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1920^ Wm.
M. Waddoups "Traditions and Legends of the Polynesians,"
in Improvement Era 23,
October
1920, pp. 1072-76.
In
1920, William M. Waddoups, Secretary of the Hawaiian Mission would write:
Judge Fornander, Messrs. Alexander, Dibble,
Ellis, and others, who have spent much time in collecting Hawaiian tradition
and folk lore, have brought together much that is interesting and of vast
importance in establishing the paternity and origin of the Polynesian family,
located upon widely separated islands in the Pacific Ocean. While widely
separated and scattered, yet they are so homogeneous in physical
characteristics, language, tradition, and customs as to leave no doubt in the
mind of the investigator that they are one people, with a common origin, and
yet that origin has not been satisfactorily established. Upon this matter
Judge Fornander has this to say in the opening paragraph of the first volume of
his excellent work, The Polynesian Race:
North and South America,
Malays,
Papuans, Chinese and Japanese, and even the lost tribes of Israel, have
all at different times and by different writers, been charged with the
paternity of
this family, and made responsible for its origin and appearance in the
Pacific Ocean.
The purpose of this brief article is to point
out the wonderful and astonishing similarity between the traditions, customs,
religious practice and ceremonies of the Polynesian race, and the teaching of
the Hebrew scripture known as the Bible. The reader may draw a conclusion as
to where and to what people these traditions, customs and practices rightfully
belong. . . . These traditions were had among the Hawaiians many generations
before these islands were discovered, and long before the Bible was introduced
among them by Christian missionaries. . . .
The Hawaiians recognized three supreme gods,
Kane, Ku and Lono. These three form a triad known as Ku-Kaua-Kahi, a
fundamental supreme governing unity. These gods existed in number. Next they
created the sun, moon, and stars; then expressed it, "Mai ka po
mai." They created the heavens, three in number. Next they created the
sun, moon, and stars; then a host of angels or spirits were formed. Last they
created man in the image and likeness of Kane. The body of the first man was
made of red earth, lep ula, and spittle from the mouth of Kane. The
head was made from white clay collected by Lono from the four quarters of the
earth. After the man was formed the three gods breathed into his nostrils and
commanded him to arise, and he became a living man. After the man was created
a woman was formed from one of the ribs of the man. This first man and woman
are known by different names in different chants and traditions, but the most
commonly known and accepted are for the man, Kumuhonua, and for the woman,
Kealokuhonua.
This primordial couple were placed in a home of
which the Hawaiians speak in glowing terms. It was called by various names,
such as Kaluna-i-hau-ola (Kalanla with the life-giving dew); or
Aina-wai-akua-a-Kane (The land of the divine water of Kane). It was known as a
sacred place, and a man must be righteous in order to dwell therein. Among the
adornments of the Polynesian paradise, were two trees, the Ulu kapu a Kane, the
forbidden breadfruit of Kane, and the Ohia hemolele, the sacred apple. It was
said among the ancient Kahuna or priests of Hawaii, that the eating of the
forbidden breadfruit of Kane, brought sorrow, trouble and death to Kumuhonua
and Keola-kuhonua, the first man and woman. The tradition further says that the
gods made spirits from the spittle of their mouths, to be their ministering
servants. A number of these spirits rebelled because they were not allowed to
drink awa. (Awa was used in sacrificial worship in olden times. It is a plant
from the roots of which a drink is made which intoxicates if taken very
freely.) The god Kane, however, was victor in the struggle which followed this
rebellion, and these rebellious spirits were cast down into darkness (ilalo
loa i ka po). The chief spirit or leader of these seditious spirits is
called variously, Milu, Kanaloa, Po, Kupu ino, etc.
Another tradition says that after the gods Kane,
Ku and Lono had created man and breathed into him the spirit of life, that
Kanaloa also made a man, but when his clay model was completed and he commanded
him to live, he failed to arise and live. This angered Kanaloa and he swore to
cause the death of the man whom the gods had created. The ancient Hawaiians
looked upon Kanaloa as the prince of evil, the origin of death, a disobedient
spirit, and that he was severely punished by the supreme god Kane. The
tradition further says that the first man and woman had two sons, the first
Laka and the second Ahu, that Laka was a bad man and killed his brother Ahu.
