Hawaii is full of myths and legends - stories that are full of passion, betrayal, loyalty, birth and death. According to W.D. Westervelt, one of the most famed re-tellers of Hawaiian myths and legends back in the early 1900s, some of these myths and legends were very similar to the stories told in Tahiti, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand and other islands in the Pacific Ocean.
These Hawaiian stories tell the tales of gods and men, ghosts and goblins. One Hawaiian chant speaks of as many as "four thousand gods" of the Hawaiian people. The ancient Hawaiians, like most indigenous peoples, felt a deep connection with nature and explained everything from the creation of the Earth to the lava flowing from the volcanoes through the stories of their gods and goddesses.
The four main gods (akua) are Ku, Kane, Lono and Kanaloa. Then there are many lesser gods (kupua), each associated with certain professions. In addition to the gods and goddesses, there are family gods or guardians (aumakua). The many gods of Hawaii and Polynesia were often represented by tikis. Tiki statues were carved to represent the image of a certain god and as an embodiment of that specific god's mana, or power.
Related Hawaii Story Categories
Hawaiian mythology often overlaps with sacred sites, unexplained stories and ghost traditions. These sections continue that same old-Hawaii storytelling thread:
