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Hawaiian - Legend Of Pahulu
About The Time Of Liloa And Umi, Perhaps Long Before, Chiefs Flocked To Molokai. That Island Became A Center For Sorcery Of All Kinds. Molokai Sorcery Had More Mana (Power) Than Any Other. Sorcery Was Taught In Dreams. All These Molokai Aumakua Were Descendants Of The Goddess Pahulu.
Pahulu Was A Goddess Who Came In Very Old Times To These Islands And Ruled Lanai, Molokai, And A Part Of Maui. That Was Before Pele, In The Days When Kane And Kanaloa Came To Hawaii. Through Her That "Old Highway" (To Kahiki), Starts From Lanai. As Ke-Olo-Ewa Was The Leading Spirit On Maui Who Possessed People And Talked Through Them, So Pahulu Was The Leading Spirit On Lanai. Lani-Kaula, A Prophet (Kaula) Of Molokai, Went And Killed Off All The Akua On Lanai. Those Were The Pahulu Family. Some Say There Were About Forty Left Who Came Over To Molokai. The Fishpond Of Ka-Awa-Nui Was The First Pond They Built On Molokai. Some Came To Oahu And Landed On The Beach Opposite Mokuli‘I. The Heiau Of Pahulu Is On The Kaneohe Side Of The Judd Place About Six Hundred Feet Away From The Old Sugar Mill At Hakipu‘U And Out In The Water Toward Mokuli‘I. That Is Where They Landed On Oahu. Near The Old Judd Place Was A Heiau For Kane-Hoa-Lani.
Three Of The Descendants Of Pahulu Entered Trees On Molokai. These Were Kane-I-Kaulana-Ula (Kane In The Red Sunset), Kanei-Ka-Huila-O-Ka-Lani (Kane In The Lightning), And Kapo. About Four Hundred Trees Sprang Up In A Place Where No Trees Had Been Before, But Only Three Of These Trees Were Entered By The Gods. The Lo Family Of Molokai, A Family Of Chiefs And Kahunas, Are Descended From Pahulu. Many Of Them Are Well-Known Persons Today.
So Far As Can Be Discovered, With The Exception Of A Few Scattering References To Pahulu As The Leading Spirit (Akua) Of Lanai, Nothing Further Is To Be Found In Print About This Goddess. 3 As For The Lo Family, Andrews Calls Them "An Order Of Priests Who Lived On The Mountain Helemano [On Oahu?] And Consecrated The Bodies Of The Dead." The Practice Of Dedicating The Dead To Become Guardian Spirits Of A Family Aumakua Was Not Known In The Earliest Period Of The Settling Of These Islands And Did Not Come In, Kamakau Thinks, Until After The Time Of Wakea And The Establishing Of The Tapus Of Chiefs. But As Precise References To Gods Worshiped By Ruling Chiefs In The Heiau In The Form Of Images Are Studied, It Becomes Certain That They Were Sought Because Of Their Power Not Only To Care For The Soul Of Their Keeper But To Discover And Ensnare The Souls Of Those Who Had Prayed Him To Death.
The God Of Maui Called Lo-Lupe (Olo-Pue, Ololupe) Is The God Invoked In The Rite Of Deification Of The Dead Or Restoration Of The Dead To Life. He Is Represented In The Form Of A Kite (Lupe) Shaped Like A Sting Ray. Some Say His Is An Errand Of Benevolence And Not Of Crime, And That He Is Sent Into The Heavens To Ensnare The Souls Of Those Alone Who Have Done Evil. Malo Calls Him "The Deity Who Took Charge Of [The Souls Of] Those Who Spoke Ill Of The King, Consigning Them To Death, While The Souls Of Those Who Were Not Guilty Of Such Defamation He Conducted To A Place Of Safety." Warriors Greatly Feared This God. At The Death Of A Ruling Chief It Was Under The Rule Of Lo-Lupe That The Divining Priesthood (Kahuna Kuni) Worked To Detect, By Means Of Burning A Part Of The Chief's Body Used As A "Bait" (Maunu), The Secret Enemy Who Had Prayed Him To Death. Another Branch Of The Priests' Work Was To Dedicate The Body And Convert It Into An Aumakua. After Kamehameha's Conquest Of Maui He Sent A Messenger To Kahekili To Ask For The Image Of Lo-Lupe, But As It Was In The Care Of The Kahuna Ka-Opu-Huluhulu Who Would Not Give It Up, Kahekili Sent Instead A Chip Of The Poison God Kalaipahoa And This Became The Kane-Mana-Ia-Paiea (The Mana Power Of Kane For Paiea, Paiea Being A Nickname For Kamehameha) Which The Chief Kept To Guard His Life Until The Day Of His Death And For Whom He Built A God House And Set Up Keepers. 4
Other Gods Besides Lo-Lupe Who Are Named As Conductors Of The Souls Of Dead Chiefs Are Ka-Onohi Or Ka-Onohi-O-Ka-La (The Eyeball Of The Sun) And Ku-Waha-Ilo (Ku Of The Maggot-Dripping Mouth). Kalakaua Places The First In The Skies To Receive The Souls Brought To Him By Ku-Waha-Ilo, But Some Say That Ka-Onohi Is The Conductor And Ku-Waha The Receiver And Devourer Of Souls. 5 All The Images Of War Gods Named Under The Ku Group Are In Fact Sorcery Gods. Kamakau Names Ku-Keoloewa And Ku-Ho‘One‘Enu‘U As Forming With Ka-Onohi And Lo-Lupe The Papa-Kahui, An Order (Papa) Of Gods Kept By Kamehameha To Act As Guides For The Souls Of The Dead. It Is, Finally, At Least Significant That The God Kahoali‘I With His Tapus Of The White Haupu Bird And The Eyeballs Of Men, Who Was Impersonated At Religious Ceremonies By A Naked Man With A Peculiar Marking And Was Allowed Free Eating With The Chiefesses, And Whose Keeper Had So Powerful An Influence Over Kamehameha, Resembles So Closely The Description Of The Tahitian Ti‘I, God Of Sorcery, With His White Heron As A Fetcher And His Images Of Wood Or Stone Or Coral Which Were Sent Out On Errands Of Mischief.
One More Reference In The Story Of Pahulu Must Be Explained Before Taking Up The Central Theme Of The Pahulu Legend, The Entering Of The Gods Into The Trees On Molokai. The Story Says That The Pahulu Gods On Lanai Were Most Of Them Killed And The Rest Banished From Lanai By The Prophet Lanikaula. Popular Legend Attributes To Kaululaau The Mischievous Son Of Kakaalaneo Of Maui, The Clearing Of That Island Of The Spirits Who Were Its First Inhabitants. Lanikaula's Grove Of Kukui Trees And The Place Of His Grave On The Eastern Point Of The Island Of Molokai Facing Maui And Lanai Are Still Pointed Out Among The Famous Places On That Island, And The Rock Islet Shown Where He Buried His Excrement.
Hawaiian Mythology, By Martha Beckwith, Yale University Press [1940, Copyright Not Renewed] And Is Now In The Public Domain.
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