical comparison of the legends referring to Wakea brings out the fact that he probably never set foot on either Marquesan or Hawaiian soil; and that, the names being given by the earlier settlers, the process is both easy and inelligible by which the priests and bards of aftertimes transferred and localised on their own groups the hero with whose names those places were connected in the ancient legends." 180 "In another Hawaiian legend the islands of that group are said to have been created and named by Wakea and Papa. In this cosmogony Wakea is said to have had illicit intercourse with a woman called Hina,and she brought forth the island which Wakea named Molokai. In revenge for this unfaithfulness, Papa cohabited with a man called Lua, and gave birth to the island of Oahu; and in commemoration of this double adultery, the two islands have ever after preserved the sobriquets arising from their birth, viz., Molokai-Hina and Oahu-a-Lua. Under the crudeness and coarseness of the legend we may discover the lingering reminiscence of a geographical and historical fact, namely, the ancient connection between the O-lolo or Gi-lolo chief Wakea and the neighbouring island of Morotai, after which the Hawaiian Molokai was undoubtedly named. The reference to that island by that name puts the identity of O-lolo and Gi-lolo beyond much doubt. And the connection of Papa with Oahu points to the central and probably once powerful state of Ouadjon in Celebes,and recalls the legend which make Papa a lineal and tabued descent of Hawaii-loa, and claims that Wakea was inferior to her in royal dignity." 180 "In the legend of Pupuhuluana the relative position of O-lolo-i-mehani is farther indicated. Papa, under her other name of Haumea, had caused a fearful drought and famine to devastate not only her own island of Oahu, but also Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii, and she herself had retired to a land frequently mentioned in the legends by the name of Nuu-meha-lani. In this distress some people of Oahu fitted out an expedition to procure food from O-lolo-i-mehani, 'the land of Makalii,' ka aina o Makalii, which land was to the eastward of Oahu. With the exception of the allusion already referred to, of Wakea having been driven out of his country by a hostile chief, and fleeing over the ocean, and afterwards conquering his enemy and recovering his country, there is no Hawaiian legend that I have become acquainted with which refers to any great migration performed by Waken himself, or by any of his children. Most of the legends which do not treat Wakea and Papa as gods, or endowed with superhuman powers, assume that they were born and bred on the Hawaiian group; and those who do admit and refer to this foreign origin, yet give no account of their leaving that foreign home for the Pacific, or how they or their descendants arrived here." 180 "David Malo, a Hawaiian gentleman, educated by the earlier missionaries, states in his 'Hawaiian Antiquities,' that many well-informed people of the olden time maintained that the six first generations after Wakea still lived in O-lolo-i-mehani. Be that as it may, it is evident that the Tahiti mentioned in these earlier legends, - to and fromw hich Papa, Wakea's wife, made so many voyages, where she took other husbands and had other children, from whom the Polynesian Tahitians claimtheir descent,and where she finall died, - could not have been the Tahiti of the South Pacific, but must be sought for in some of the islands of the Asiatic Archipelago." 180 "There is a Hawaiian legend, however, which ascribes the creation of the world to Wakea and Papa in this way: 'Papa, the wife of Wakea, begat a calabash - ipu - including bowl and cover. Wakea threw the cover upward,a nd it became the heaven. From the inside meat and seeds Wakea made the sun, moon, stars, and sky; from the juice he made the rain, and from the bowl he made the land and the sea." 180 "The Hawaiians acribe the introduction of taro to their renowned ancestor Wakea; but, according to the most reliable and rational of their traditions, it will be seen that Wakea was a Gilolo chief, in times previous to the Polynesian migrations, who never put foot on any of the Pacific groups now inhabited by those who claim descent from him."180 He appears in the Chant of Kualii 'O Wakea the husband, O Papa the wife.' 180 "3. We have the following traditions regarding Wakea. He was the last child of Kahiko; the first-born of Kahiko and the elder brother of Wakea being Lihau-ula, to whom Kahiko bequeathed his land, leaving Wakea destitute. 4. After the death of Kahiko. Lihau-ula made war against Wakea. The counselor of Lihau-ula had tried to dissuade him, saying, 'Don't let us go to war with Wakea at this time. We shall be defeated by him, because this is a time of sunlight; the sun has melting power; (no ka mea he au keia no ka la, he la hee). 5. Lihau-ula, however, considered that he had a large force of men, while Wakea had but a small force; his pride was up and he gave battle. In the engagement that followed, Lihau-ula lost his life, killed by Wakea, the blond one (ka ehu), and his kingdom went to Wakea. 6. After Wakea came to the government, he had war with Kane-ia-kumu-honua, in which Wakea was routed and obliged to swim out into the ocean with all his people. 7. Tradition gives two versions to the story of this war. According to one, the battle took place in Hawaii; Wakea was defeated, and Kane-ia-kumu-honua pursued him as far as Kaula, where Wakea and his followers took to the ocean (au ma ka moana). 8. Another ancient tradition has it that the battle was not fought in Hawaii, but in Kahiki-ku, and that Wakea, being routed, swam away in the ocean with all his people. 9. From swimming in the ocean Wakea and his followers were at length reduced to great straits, and he appealed to his priest (kahuna-pule), Komoawa, saying 'What shall we do today to save our lives?' 10-12. 'Build a heiau to the deity,' answered Komoawa. 'There is no wood here with which to build a heiau, nor a pig with which to make a suitable offering to the god,' answered Wakea. 'There is wood and there is a pig,' said Komoawa. 