There are two meanings to the first part of this word, for "au" means a
multitude, as in "auwaa" (many canoes), but it may mean time and place,
as in the following: "Our ancestors thought that if there was a desolate
place where no man could be found, it was the aumakua (place of many
gods)." "Makua" was the name given to the ancestors of a chief and of
the people as well as to parents.
The aumakuas were the ghosts who did not go down into Po, the land of
King Milu. They were in the land of the living, hovering around the
families from which they had been separated by death. They were the
guardians of these families.
When any one died, many devices were employed in disposing of the body.
The fact that an enemy of the family might endeavor to secure the bones
of the dead for the purpose of making them into fish-hooks, arrow-heads,
or spear-heads led the surviving members of a family either to destroy
or to conceal the body of the dead. For if the bones were so used it
meant great dishonor, and the spirit was supposed to suffer on account
of this indignity.
Sometimes the flesh was stripped from the bones and cast into the ocean
or into the fires of the volcanoes, that the ghost might be made a part
of the family ghosts who lived in such places, and the bones were buried
in some secret cave or pit, or folded together in a bundle which was
thought to resemble a grasshopper, so these were called unihipili
(grasshopper). The unihipili bones were used in connection with a
strange belief called pule-ana-ana (praying to death).
When the body of a dead person was to be hidden, only two or three men
were employed in the task. Sometimes the one highest in rank would slay
his helpers so that no one except himself would know the burial-place.
The tools, the clothing, and the calabashes of the dead were unclean
until certain ceremonies of purification had been faithfully performed.
Many times these possessions were either placed in the burial-cave
beside the body or burned so that they might be the property of the
spirit in ghost-land.
The people who cared for the body had to bathe in salt water and
separate themselves from the family for a time. They must sprinkle the
house and all things inside with salt water. After a few days the family
would return and occupy the house once more.
Usually the caretakers of a dead body would make a hole in the side of
the house and push it through rather than take it through the old
doorway, probably having the idea that the ghost would only know the
door through which the body had gone out when alive and so could not
find the new way back when the opening was dosed.
After death came, the ghost crept out of the body, coming up from the
feet until it rested in the eyes, and then it came out from the corner
of one eye, and had a kind of wind body. It could pass around the room
and out of doors through any opening it could find. It could perch like
a bird on the roof of a house or in the branches of trees, or it could
seat itself on logs or stones near the house. It might have to go back
into the body and make it live again. Possibly the ghost might meet some
old ancestor-ghosts and be led so far away that it could not return;
then it must become a member of the aumakua, or ancestor-ghost, family,
or wander off to join the homeless desolate ghost vagabonds.
Sometimes dead bodies were thrown into the sea with the hope that the
ghost body would become a shark or an eel, or perhaps a mo-o, or
dragon-god, to be worshipped with other ancestor-gods of the same class.
Sometimes the body or the bones would be cast into the crater of
Kilauea, the people thinking the spirit would become a flame of fire
like Pele, the goddess of volcanoes; other spirits went into the air
concealed in the dark depths of the sky, perhaps in the clouds.
Here they carried on the work needed to help their families. They would
become fog or mist or the fine misty rain colored by light. With these
the Rainbow Maiden, Anuenue, delighted to dwell. They often lived in the
great rolling white clouds, or in the gray clouds which let fall the
quiet rain needed for farming. They also lived in the fierce black
thunder-clouds which sent down floods of a devastating character upon
the enemies of the family to which they belonged.
There were ghost ancestors who made their homes near the places where
the members of their families toiled; there were ancestor-ghosts to take
care of the tapa, or kapa, makers, or the calabash or house or canoe
makers. There were special ancestor-ghosts called upon by name by the
farmers, the fishermen, and the bird-hunters. These ghosts had their own
kuleanas, or places to which they belonged, and in which they had their
own peculiar duties and privileges. They became ancestor ghost-gods and
dwelt on the islands near the homes of their worshippers, or in the air
above, or in the trees around the houses, or in the ocean or in the
glowing fires of volcanoes. They even dwelt in human beings, making them
shake or sneeze as with cold, and then a person was said to become an
ipu, or calabash containing a ghost.
Sometimes it was thought that a ghost god could be seen sitting on the
head or shoulder of the person to whom it belonged. Even in this
twentieth century a native woman told the writer that she saw a
ghost-god whispering in his ear while he was making an address. She
said, "That ghost was like a fire or a colored light." Many times the
Hawaiians have testified that they believed in the presence of their
ancestor ghost-gods.
