Ancient Hawaiian Culture
A Simple Subsistence Lifestyle
The Hawaiians have a history rich in music, chants, dance, foods and voyages. The first Polynesian voyagers, the Marquesans, arrived sometime in 1200 AD. Then a second wave of South Seas settlers arrived, from Eastern Polynesia; they came from Tahiti, the Society Islands and made their home Hawaii.
Hawaiians bear a striking resemblence to these people in physical features, traditions, language, history, and the arts. Prior to the arrival of the first encounters from another land, Hawaiians had no written language. Everything was taught through chants and handed down from generation to generation called a "mo'olelo" or story. Most "kahiko" or ancient hula tell a "mo'olelo" of a people, place or lifestyle, depicted in story through the hands and movement of a hula dancer.
Hawaiians did not have a written language, knowledge was passed down through stories and proverbs, riddles and formal chants.
Chants passed on for centuries were very few. A popular chant would tell of a chief's great feat or a love chant composed about a favorite chiefess may surive one or two generations, but as events and individuals receded into history, the chants concerning them, waned.
Although various types of chant were used for passing on knowledge, the best way Hawaiians found to safely pass on history was through the name chant of an Ali'i (chief) Proving a chiefly line was done through the reciting of his name.
Maui Chant
One popular chant is that of Maui a polynesian demi-god.
The story is told that:
"Maui became restless and fought the sun
With a noose that he laid.
And winter won the sun,
And summer was won by Maui."
--Queen Liliuokalani's family chant.
Maui felt that the heat of the sun was very great and the sun went away too quickly. Maui therefore planned to capture the sun and punish him for thinking so little about the welfare of mankind.
One day, Maui pitied his mother and determined to make the sun go slower so that the days might be long enough to satisfy her needs.
Maui went over to the northwest side of the island on which he lived to watch the course of the sun. While on Mt. Iao on Maui, an extinct volcano, where one of the most picturesque valleys lie in the Hawaiian Islands he noticed that the sun came up on the eastern side of Mt. Haleakala.
There he watched the burning sun as it came up from Koolau and passed directly over the top of the mountain. The legend is told that Maui captured the sun to cut off his legs. The sun begged for survival and in return vowed to never run across the sky so quickly. That is how long summers came to be.
For a longer version of the story go to the link below.
Stories of Maui The Demi-God
Ancient Hawaiian Hula
During ancient times, dances were done sitting or kneeling. Never standing like the "auwana" or better known Waikiki hula as we all know today, the flashing coconut tops and women's hips laced with a rafia or ti-leaf skirt.
Ancient hula, "kahiko", was a solemn, sacred dance that helped retell stories from days past. It was a "kumulipo" or chanted geneaology or story and often about cherished memories.
Many of the ancient hula were about the " 'aumakua" or ancenstral gods that took on multiple forms. The hula was a form of preserving the history and language of the Hawaiian people.
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