'Lift up your right hand; hollow the palm of your hand into a cup, and then elevate the elevate the fingers.' Wakea did so, and Komoawa said, 'The house is built. Now pinch together toe fingers of the left hand into a cone and put the fingertips into the hollow of your right hand,' When Wakea had done this Komoawa declared, 'The heiau is now completed; only the prayer is wanting.' 13. 'Gather all your people together,' said Komoawa, and that was done, and the charm, or aha, of the ceremony was perfect. 14. Then Komoawa adked Wakea, 'How was the aha of our ceremony?' 'It was good,' answered Wakea. 'We are saved then,' said Komoawa, 'let us swim ashore.' 15. Then Wakea and his people swam ashore with great shouting; and, on reaching the land, they renewed the battle with Kane-ia-humu-honua and utterly defeated him. In this way government was permanently secured to Wakea. 16. there is a doubtful story about Wakea and Hoo-hoku-ka-lani. A venerable tradition has it that Hoo-hoku-ka-lani was the daughter of Wakea and Papa, bu tthat Wakea incestuously took her to wife. 17. Another tradition says that Hoo-hoku-ka-lani was the duaghter of Komoawa, by his wife, Popo-kolo-nuha, and that Wakea was justified in consorting with Hoo-hoku-ka-lani, seeing she was of another famaily and not his own daughter. 18. It is asserted of Wakea by tradition that he was the one who instituted the four seasons of prayer in each month, and that he also imposed the tabu on pork, cocoanuts, bananas, and the red fish (kumu), besides declaring it tabu for men and women to eat together in the mua. 19. Because of Wakea's desire to commit adultery (incest) with his daughter, Hoo-hoku-ka-lani, he set apart certain nights as tabu, and during those nights he slept with Hoo-hoku-ka-lani. On Wakea's oversleeping himself, his priest, seeing it was already daylight, called to Wakea with the following words of prayer to awake him: [text to be entered] 21. Wakea did not awake, his sleep was profound. So the kahuna prayed more fervently, repeating the same rayer; but still Wakea did not awake. 22. When the sun had risen, Wakea arose and wrapped himself in his tapa to go to the mua, thinking that Papa would not see him. But Papa did see him, and, coming the the run, entered the mua to upbraid Wakea. Wakea then led her back to her own house, doing what he could to pacify her; and after that he divorced her." 179 "In the genealogy of Wakea it is said that Papa gave birth to these islands. Another account has it that this group of islands were not begotten, but really made by the hands of Wakea himself." 179 "Probably all of these people named were born in foreign lands, whicle their genealogies were preserved here in Hawaii. One reason for thinking so is that the countries where these people lived are given by name and no places in Hawaii are called by the same names. . . Wakea and Papa lived in Lolo-i-mehani." 179 Notes by Nathaniel B. Emerson: "The subject matter of this chapter, in so far at least as it deal with Wakea and Papa, is almost wholly mythical. The names of the dramatis personae are, as I take it, figurative, such as applicable to, or expressive of, the wonder-working convulsions, or the quieter, but equally mysterious, operations of nature. . . Wakea, modern awa-kea, means noon, undoubtedly figurative of the sky, the light of day, the vivifying influence of the sun. In section 5, Wakea is spoken of as the ehu, the blond, the bright, the shining one, an epithet that conveys the same idea as the Sanscrit deva. Wakea, it seems needless to remark is represented to be the vivifying male element, which, as hinted at or plainly stated in the myths of Polynesia, was in the remote ages of Po torn from the close embrace of Papa, Earth, and placed in its present position.. . . Papa is the female element, the generatrix, the plain or level of the earth's surfacr, hence the earth itself. Papa is the name applied to a stratum, a level formation, a table; it is a name frequently met with.. . . According to one version, the divorce of Papa was accomplished by Wakea spitting in the face of the woman, whom he turned away; according to another account it was Papa herself who did the spitting - who had more occasion? . . .there are numerous variants to this story." 179 "In the genealogy of Wakea it is said that Papa gave birth to these islands. Another account has it htat this group of islands were not begotten, but really made by the hands of Wakea himself."179 "Probably all of these persons named were born in foreign lands, while their genealogies were preserved here in Hawaii. One reason for thinking so is that the countries where these people lived are given by name and no places in Hawaii are called by the same names. Lailai and Ke-alii-wahi-lani lived in Lalowaia; Kahiko and Kupulanakehau lived in Kamawae-lua-lani; Wakea and Papa lived in Lolo-i-mehani. There is another fact mentioned in the genealogies to wit: that when Wakea and Papa were divorced from each other, Papa went away and dwelt in Nuu-meha-lani. There is no place her in Hawaii called Nuu-meha-lani. The probability is that these names belong to some foreign country." 179 "There is, however, a tradition accepted by some that Wakea himself was the originator of this tabu that restricts eating . . . It is stated in one of the traditions relating to the gods that the motive of the tabu restricting eating was the desire on the part of Wakea to keep secret his incestuous intercourse with Hoo-hoku=ka-lani. For this reason he devised a plan by which he might escape the observation of Papa; and he accordingly appointed cerain nights for prayer and religious observance, and at the same time tabued certain articles of food to women. The reason for this arrangement was not communicated to Papa, and she incautiously consented to it, and thus the tabu was established. The truth of this story I cannot vouch for." 179 "Wakea had a wife whose name was Haumea, more frequently and better known as Pa-pa. Wakea and Pa-pa have generally been referred to as the better-known progenitors of the Hawaiian race."102 "Paliku was the fifty-sixth generation of the twelfth period of the Hawaiian creation, and he was the son of Palipalihia and his wife, Paliomahilo. Wakea was the twentieth generation in the order of things. Ololo was the brother of Paliku."102 | ||||||
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