This is the way the presence of a ghost was detected: Some sound would
be heard, such as a sibilant noise, a soft whistle, or something like
murmurs, or some sensation in a part of the body might be felt. If an
eyelid trembled, a ghost was sitting on that spot. A quivering or creepy
feeling in any part of the body meant that a ghost was touching that
place. If any of these things happened, a person would cry out, "I have
seen or felt a spirit of the gods."
Sometimes people thought they saw the spirits of their ghost friends.
They believed that the spirits of these friends appeared in the night,
sometimes to kill any one who was in the way. The high chiefs and
warriors are supposed to march and go in crowds, carrying their spears
and piercing those they met unless some ghost recognized that one and
called to the others, "Alia [wait]," but if the word was "O-i-o [throw
the spear]!" then that spirit's spear would strike death to the
passer-by.
There were night noises which the natives attributed to sounds or
rustling motions made by such night gods as the following:
Akua-hokio (whistling gods).
" -kiei (peeping gods).
" -nalo (prying gods).
" -loa (long gods).
" -poko (short gods).
" -muki (sibilant gods).
A prayer to these read thus:
"O Akua-loa! [long god]
O Akua-poko! [short god]
O Akua-muki! [god breathing in short, sibilant breaths]
O Akua-hokio! [god blowing like whistling winds]
O Akua-kiei! [god watching, peeping at one]
O Akua-nalo! [god hiding, slipping out of sight]
O All ye Gods, who travel on the dark night paths!
Come and eat.
Give life to me,
And my parents,
And my children,
To us who are living in this place. Amama [Amen]."
This prayer was offered every night as a protection against the ghosts.
The aumakuas were very laka (tame and helpful). It was said that an
aumakua living in a shark would be very laka, and would come to be
rubbed on the head, opening his mouth for a sacrifice. Perhaps some awa,
or meat, would be placed in his mouth, and then he would go away. So
also if the aumakua were a bird, it would become tame. If it were the
alae (a small duck), it would come to the hand of its worshipper; if the
pueo (owl), it would come and scratch the earth away from the grave of
one of its worshippers, throwing the sand away with its wings, and would
bring the body back to life. An owl ancestor-god would come and set a
worshipper free were he a prisoner with hands and feet bound by ropes.
It made no difference whether the dead person were male or female, child
or aged one, the spirit could become a ghost-god and watch over the
family.
There were altars for the ancestor-gods in almost every land. These were
frequently only little piles of white coral, but sometimes chiefs would
build a small house for their ancestor-gods, thus making homes that the
ghosts might have a kuleana, or place of their own, where offerings
could be placed, and prayers offered, and rest enjoyed.
The Hawaiians have this to say about sacrifices for the aumakuas: If a
mo-o, or dragon-god, was angry with its caretaker or his family and they
became weak and sick, they would sacrifice a spotted dog with awa, red
fish, red sugar-cane, and some of the grass growing in taro patches
wrapped in yellow kapa. This they would take to the lua, or hole, where
the mo-o dwelt, and fasten the bundle there. Then the mo-o would become
pleasant and take away the sickness. If it were a shark-god, the
sacrifice was a black pig, a dark red chicken, and some awa wrapped in
new white kapa made by a virgin. This bundle would be carried to the
beach, where a prayer would be offered:
"O aumakuas from sunrise to sunset,
From North to South, from above and below,
O spirits of the precipice and spirits of the sea,
All who dwell in flowing waters,
Here is a sacrifice--our gifts are to you.
Bring life to us, to all the family,
To the old people with wrinkled skin,
To the young also.
This is our life,
From the gods."
Then the farmer would throw the bundle into the sea, bury the chicken
alive, take the pig to the temple, then go back to his house looking for
rain. If there was rain, it showed that the aumakua had seen the gifts
and washed away the wrong. If the clouds became black with heavy rain,
that was well.
The offerings for Pele and Hiiaka were awa to drink and food to eat, in
fact all things which could be taken to the crater.
This applies to the four great gods, Kane, Ku, Lono, and Kanaloa. They
are called the first of the ancestors. Each one of these was supposed to
be able to appear in a number of different forms, therefore each had a
number of names expressive of the work he intended or was desired to do.
