Spiritual Beliefs and Religious Practices of Ancient Hawai‘i

Book excerpt: The focus of this book is the spiritual/religious life of the indigenous people of Hawai‘i—the Knaka Maoli. Their spiritual principles of mlama ‘ina (caring for the environment), kuleana (individual responsibility), kkua (helping one another), and ‘ohana (family beyond blood ties) enabled the Hawaiians to survive the decimation of their population and colonial attacks upon their government and cultural heritage. Moreover, these ideals passed on into the many immigrant groups that came to the Islands and helped them coalesce into one “multiracial” people. The future promise of Hawai‘i may lie in these ancient principles, for they represent a much-needed idea of working in harmony with the environment and are characterized by respect, tolerance, and understanding of differences. They may represent a new way of looking at sociocultural processes in the hope of solving complex problems of the modern world. This indeed may be the lasting legacy of the Knaka Maoli.