From: John Shklov
To: Rich Harper Msg #10, 27-Feb-88 02:41
Subject: Hawaiian Myths
Just some loose info re Hawaii/Hawaiian mythology etc...The Hawaiians of old
had no written language so everything had to memorized and passed down from
teacher to pupil. Comparing chants from different parts of the pacific show
amazingly little change took place in this word of mouth process. Some
cultures seperated by thousands of years (carbon-dating gives clues as to
when migrations took place) have almost identical chants!(recorded when
whitey came on the scene ) All knowledge was passed this way..as a result
they were a culture of specialists. Each kahuna specialized in a specific
aspect of knowledge, be it medicine for healing or for killing or fishing
methodology or warfare. They believed in a highself a midself and a low
self much as in Hinduism. Different Gods represented different aspects of
life and had power over different times of the year and different activities.
For example Ku, was the God of war and represented the forces of death.
Lono
represented the agricultural cycles and the power of life and renewal.
In themind of the Hawaiian these were just two aspects of the same
totality.
Hawaiians had a VERY structured society and a set of rules that MUST be
obeyed or one risked death or some worse punishment...eyeball gouging,
torture etc..The upper classes got better food and after many generations
of superior victuals and intermarriage they became significantly larger and
stronger. These upper classes ruled by force and superior warfare skills.
One of the special areas of knowledge that the Alii or upper classes
concentrated upon was the skills and technology of war. They passed these
skills down to their men children. Women were disfranchised and although
the bloodlines were passed thru the women they didn't even get to eat at
the same mat as men.
The Hawaiian mythology got mixed in with western mythology when the
missionryscame to bring their word to the PAGANS. As a result even today
there are
many misconceptions as to what the real beliefs were"pre-contact"as they
say. For example, heres a funny story that illustrates that fact;
When
Fordandder was interviewing Hawaiians last century he asked who built"that"
structure and who built "those" walls etc. Tiring of his repeated queries
the chief answered "oh it was the mana-hune"(litterally translated it means
the "people with little mana or power") Fordenander seized on this response
and said "little People", how big were they? were they small? etc etc....
ignorant xtian missionaries. pleasures right under the noses of theiribeThe
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* Origin: Kauai1 - Aloha (Opus 1:12/4)
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