E Ho'i No 'Ai i Kou Kahu

Certain akua took the form of fire and flew; these balls of flaming fire were and are still called akualele or flying gods by Hawaiians. Moolelo of our kupuna states these gods entered the kauila, nioi or ʻohe trees growing on Maunaloa on the island of Moloka'i. These trees became poisonous only at the Molokai location at Maunaloa. These same three trees found anywhere else are noa and remain harmless. One moolelo states that this grove of trees was inhabited by the spirits of men, as a vision was received that relates a dream of seeing men marching to Maunaloa and transforming into the trees. When the wood of these trees from Maunaloa was ignited by fire, there rose a scent of blood in the air.

Kauila tree

Kii: Kim Starr

Kii: Department of Land and Natural Resources

Martha Beckwith states in her book Hawaiian Mythology that A man of Molokai named Kane-ia-kama (Kane-a-Kama) joins a gambling game at Hale-lono, the gambling place at Kaluakoi, and wins the stakes. On his way home, he gambles again at the famous gambling place on Maunaloa and loses everything he has except his bones, which he is afraid to stake. That night, the god Kane-i-kaulana-ula (Kane in the red flush of victory) comes to him in a dream and bids him to stake his life the next day, promising him victory if he will take him as his god. In vision, he sees this god lead a procession of gods, three of whom enter trees in a grove which springs up where no grove had been before. The next day, he stakes and wins, regaining all that he has lost. From the nioi tree entered by the god, he carves an image of his god. This is the Kalai-pahoa (Cut with a pahoa axe). Two other gods enter trees: Ka-huila-o-ka-lani (The lightning in the heavens) enters an ae tree, Kapo enters an ohe. The wood of the Kalaipahoa tree is so poisonous that anyone upon whom a chip falls is killed by it. Every waste piece, after the image has been carved with proper prayers and offerings, is sunk in the sea, or some may have been secretly kept. The first Kalaipahoa image is said to have been cut into bits and distributed among the chiefs after Kamehameha’s death. Bundles of blocks made out of nioi wood and graded in size, if they had been brought into contact with the Kalaipahoa, were supposed to partake of its mana.

Being known among the people of Molokai as having mana or supernatural energy, certain individuals began to collect woodchips and shavings from these poison trees. Some of the wood was fashioned into kii or images, while some kept just the chips or dust of the wood to poison others.  It was also stated in the dream that if man were to survive the poison of the wood, the carver or woodcutters would need to be covered entirely in a mixture of mimi and coconut water to touch the bark of the tree while cutting or handling this laau.

'Ohe Mauka, 'Ohe Kikio'ola

Kii: David Eickhoff

 John Kaimikaua had mentioned to me in the older stories that on Moloka'i, in the years after these gods entered these trees at Maunaloa, some chiefs waged war on the island of Molokai; these certain chiefs took the chips of these certain woods and placed them into the forest streams at the headwaters above areas in the upper regions of the island. The god in the wood of these trees killed the forest trees, birds, animals and people that drank and touched the water that fed the lands downstream. Many parts on that side of the island dried up, leaving those parts of the island desolate of growth.

The ritual or practice of sending the poison god on death-dealing errands began to become popular from those times to the present. The image or a piece of this laau was scraped, and in the wood shavings came forth the akua of these trees from the grove in Maunaloa, Molokai. This ritual was always done at night to conceal the spirit as it left the keeper's home or cave. This sent the akua or spirit on its journey to find its victim. As the spirit flew through the night air, it took the form of a fireball with a tail of light trailing behind.

 Nioi tree with fruit

Kii: David Eickhoff

Nioi tree with pua

Kii: Earth.com

Kawena's book Nana i ke Kumu states, "Sending a spirit of this type on an errand is called hoʻoūna or hoʻoūnauna. The term is a general one and does not refer specifically to akualele. Sending an ancestral spirit in ʻunihipili is also hoʻoūnauna".

