United States or Fiji ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"The god will never come to the top of the pali," said the Kahuna, "if the chief continues to walk before him; the god should go first by right of power, and the chief below, following, to push the lower end; otherwise we shall never overcome his resistance." The high chief, Kohaokalani, complied with the advice of the priests, placed himself beneath the god, and pushed the end from below.
Pakaa was one of the favorites of Umi, and Lono was his kahuna. While Umi reigned over the eastern shores of the island, one of his cousins, Keliiokaloa, ruled the western coast, and held his court at Kailua.
Nevertheless, history furnishes us several examples of kings who were not noble on the maternal side. The priests formed three orders: 1. The Kahuna proper. 2. The Kaula, or prophets. 3. The Kilo, diviners or magicians. The priests received their titles from their fathers, and transmitted them to their offspring, male and female, for the Hawaiians had priestesses as well.
Just as the sorcerers understood poisonous vegetables, so the doctors knew the simples which furnished remedies to work cures. The second kind comprised the spiritual doctors, who had various names, and who seem to have been intermediate between priests and magicians, sharing at once in the attributes of both. They were: Kahuna uhane, the doctors of ghosts and spirits;
Uluhoomoe responded: "I shall have a witness in my favor if you let me open these birds in your presence." The chief consented, and small fish were found in the crops of the birds. "Behold my witness," said the kahuna, with a triumphant air; "these birds came from the sea!" Hua, in confusion, fell into a terrible rage, and massacred Uluhoomoe on the spot.
This is the wizard, or medicine man, or voodoo worker, who does by prayer and spell what his employers would do with a club if it were not for the awkward institution of the law. When a Kanaka has endured an injury he hires a kahuna to pray his enemy to death.
After a couple of days the kahuna drops around to see how his victim is getting on, and generally he finds him in low spirits, with a meagre appetite, because this process is as reliable as its opposite, which is called faith-cure.
The Kahunaanaana and the Kahunalapaau have never been considered as belonging to the high caste of Kahuna maoli. The Kahunaanaana, or sorcerers, inherited their functions. They were thoroughly detested, and the people feared them, and do to this day. The doctors were of two kinds. The first, the Kahunalapaau proper, comprised all who used plants in the treatment of disease.
Death for the practice of witchcraft is no longer possible, however, unless it results from private revenge. To this day fear and ignorance paint gnomes and elves in the palm groves and among the wild Java uplands of the mid-Pacific, and Honolulu itself is not free from the lingering and traditionary kahuna.
Kahuna makani, doctors of winds; Kahuna hoonohonoho akua, who caused the gods to descend on the sick; Kahuna aumakua, doctors of diseases of the old; Kahuna Pele, doctors or priests of Pele, goddess of volcanoes. All the doctors of the second kind are still found in the islands, where they have remained idolaters, although they have been for the most part baptized.
Word Of The Day