Hawaiian Religion

Gods of war, farming, the sea and fire, and a creation chant of more than two thousand lines.

c. 1000 CE → · Hawai‘i · Indigenous & Animist

Hawaiian religion honoured the great gods Kū, Kāne, Lono and Kanaloa at heiau temples and the volcano goddess Pele at Kīlauea. The kapu system ordered society until it was abolished in 1819. The Kumulipo chant describes creation emerging from darkness, and hula and chant keep the tradition alive.

Key figures

• Kū, Kāne, Lono and Kanaloa
• Pele, goddess of volcanoes
• ‘Aumakua, family guardians

Texts

• The Kumulipo creation chant
• Mele and hula

Beliefs

• The Kumulipo traces creation from darkness to the chiefs
• Kapu laws keep the sacred apart
• Ancestors guide as ‘aumakua

Rituals

• Makahiki harvest season for Lono
• Heiau temple rites
• Hula as prayer

Grew from

• Polynesian Religion

Connections in the atlas

• David Malo
• Mauna Kea
• Menehune
• Pele burns the forest of Hiʻiaka
• Nuʻuanu Pali
• The Kumulipo
• Polynesian Voyaging
• Sacred dance and music (ritual)
• The first humans made from clay
• The Austronesians
• Taputapuātea marae
• Nightmarchers (huakaʻi pō)