Universal among human cultures is the concept of origin, the emergence of man from the void. Hawaiians find the story of their own appearance in epic creation songs that trace life to a cosmic night.
El kumulipo
The Kumulipo, the source of life, is an ancient Hawaiian mele oli or chant, consisting of more than 2000 lines. Ancient Hawaiian kahunas, or priests, memorized every word and recited the oli at important events such as the festival of the god Lono. This is the oli that speaks of the origin of the Hawaiian people.
«The moment when the earth warmed up, when the heavens turned upside down when the sunlight faded and the moon shone, the time of the rise of the Pleiades, the time of the darkness of night, the kingdom of the gods, the time of Po …
The slime was the source of the earth, the source of deep darkness, the source of darkness born of darkness, the depth of darkness, the darkness of the sun, the darkness of night. Nothing but darkness.
The birth of man and woman.
The night gave birth. Born on this night was Kumulipo, the source of life: man. Po`ele was born, night darkness – woman … «
The earth
Night followed night and eternal spirits were born in darkness. This was the beginning of the earth …
Creatures of the earth
Plants were born … fish were born from the sea and animals that swam in the air. Reptiles, birds and crawlers were born …
Still, it was night. Because such was the time of Po, where it was still dark. Quiet was the moment when the night pressed …
“It was calm when the uteri gave birth. Thus was born the ancestor of the race and well formed was the child. The first chief from the dark past to inhabit the cold highlands. This was the time when men multiplied, when men came from afar, born of woman, man and gods. They were born in hundreds and in increasing numbers. It was the time of Ao. It was daylight “.
Evolution before Darwin
It is an astonishing fact of history that, in their remarkable intimacy with nature, the Hawaiian people, more than a century and a half before Charles Darwin wrote The Origin of Species, had already concluded that all life forms had derived from the simplest to the most complex. . The concept of biological evolution was understood and firmly established in their oral traditions.
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The Kumulipo is divided into two distinct time periods. The first period of time is called “Po”, the age of the spirit world. Everything is in darkness and it is at this time that the lower forms of life are formed. Life forms develop and finally the first mammals are born.
To the
The second period of time is called “Ao.” This period begins with the arrival of light. Evolution is now from one form of life to another. This is where the world of men and women explodes into a living land. This is also the era where reason appears.
The genealogy continues until the end of the 18th century. The last royal child born dates back to the beginning of time when the gods were still on earth and the first human was born.
The universe as a whole
As the Hawaiian historian Herb Kawainui Kane states in the PBS series The Hawaiians , “The entire universe was an ordered and fixed whole in which all the parts were an integral part of the whole, including man himself. The man descended from the gods, but so were the rocks, as well as the animals, also the fish. Therefore, man had to consider rocks, fish, and birds as his relatives. It is an ecological point of view that Western man is only now beginning to discover «.
One of the last known times the entire Kumulipo was solemnly recited was in 1779. That was in honor of Captain Cook who arrived at Kealakekua Bay on January 16, 1779. Native Hawaiians thought Captain Cook was the god that Lono was returning. to Hawaii. They couldn’t have been more wrong.
