When Hawaiians did have an aumakua that took an animal body it was that ONE, PARTICULAR animal. If it was a shark it was that ONE, PARTICULAR shark. Not all the sharks in the ocean.
Hawaiian culture is a discipline. Take yourself seriously.
It's one thing to say you have aumakua, but did you know that if an aumakua took a shark form that Hawaiians traditionally did not consider every single shark in the ocean their aumakua? Did you? If you are like most Hawaiians you did not. That is the same for any form your aumakua takes. The only aumakua is the one you hanai, feed and care for. Caring for it could include bathing your aumakua, conversing with your aumakua, as well as performing prayers and rituals for your aumakua. The Hawaiian that says that the turtles or the sharks are my aumakua is displaying the greatest displacement. I once did not know this. Perhaps one was taught this displaced idea by their parents and their parents-parents who were also displaced.
When Hawaiians did have an aumakua that took an animal body it was that ONE, PARTICULAR animal. If it was a shark it was that ONE, PARTICULAR shark. Not all the sharks in the ocean. Hawaiian culture is a discipline. Take yourself seriously.
6 Comments
Dominic
5/20/2014 01:20:58 am
hello, I'm not native Hawaiian; I'm from the mainland and my ethnicity is from Italy. That being said I have always felt a deep seeded connection with Hawaii ever since my first visit and have always been in love with the ocean and it's creatures (whales & dolphins especially). Not sure if it's possible for a non-native to have a aumakua.
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Kamahana
11/19/2015 12:18:09 am
Spirituality is for you to dictate. I am just offering guidelines. Many of our Akua, our major Gods and Goddesses like Pele, come from foreign lands to make Hawaii their home. After time they become subsistent and at one with the land and thereafter kamaaina. And when you make earth like Pele I'm sure no one calls her a foreigner standing on the land she birthed. LOL. Can you imagine her response?
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Keoni
10/25/2015 01:55:48 pm
Thanks for the article. You use the word displaced and I am not sure what you mean by that. Could you explain?
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Kamahana
11/19/2015 12:16:03 am
Aloha. Thanks for reading. I guess I use the word "displacement" to refer to a belief that comes out of decimation and repression of the Hawaiian culture. When this happens traditional beliefs can often times be replaced by a completely erroneous assumption so that continuity is broken and the new belief, derived from assumption and cultural erasure, displaces the traditional. I hope that makes it clear. My remarks here, in particular, carry no weight other then the emotion and knowledge it speaks from. I am clarifying a misconception that many Hawaiians are taught growing up. In my ohana those born 1901 and above would be able to tell you more about the aumaku before pre-stigmatization erased much. Not all Hawaiian beliefs were the same but it is clear from Hawaiian account in Hawaiian language records, that the aumakua was a specific individual that was cared for, fed, bathed, communicated with, mele composed in honor of, and whom offerings and prayers were made to. More importantly it corroborates with what those from three-four generations before us, living across the pae aina, would say as they explained these things in their first language, Hawaiian. I wouldn't say its impossible for someone to hanai all the individuals of a certain animal specie but the kuleana to feed, bathe, care, pray, and make offertory to them would be impossible.
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Ona Akau
7/8/2016 12:15:47 pm
Solid Bruddah. The sharing of Mana'o From as Neutral a Position as I See it. As A Hawaiian, leaving the Aina in 82, never knowing that side, I Feel the results of Mana's Attitude. Aloha, Army Disabled Kanaka Maoli. Learning On my Own, due to The Mental Misundetstandings of My Intent to Share my Ha'ina.
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Tis'a Kalili
2/11/2017 02:19:01 am
Mahalo,nephew...a personal relationship with your aumakua is just that- personal. Back in the day, tutu would breastfeed her aumakua...
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