I have seen this Akualele up close and know about this a little from experience. There was a person who lived in Nanakuli many years ago. This person was in the hale talking story at night about 10 pm. This glowing ball of light came into the room. It was the size of a basketball, and there was a face of a uhane or spirit inside this ball of light. The face changed and moved in this glowing ball. There was no heat from the fireball as it just flew in and floated above the person. The ball of light appeared alive and moving in its outer shell. The ball of light was not perfectly circular as it moved, but there was a spiritual entity within the light. The glow was a bluish white and yellow milky mixture. The face in the ball constantly shifted and twisted, making it unrecognisable.

I knew what it was instantly. The words " e hoi no ai i kou kahu" were spoken, and the ball of light bounced off the wall and disappeared by exploding. The words spoken out loud to the spirit meant " return to your sender or keeper and consume him". The uhane in the form of the fire is a spirit of ino or destruction, it's like a wild dog that is mindless and under the control of the sender or kahu. This kahu or keeper controls the spirit that dwells in the wood of these three types of trees. Sometimes these trees could have been carved into a ko'oko'o or waking cane as well as an idol or kii. It is known that some homes had a kauila cane hanging on the inside of a hale, and if entering the hale, one would see this kookoo and notice black soot or a stain on the area around the kookoo. This was a sign that the kookoo was being used to hold the spirit within and that the person of the hale was practising this art of death on his neighbours.

Most times, the spirit within this piece of wood needs to be fed and taken care of. Awa was used to feed in ancient times, this akua. In modern times, lama or rum, kini or gin are used to feed the uhane. Kupuna who practice this art usually live apart from others and are referred to as palapalai or two-faced. Their art requires them to act pleasantly in public as a quiet and caring person. But inside their character, hidden away, is the true person. This kahu or keeper must always practice sending the akua out in the dark of night, when people are sleeping, to keep hidden the home of the spirit. If the spirit is seen leaving the hale of the kahu by others ( as the glow of the fireball can be seen clearly flying from the home), then everyone will know who the sender is, and they can deal with these kahu through prayers and destroy them forever. The kahu must ensure that no one sees his akua or anyone can send the akua back to its source and kill the kahu. So the kahu must select carefully who their victim is and cautiously attack, as again, it's always possible for anyone to send the akua of death back to source if the person knows the words to do so. If seen in flight and someone says " e hoi no ai I kou kahu", while pointing at the akua, then the flying akua will return to its sender or kahu and do what it was sent out to do. Growing up, it was common to see these akua lele in the countryside at night. In Kaimu, about 20 years earlier, it wasn't unusual to see the akua lele flying in the night sky. As older people pass away, there is less of this practice going on. Today, it may still happen in the countryside of all islands, but it is a rare sight.

Kawena Puku'i mentions again in her book Nana i Ke kumu vol 1, that " [a]ssociated with, but also not limited to akualele, is another phrase, mālama pūʻolo or 'keeping a bundle" for use in sorcery or spirit-sending. The 'bundle," in the case of akualele the wood, was usually wrapped in tapa. The kahu or 'keeper' of this bundle cared for, fed ritually and constantly called upon the spirit inhabiting the bundle. These were essential parts of the spirit-sending ritual. The fateful climax came when the keeper voiced the command for the spirit to fly on its errand. Thoughts had to be put into words before they took effect, either as a sorcery spell (ʻanāʻanā) or a human-to-human curse (ʻānai).

However, the keeper who sent the spirit out to harm was endangering himself. The spirit or poison god might be returned with the ritual words, "go back and destroy your keeper." These rituals of sending and returning destructive forces recurred in Hawaiian belief. With akualele, another method of escaping harm could also be used. "Fireballs seen in the sky would burst and become harmless," says Mrs Pukui, "if you swore at them—Hawaiian style!"

"Hawaiian swearing," she explains, "is not saying ‘damn’; it's using words with nasty meanings." Sacrilegious swearing was unknown.

Keeping an akualele for supernatural errands seems much like ʻunihipili, keeping an ancestor's bones or personal possession as a control medium of the ancestor's spirit. The vast difference is that in akualele rituals, the keeper controlled an impersonal spirit for essentially harmful use.