An explanatory adjective or phrase was added to the god's own name,
defining certain acts or characteristics, thus: Kane-puaa (Kane, the
pig) was Kane who would aid in stirring up the ground like a pig.
This is one of the prayers used when presenting offerings to aumakuas,
"O Aumakuas of the rising of the sun, guarded by every tabu staff, here
are offerings and sacrifices--the black pig, the white chicken, the
black cocoanut, the red fish--sacrifices for the gods and all the
aumakuas; those of the ancestors, those of the night, and of the dawn,
here am I. Let life come."
The ancestor-gods were supposed to use whatever object they lived with.
If ghosts went up into the clouds, they moved the clouds from place to
place and made them assume such shape as might be fancied. Thus they
would reveal themselves over their old homes.
All the aumakuas were supposed to be gentle and ready to help their own
families. The old Hawaiians say that the power of the ancestor-gods was
very great. "Here is the magic power. Suppose a man would call his
shark, 'O Kuhai-moana [the shark-god]! O, the One who lives in the
Ocean! Take me to the land!' Then perhaps a shark would appear, and the
man would get on the back of the shark, hold fast to the fin, and say:
'You look ahead. Go on very swiftly without waiting.' Then the shark
would swim swiftly to the shore."
The old Hawaiians had the sport called "lua." This sometimes meant
wrestling, but usually was the game of catching a man, lifting him up,
and breaking his body so that he was killed. A wrestler of the lua class
would go out to a plain where no people were dwelling and call his god
Kuialua. The aumakua ghost-god would give this man strength and skill,
and help him to kill his adversaries.
There were many priests of different classes who prayed to the
ancestor-gods. Those of the farmers prayed like this:
"O great black cloud in the far-off sky,
O shadow watching shadow,
Watch over our land.
Overshadow our land
From corner to corner
From side to side.
Do not cast your shadow on other lands
Nor let the waters fall on the other lands
[_i.e._, keep the rains over my place]."
Also they prayed to Kane-puaa (Kane, the pig), the great aumakua of
farmers:
"O Kane-puaa, root!
Dig inland, dig toward the sea;
Dig from corner to corner,
From side to side;
Let the food grow in the middle,
Potatoes on the side roots,
Fruit in the centre.
Do not root in another place!
The people may strike you with the spade [o-o]
Or hit you with a stone
And hurt you. Amama [Amen]."
So also they prayed to Kukea-olo-walu (a taro aumakua god):
"O Kukea-olo-walu!
Make the taro grow,
Let the leaf spread like a banana.
Taro for us, O Kukea!
The banana and the taro for us.
Pull up the taro for us, O Kukea!
Pound the taro,
Make the fire for cooking the pig.
Give life to us--
To the farmers--
From sunrise to sunset
From one fastened place to the other fastened place
[_i.e._, one side of the sky to the other fastened on each side
of the earth]. Amama [Amen]."
Trees with their branches and fruit were frequently endowed with spirit
power. All the different kinds of birds and even insects, and also the
clouds and winds and the fish in the seas were given a place among the
spirits around the Hawaiians.
The people believed in life and its many forms of power. They would pray
to the unseen forces for life for themselves and their friends, and for
death to come on the families of their enemies. They had special priests
and incantations for the pule-ana-ana, or praying to death, and even to
the present time the supposed power to pray to death is one of the most
formidable terrors to their imagination.
Menehunes, eepas, and kupuas were classes of fairies or gnomes which did
not belong to the ancestor-gods, or aumakuas.
The menehunes were fairy servants. Some of the Polynesian Islands called
the lowest class of servants "manahune." The Hawaiians separated them
almost entirely from the spirits of ancestors. They worked at night
performing prodigious tasks which they were never supposed to touch
again after the coming of dawn.
The eepas were usually deformed and defective gnomes. They suffered from
all kinds of weakness, sometimes having no bones and no more power to
stand than a large leaf. They were sometimes set apart as spirit
caretakers of little children. Nuuanu Valley was the home of a multitude
of eepas who had their temple on the western side of the valley.
Kupuas were the demons of ghost-land. They were very powerful and very
destructive. No human being could withstand their attacks unless
specially endowed with power from the gods. They had animal as well as
human bodies and could use whichever body seemed to be most available.
The dragons, or mo-os, were the most terrible kupuas in the islands.
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