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Pa'ao is either a figure from a Hawaiian legend or a historical character. He is said to have been a high priest from Kahiki -- later identified with Tahiti -- who introduced certain customs, such as human sacrifice, to Hawaii. He is also said to have brought a "pure" chief to rule over the Hawaiians. Hawaiian could refer to the Hawaiian language the native Hawaiian people a resident of the state of Hawaii. ...
Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean, at 17°40′ S 149°30′ W. The island had a population of 169,674 inhabitants at the 2002 census. ...
Documented history of the story of Pa'ao The Pa'ao story makes its first documented historical appearance in 1835-1836, in a collection of Hawaiian traditions called Moolelo Hawaii assembled by Hawaiian students of Lahainaluna School, on the Hawaiian island of Maui. This collection was the basis of Sheldon Dibble's 1838 history of Hawaii. David Malo was one of the Lahainaluna students active in collecting oral traditions. He continued collecting legends and when he died in 1854, he had completed an unpublished manuscript that was finally translated and published in 1898.
Martha Beckwith, in her Hawaiian Mythology (1940, as republished in 1970), notes these historical sources:
- Emerson, Nathaniel -- "The Long Voyages of the Ancient Hawaiians", Hawaiian Historical Society Papers Vol. 5, 1893, pp. 5-13
- Malo, David -- Hawaiian Antiquities, as translated by Emerson, 1951 edition, pp. 6-7
- Green, Laura -- Folktales from Hawaii, Honolulu, 1928, pp. 120-124
- Kamakau, Samuel M. -- article in the Hawaiian newspaper Kuokoa, December 29, 1866
- Thrum, Thomas G. -- More Hawaiian Folk Tales, Chicago, 1923, pp. 46-52
- Remy, Jules M. as translated by Brigham -- Contributions of a Venerable Savage to the Ancient History of the Hawaiian Islands, Boston, 1868, pp. 10-11
- Westervelt, William D. -- Hawaiian Historical Legends, New York, 1923, pp. 65-78
- Kalakaua, David -- The Legends and Myths of Hawai'i, New York, 1888, pp. 47-48
- Stokes, John -- "Whence Paao?", Hawaiian Historical Society Papers Vol. 15, Honolulu 1928, pp. 40-45
The Pa'ao story also survives in various oral traditions passed down through Native Hawaiian families. Some Hawaiians insist on the purity and reliability of these traditions. Academic scholars believe that these traditions have been shaped by easily available published versions of the narrative.
However, there is no reason to doubt that the Pa'ao story was widespread in pre-contact times. A lineage of Hawaiian high priests claimed descent from Pa'ao, and Hawaiian high chiefs traced their geneaologies to Pili, the "pure" chief brought by Pa'ao. Pa'ao is said to have introduced human sacrifice, the walled heiau, the red feather girdle, the pulo'ulo'u kapu sign, the prostrating kapu, and the feather god Kaili. The Pa'ao narrative justified and sanctioned the social order as it then existed.
The narrative as found in Malo - We are informed (by historical tradition) that two men named Paao and Makua-kaumana, with a company of others, voyaged hither, observing the stars as a compass; and that Paao remained in Kohala, while Makua-Kaumana returned to Tahiti. Paao arrived at Hawaii during the reign of Lono-ka-wai, the king of Hawaii. He (Lono-ka-wai) was the sixteenth in that line of kings, succeeding Kapawa. Paao conitnued to live in Kohala until the kings of Hawaii became degraded and corrupted (hewa); then he sailed away to Tahiti to fetch a king from thence. Pili (Kaaiea) was that king and he became one in Hawaii's line of kings (papa alii). -- David Malo, Hawaiian Antiquities, 1951 edition, p. 6.
The narrative in greater detail The main outlines of the story follow. Many details vary from version to version.
Pa'ao is said to have been a priest and a master navigator. He lived on a distant island called Kahiki in the oldest versions, and identified as either Tahiti or Samoa by believers in the historicity of the narrative. Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean, at 17°40′ S 149°30′ W. The island had a population of 169,674 inhabitants at the 2002 census. ...
His older brother, Lonopele, was the chief priest, in some versions of the story, or the ruler of the island, in some others. Lonopele accused Pa'ao's son of removing some kapu fish from the royal fishpond, or with stealing fruit. Pa'ao was angry at his brother's persecution and in his anger, he killed his own son and ripped open the corpse's stomach, showing that there were no remnants of kapu fish -- or of fruit, in another version -- to be found. The Hawaiian word kapu best translates as forbidden. In ancient Hawaii, kapu refers to the ancient system of laws and regulations. ...
Pa'ao brooded over his misfortunes and decided to migrate to a distant land, far from his brother. He readied three large canoes for the voyage. He placed a kapu over the boats; no one was to touch the canoes without his permission. One evening, Pa'ao discovered his nephew, the son of Lonopele, touching one of the sacred canoes. Pa'ao killed his nephew and buried him in the sand under one of the canoes, which was elevated on blocks. Flies buzzed around the decomposing corpse, so the canoe was named Ka-nalo-a-muia, "the buzzing of flies".
Pa'ao hurriedly assembled his retainers, launched the voyaging canoes, and departed. He left in such a hurry that one of his followers, an aged priest or prophet named Makuakaumana, was left behind. Makuakaumana climbed a cliff and called out to Pa'ao; Pa'ao refused to stop, saying that the canoes were full, all save the projection of the stern. Makuakaumana leapt from the cliff and gained his position in the canoe.
Pa'ao sailed by the stars until they reached the Big Island of Hawaii. They landed in Puna, where Pa'ao built the stone temple platform, or heiau, of Aha-ula, or Red Mouth. This was the first luakini heiau in Hawaii, the first heiau where human sacrifices were offered. He is also said to have landed in Kohala, on the opposite side of the island, and built the famous heiau of Mo'okini. Puna District, Hawaii The Puna district of the Big Island is located on the windward side of the Island of Hawaii in the State of Hawaii. ...
Luakini: in Hawaii, a temple where human and animal blood sacrifices are made. ...
Kohala is the name of a district on the northwest portion of the island of Hawaii in the state of Hawaii. ...
Pa'ao believed that the chiefs of Hawai'i had become hewa, or degraded, by indiscriminate intermarriage with lesser chiefs and commoners. He is said to have returned to his home island to fetch a chief of impeccable ancestry. He asked Lono-ka-eho, who refused, and then recruited Pili, or Pili-kaaiea. Pa'ao and Pili, along with Pili's chiefs and warriors, and their families, returned to Hawai'i, where Pili became the new high chief.
The lineages of Pa'ao and Pili All the succeeding chiefs of the island claimed descent from the legendary Pili. Pa'ao's descendants became priests, and their line or order, called Hola'e, continued into historical times. The last high priest, Hewahewa, who acquiesced to Christianity and the breaking of the kapus or ʻAi Noa in 1819, claimed descent from Paʻao.
The historicity of Pa'ao Until fairly recently, Hawaiian historians relied primarily on recorded oral history and comparative linguistics and ethnology. The "two migrations" theory was widely accepted. That is, in a first migration, Polynesians settled the Hawaiian islands. In the second migration, Tahitians came north, conquered the original settlers, and established stratified chiefdoms.
Hawaiian archaeology then came into its own and sought material evidence for two migrations. If the two migrations theory were correct, one would expect a sharp discontinuity in some features of material culture, such as heiau plans, house and settlement patterns, fishhook styles, etc. But archaeologists found no evidence whatsoever for a second migration. Rather, they found evidence for a gradual but relentless increase in settlement size and stratification. The Hawaiian polity seems to have evolved without any discernible outside stimulus.
Academic historians and archaeologists have now abandoned the two migrations theory. The Pa'ao story is considered a myth, albeit an important and influential one. The Kahiki from which Pa'ao was said to have sailed was not the real world Tahiti, or Samoa, but the divine realm, past the horizon. The Pa'ao story claims a divine origin for the high chiefs and the practices with which they were associated (such as human sacrifice, prostrating kapus, and the like). There are many other Hawaiian and Polynesian myths with the same elements as the Pa'ao narrative, which is thus seen as assembled from "stock parts".
However, many Native Hawaiians believe that the Pa'ao narrative is real history, and reflects an actual second migration from the south. The voyages of the Hawaiiloa canoe are believed to indicate the feasibility of long voyages in ancient Polynesian canoes, the reliability of celestial navigation, and the veracity of Polynesian oral tradition. Hawai‘iloa, a voyaging canoe docked at Honolulu Harbor, is named in honor of the legendary navigator. ...
Hawaiian attitudes towards the high chiefs have changed; the ancient high chiefs are seen as oppressors, invaders who descended upon a peaceful and egalitarian Hawaiian population. Native Hawaiian activists praise these pre-Pa'ao days as the real Hawaiian past, to be revived and reenacted in the present, and vilify Pa'ao as a source of Hawaiian problems. Some say that Paao was accompanied by foreigners, and that these foreigners were the real instigators of Pa'ao's "reforms". In this version, all the problems faced by Native Hawaiians can be traced to foreign interference.
See also Native Hawaiians gather at ʻIolani Palace on August 12, 1998 to remember the centennial anniversary of the American annexation of Hawaiʻi. ...
In April of 1990, Daniel K. Akaka became the first native Hawaiian and Chinese American to serve in the United States Congress as a Senator from the State of Hawaii. ...
Hawai‘iloa, a voyaging canoe docked at Honolulu Harbor, is named in honor of the legendary navigator. ...
Early Polynesians settled in Hawai‘i circa A.D. 7th century, having traveled from Tahiti and Marquesas on double-hulled voyaging canoes Ancient Hawai‘i refers to the period of Hawaiian history preceding the unification of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i by Kamehameha the Great in 1810. ...
External links
Sources - Malo, David -- Hawaiian Antiquities, as translated by Emerson, 1951 edition, Bishop Museum Press
- Beckwith, Martha -- Hawaiian Mythology, 1940, as republished in 1970, University of Hawaii Press
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