Kahuna

Kahuna is a Hawaiian word, defined in the Pukui & Elbert Dictionary as "Priest, sorcerer, magician, wizard, minister, expert in any profession." (See also Ancient Hawaii)

Forty different types of kahuna are listed in the book, Tales from the Night Rainbow. Kamakau lists more than 20 in the healing professions alone, including for example Kahuna la'au lapa'au, an expert in herbal medicine and kahuna haha, an expert in diagnosing illnesses.

With the revival of the Hawaiian culture beginning in the 1970s, some native Hawaiian cultural practitioners call themselves kahuna today. Others, particularly devout Christians, disdain the term. The word has been given an esoteric or secret meaning by modern followers of Max Freedom Long and Huna to emphasise a priestly or shamanic standing.

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Legal Status of Kahuna

Many myths have grown up around kahuna. One is that kahuna were outlawed after the white man came to Hawai'i. For the purpose of this discussion, it is useful to divide kahuna into 3 categories: "craft" kahuna, such as kalai wa'a, an expert canoe maker, and ho'okele, an expert navigator; "sorcerers" including kahuna 'ana'ana; and healers. Craft kahuna were never prohibited; however, during the decline of native Hawaiian culture many died out and did not pass on their wisdom to new students. As an example, when the Hokule'a 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 Hawai'i to teach the Hawaiians navigation, as no Hawaiians could be found who still had this knowledge.

It is often said that the missionaries came to Hawai'i and made kahuna practices illegal. This is not true. The real story is more complicated. In the 100 years after the missionaries arrived, all kahuna practices were legal for 11 years, some were illegal for 32, all were legal for 24, then some illegal for 33 years. Since 1919, all have been legal, except sorcery which was decriminalized in 1972.

The Christian missionaries arrived in 1820. Six months before, the three most powerful people in the kingdom, Ka'ahumanu, Kapiolani, and the revered Keopuolani, all women, overthrew the kapu system of Hawaiian religion and the kahuna pule priests with it. All three converted to Christianity relatively quickly. Despite that, it was 11 years before they mandated laws prohibiting kahuna practices.

In 1831 Ka'ahumanu traveled throughout the islands proclaiming new kapu against murder, adultery, Hawaiian religious and kahuna sorcery and spiritual healing practices, hula, chant, and 'awa. In response, many ali'i actively opposed her, to the point of an armed rebellion led by Queen Liliha and her cousin Boki on O'ahu. However, the rebellions were quashed. (Marion Kelly, in Noenoe Silva, Aloha Betrayed, p. 34, n 82)

There are many ways to oppose a colonizing influence. Some Hawaiians converted but continued their traditional practices. Sometimes they gave the gods Christian names. They called 'aumakua “Guardian Angels” and thought of Jehovah as the god 'I'o. (Na Pule Kahiko by June Gutmanis)

Although the missionaries influenced many Hawaiians, including ali'i (chiefs), away from kahuna, not everyone was convinced – particularly the kahuna and their families. But Ka'ahumanu’s kapu had the force of law, so kahuna went underground for about thirty years beginning in 1831. During that same time, as a result of the high death rate among Hawaiians from introduced diseases, many kahuna died before they were able to pass on their wisdom.

King Kamehameha V came to power in 1863. He disdained the law and encouraged the revival of native practices. (Chai) Many kahuna who had been quietly practicing came forward. On Maui, a group of eight Hawaiians founded the 'Ahahui La'au Lapa'au in 1866. They were not only kahuna, several were also members of the Hawai'i Legislature. They interviewed twenty-one kahuna to compile a complete resource of prayers and remedies for the Legislative record. (These interviews have been republished in the book, Must We Wait in Despair? by Malcolm Naea Chun)

In response to this and other initiatives, in 1868 the Legislature established a Hawaiian Board of Health to license kahuna la'au lapa'au. Kahuna practices including lomilomi massage and la'au kahea healing remained legal for the next twenty years. But the following year, "sorcery" was made illegal, and it remained illegal until 1972. ^[1]

Both Kamehameha V and his successor, King Kalakaua, invited kahuna to come to Honolulu to share their wisdom. They compiled oral and written histories and documented the prayers, chants, hulas, and remedies for healings. Kalakaua convened groups of kahuna to consult with each other to preserve their heritage. This and many other moves by Kalakaua outraged the Christian residents. In 1887 they forced the “Bayonet Constitution” upon the King. The Legislature outlawed all kahuna practices, including "praying to cure," a law in effect for the next thirty-two years.

