HA'AKOA

History:  Anciently, our kūpuna practiced kāne (masculine) protocols associated with war, the war god Kū, and the Hawaiian religion.  In 1810 Kamehameha unified all of Hawaiʻi, war was no more, and peace prevailed in the land.  Following the death of Kamehameha in 1819, Kamehameha’s son, Liholiho (King Kamehameha II), his mother Keopuolani, Kamehameha’s highest ranking wife and highest ranking chiefess in Hawai‘i, and Ka‘ahumanu, Kamehameha’s favorite wife and Kuhina nui (Regent), the highest ranking authority in Hawai‘i, abolished the Kapu System. 

 

Breaking the Kapu (noa) voided Hawai‘i’s ancient codes of conduct, laws, regulations, and the Hawaiian religion itself.  Tiki were burnt, heiau dismantled, and the worship of the gods and goddess of old ceased.  Historical note: All things were made noa (free of the kapu system) before the first Christian missionaries arrived in Hawaii (1820).

 

In 1830, Regent Ka‘ahumanu, issued an edit banning cultural practices such as the hula as a pagan practice.  During this period of peace and cultural transformation, the warrior protocols of old were no longer practiced and in time abandoned and forgotten.