There are three Hawaiian genealogies from the
first man Humuhonua to Nuu or Kahinalii. The first counts thirteen
generations, the second gives fourteen generations, and the third counts only
twelve ([Similarly] The line of Seth from Adam counts ten generations to
Noah.) It is said in this tradition that it was in the days of Nuu that a
great flood (known as Ke kai a ka hinalii) came upon the earth, and that
Nuu, his Lilinoe and his three sons, with their wives, were saved in a large
vessel called in their chant, He waa halau alli o ka Moku. After the
flood subsided they found themselves upon the top of Mauna Kea (the thirteen
thousand foot peak on the island of Hawaii). It is said that after Nuu went
out from the ship he took a pig, coconuts and awa and offered sacrifice to the
god Kane. As he looked into the sky he saw the moon, and thinking it to be
Kane he worshiped it. Kane is then said to have descended on the rainbow and
reproved him, but owing tot he mistake he had made he was forgiven, and Kane
left the rainbow in the heavens as a token of his forgiveness.
Ten generations from Nuu, according to this
genealogy, there arose another great Kahuna or priest, called among other
names, Kane-hoa-lani. It is said that he introduced circumcision among his
people. . . . His grandson, Kini,lau-a-mano, was the traditional father of
twelve sons from whom sprang the Menehune people, who are said in this
tradition to be the progenitors of the Polynesian family.
We also find in Hawaiian folk lore a tradition
closely resembling the story of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. It runs
thus: Waiku had ten sons and one daughter. Waikelenuiaiku one of the
sons, was much
beloved by Waiku, but hated by his brethren. Owing to their hatred they
cast
him into a pit belonging to Holonawole. His oldest brother gave strict
charge
to Holonaeole to take good care of Waikelenuiaku. He is said to have
escaped
from the pit and fled to a country under the rule of King Kamohoalii.
He was
thrown into a pit underground where were confined other prisoners. Four
of
these fellow prisoners dreamed dreams, one dreamed that he saw a ripe
ohia
(native apple), and his spirit ate it; the second dreamed that he saw
and ate a
ripe banana; while the third dreamed that he saw a pit, killed, dressed
and ate
it, and the fourth dreamer pressed awa juice from the awa plant and
drank it.
The interpretation given to the first, second and third dreamers were
that they
should die. The awa dreamer, however, was told that he should be
released from
the pit and restored to service in the house of the king. As was
predicted,
the three dreamers who saw the ohia, the banana, and the pig, were
killed, but
the fourth was liberated. He subsequently told the king of the
wonderful
powers of Waikelenuiaiku, and he was released from prison and placed in
the
service of the king. He afterwards became one of the principal chiefs
in the
kingdom.
Another tradition closely resembling the story
of the deliverance of Israel through Moses, is found in the legend of
Kealii-waha-nui. . . .A . . . story of lengthening the day until a certain work
was accomplished is also told concerning Maui-a-kalana, an ancient chief of
great power. A legend is also found concerning an Oahu prophet called
Na-ula-a-Maihea, who left Oahu on an important mission to Kauai. His canoe was
upset, he was swallowed by a whale, and afterwards thrown up on the beach near
Wailua, Kauai.
You will note that in none of these traditions
do we have anything seeming to point to important events in the Christian era.
So far as I can learn there is nothing in Polynesian mythology and traditional
folk lore that in any way points to the important events recorded in the New
Testament. I have learned that there was a common belief among some of the
Polynesians that one of the governing gods visited them and left a promise that
he would visit them again, and that they should be watchful and prepared for
his second coming. The Hawaiians speak of this god as Lono. When Captain Cook
discovered these islands, in 1778, the natives at once deified him and gave him
the name Lono, saying that their god had returned again as he had promised.
If, as Judge Fornander maintains, the
Polynesians peoples have received their traditional knowledge of Biblical
characters and events as follows, "That during the time of the Spanish
galleon trade, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, between the Spanish
main and Manila, some shipwrecked people, Spanish and Portuguese, had obtained
sufficient influence to introduce these scrips of Bible history into the legendary
lore of this people," it is strange at least that not a single mention is
made in the legends of the people of the all-important and crowning event of
the New Testament, the birth and crucifixion of our Savior Jesus Christ.
If, however, the theory of the origin of the
Polynesians, as believed by the Latter-day Saints, be accepted, then the total
absence of legendary knowledge among them, concerning the chief characters and
events of the New Testament is easily explained. Hagoth and his company, from
whom we believe the Polynesian islanders originate, sailed form the northern
part of South America some fifty-four years before the birth of Jesus Christ.
They would, therefore, of course bring nothing with them concerning the
ministry of Christ, and the travels and labors of his disciples. They were,
however, fully conversant with the chief events and characters of much of the
Old Testament, perhaps all that which precedes the year 600 B.C., or the time
when Lehi left Jerusalem under divine command.
Note*
If according to Waddoups, Hagoth "sailed from the northern part of South
America," then this implies a Hemispheric Theory for Book of Mormon
geography.
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