In 1919 the Legislature passed a law once again licensing kahuna la'au lapa'au to practice, and since then it has been legal to practice herbal medicine. The Legislature repealed the anti-sorcery laws in 1972 (well before the federal government’s Native American Religious Freedoms Act of 1979) and since then all forms of practice are legal.

In 2001, a licensing law was put in place which allows native practitioners to be certified by Papa Ola Lokahi and the community health centers (not the State). Some have come forward to be licensed, while others refuse to participate in what they see as fundamentally a Western process. (Chai)

While all this legal maneuvering has been going on, many traditional practitioners have continued to practice as they and their ancestors have always done.

Non-Hawaiian uses

The use of the term in reference to surfing can be traced back to the 1959 film Gidget, in which "The Big Kahuna", played by Cliff Robertson, was the leader of a group of surfers. The term then became commonplace in Beach Party films of the 1960s such as Beach Blanket Bingo, where the "Big Kahuna" was the best surfer on the beach. Eventually, it was adopted into general surfing culture. Hawaiian surfing master Duke Kahanamoku may have been referred to as the "Big Kahuna" but rejected the term as he knew the true meaning of the word.^[2]

• In an episode of the American TV show "Magnum P.I.", it is said that a Kahuna can be identified by a "red flash" in his eyes.
• Kahuna or Ka Huna massage is a rhythmical style of massage.
• In some computer programming shops (for example, IBM), "kahuna" is a synonym for "wizard" or "guru" (see internet slang).
• Kahuna is also the code-name for Windows Live Mail, the successor to Microsoft's MSN Hotmail.
• "The Big Kahuna" is the nickname for Major League Baseball Broadcaster Jon Miller.
• "Kahuna" also refers to a very large fish, usually a walleye or Bass so named by Lake Erie fishermen in the late 1970s.
• "The Big Kahuna" is the name of a burger-joint in Quentin Tarantino's second film, Pulp Fiction. It is also seen in the Robert Rodriguez movie From Dusk Till Dawn (for which Tarantino wrote the screenplay) and mentioned in the Tarantino-directed Death Proof.
• "Kahuna Airlines" is the name of an airline company in Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland.
• There is a gaia class on the MMORPG Rappelz called Kahuna that can be seen as a buffer for other players.
• Kahuna is the main character in the game SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs.
• One who has "Big Kahunas" - Aussie Slang - denotes person who is known to be brave, without fear. Possibly derived from Spanish cojones.
• Title of some of the world's largest, fattest men.

See also

• Maven, a term from a different tradition with exactly the same connotations

Notes

Sources

• Pukui & Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian; by Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert ; Publisher: University of Hawaii Press; (July 1986); ISBN 0824807030
• Lee, Pali Jae Ho'opono [1] and Tales from the Night Rainbow [2]
• The Kahuna: Versatile Masters of Old Hawai‘i von Likeke R. McBride, ISBN 091218051X
• Gutmanis, Jane: Kahuna La'au Lapa'au - Hawaiian Herbal Medicine [Medical Kahuna], Island Heritage (www.islandheritage.com), 1976, English, ISBN 0-89610-330-7
• Nana I Ke Kumu (Look to the source), by Mary K. Pukui, E. W. Haertig, Catharine A. Lee; # Publisher: Hui Hanai; (May 1, 1980); ISBN 0961673826
• Malo, David: Hawaiian Antiquities (Mo'olelo Hawai'i), Bishop Museum Press, 1951 (1903)
• Kamakau, Samuel Tales & Traditions of the People of Old; ISBN 0930897714
• Kupihea, Moke: Kahuna of Light -The World of Hawaiian Spirituality, 2001, Inner Traditions International, ISBN 0-89281-756-9
• Chai, Makana Risser Na Mo'olelo Lomilomi: Traditions of Hawaiian Massage & Healing; ISBN 158178046X
• Kahalewai, Nancy S. Hawaiian Lomilomi - Big Island Massage, ISBN 0967725321 [3]
• Hall, Sandra Duke: A Great Hawaiian; ISBN 1573062308