Kahuna

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Priest conducting religious ceremony honoring the Hawaiian god Lono in Waimanalo, Hawaii

Kahuna (Template:IPA; Template:Langx) is a Hawaiian word that refers to an expert in any field.<ref name="o233" /> Historically, it has been used to refer to doctors, surgeons and dentists, as well as priests, ministers, and sorcerers.<ref name="def of kahuna ulukau">Template:Cite web</ref>

Background

A Template:Lang may be versed in agriculture,<ref name="Kia">Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref name="Kathy_Long_The_Three_Kahunas">Template:Cite web</ref> canoe building, or any other skill or knowledge area. The term, "kahuna", means “keeper of hidden knowledge”, literally.<ref name="o233" /> It is derived from the word “kahu”, meaning “caretaker”, and “huna”, meaning “secret”. The secrecy over their knowledge has been described as being similar to the Freemasons and the guild masters of medieval Europe.<ref name="i469">Template:Cite web</ref> People who came from outside Hawaii distorted and stereotyped the term as a witch or wizard.<ref name="o233">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="l435">Template:Cite web</ref> They may be called on by the community to bless new buildings and construction projects or to officiate weddings.<ref name="US_Census">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Heinze1991" />

Forty types of Template:Lang are listed in the book Tales from the Night Rainbow, twenty in the healing professions alone, including Template:Lang, a medical priest or practitioner, and Template:Lang, "an expert who diagnoses, as sickness or pain, by feeling the body".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Some of the classes of Template:Lang as practiced in pre-contact Hawaii are:

A Template:Lang is a "medical doctor, medical practitioner, [or] healer. Template:Lit".<ref name="kahuna lapa au">Template:Cite web (Page 114 in print document, p. 144 in electronic)</ref>

Kahuna nui

According to Fornander, there are ten colleges or branches of the Hawaiian priesthood:<ref name="Fornander1920">Template:Cite book</ref>

A master of all ten branches could be made a Template:Lang or high priest.<ref name="Fornander1920" /> Template:Lang usually lived in places such as Waimea Valley, which is known as the Valley of the Priests. They were given slices of land that spanned from the mountain to the sea.<ref name="Valley_of_the_Priests">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="waimeavalley">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> Hewahewa, a direct descendant of [[PaTemplate:Okinaao]], was a Template:Lang to Kamehameha I. A contemporary, [[Leimomi MoTemplate:Okinaokini Lum]] is a Template:Lang.<ref name="Hokulea">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="BizJournal_2004">Template:Cite news</ref> David Kaonohiokala Bray was a well-known Template:Lang.<ref name="Heinze1991">Template:Cite book</ref>

King Kamehameha IV, in his translation of the Book of Common Prayer, used the term Template:Lang to refer to Anglican priests, and Template:Lang to refer to both lay and ordained Anglican ministers.Template:Cn Template:Lang means Gospel preacher in Hawaiian.<ref name="v570">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Lang in Hawaiian means prayer, spell or blessing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Craft Template:Lang were never prohibited; however, during the decline of native Hawaiian culture, many died and did not pass on their wisdom to new students. As an example, when the Template:Lang was built to be sailed to the South Pacific to prove the voyaging capabilities of the ancient Hawaiians, master navigator Mau Piailug from Satawal was brought to Hawaii to reteach navigation to the Hawaiians.<ref name="voyaging revival 2016">Template:Cite news</ref>

After American missionaries went to Hawaii in 1822, they reportedly prohibited Template:Lang practices. But, in the 100 years after the missionaries arrived, all Template:Lang practices were legal until 1831, some were illegal until 1863, all were legal until 1887, and some were illegal until 1919. Since 1919 all have been legal except sorcery, which was initially declared illegal but was decriminalized in 1972.<ref name="Chai2005">Template:Cite book</ref>

The first Christian missionaries arrived in 1822.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="b936">Template:Cite web</ref> Kamehameha I had earlier believed that Christianity may bring mana or heavenly power to revitalise the Hawaiian community.<ref name="v182">Template:Cite book</ref> [[KaTemplate:Okinaahumanu]], one of the most powerful people in the Hawaiian nation, was converted to Christianity in 1823. She formally declared Christianity to be the new state religion with a Sabbath on December 21, 1823.<ref name="w005">Template:Cite book</ref> Eleven years after missionaries arrived, she proclaimed laws against hula, chant, kava, and the Hawaiian religion.<ref>Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs, pp. 298–301.</ref>

Non-Hawaiian uses

The term was used in the 1959 film Gidget, in which "The Big Kahuna", played by Cliff Robertson (Martin Milner in the TV episode), was the leader of a group of surfers. The figure of the Big Kahuna became commonplace in Beach party films of the 1960s, such as Beach Blanket Bingo, in which the Big Kahuna was the best surfer on the beach. Hawaiian surfing master Duke Kahanamoku may have been referred to as the Big Kahuna, but he rejected the term as he knew the original meaning.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In the New Age spiritual system known as Huna, which uses some Hawaiian words and concepts appropriated from Hawaiian tradition,<ref name="Kahaleole" /> kahuna denotes someone of priestly or shamanic standing.<ref name="King2014">Template:Cite book</ref> The prevalence of these works in pop culture has influenced definitions in English dictionaries, such as Merriam-Webster, which not only defines kahuna as "a preeminent person or thing" but also offers "Hawaiian shaman" as a secondary definition.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Wells College professor Lisa Kahaleole Hall, a Native Hawaiian, wrote in a peer-reviewed journal published by the University of Hawaiʻi that Huna "bears absolutely no resemblance to any Hawaiian worldview or spiritual practice" and calls it part of the "New Age spiritual industry."<ref name="Kahaleole">Hall, Lisa Kahaleole. "'Hawaiian at Heart' and Other Fictions", The Contemporary Pacific, Volume 17, Number 2, pp. 404–413, 2005, University of Hawai'i Press.</ref>

See also

References

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Bibliography

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