Kihawahine is a Hawaiian shapeshifting lizard goddess (moʻo). When Kihawahine Mokuhinia Kalama‘ula Kalā‘aiheana, the daughter of the powerful sixteenth-century ruling chief of Māui, Piʻilani, and his wife Lā‘ieloheloheikawai, died, her bones were deified, transforming her into the goddess.[2] Kihawahine's home is Mokuhinia, a wetland pond on the island of Moku'ula.[3][4]
Kihawahine was the personal god ('aumakua) of Keōpūolani, a wife of Kamehameha the Great. At Kamehameha's final battle at the Nu'uanu Pali, he carried an image of Kihawahine with him. In modern times, a carving of Kihawahine served as the figurehead on Hōkūleʻa, a voyaging canoe launched in 1975 by the Polynesian Voyaging Society.[5]
Legend of Kihawahine and Haumea
editKihawahine and Haumea both were goddesses worshiped in Hawaiian temples. The war between the two goddesses begins because the nine want to marry Puna, the chief of Oahu. While touring the island, in search of a suitable place for surf, Puna is dined by following Kihawahine far from the island. The goddess dragon, shows me the perfect spot for surfing outside the reef near the island. The two stay a long time living in a cave. The goddess cares for her beloved, but nevertheless, he is a prisoner there and knows that if he tries to escape, he will be destroyed by Kihawahine. For a long time, the goddess does not let Puna go to the ocean, but after many requests from him, she graces one day and lets him go there. One day with a clever plan, Puna manages to escape the fights and returns to his first wife Haumea in Oahu, and for a long time they lived happily ever after. One day, while Haumea was out hunting for crabs in the sea, her husband was waiting for her, resting on a banana plantation that was owned by the island's new chief Kou. Puna was killed after being taken to Kou by the watchman of the plantation. The slain is hanged on the tree when his wife - Haumea learns about it, she orders the tree to be open and her body to be there, close to Puna.[6]
See also
edit- Tūmatauenga, Māori war deity
- List of figures in the Hawaiian religion
References
edit- ^ Brown, M.A. (2022). Ka Po‘e Mo‘o Akua: Hawaiian Reptilian Water Deities (in German). University of Hawaii Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-8248-9109-1. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
- ^ "Kihawahine by R.C. Barnfield (1856-1893) hawaiialive.org/". Archived from the original on 2016-05-19. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
- ^ "Moku'ula - a native Hawaiian sacred site - is being restored by Nancy & Leonard Becker". Archived from the original on 2020-01-29. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
- ^ "Kihawahine". Occult World. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
- ^ Wyban, C.A. (2020). Tide and Current: Fishponds of Hawai‘i. University of Hawaii Press. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-8248-8406-2. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
- ^ The Legend of Puna and the Dragon Goddess to-hawaii.com/
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