Kākū ʻai

Nānā I Ke Kumu

(LOOK TO THE SOURCE)

Volume I

Mary Kawena Pukui

E.W. Haertig, M.D.

Catherine A. Lee

Published by Hui Hānai

An Auxiliary of the

QUEEN LILIʻUOKALANI CHILDREN'S CENTER

Reprinted, paperback edition, 2001, 2002

Printed in the United States of America

Pgs. 36-38

Kii: Ku'ialuaopuna

Traditionally, Hawaiians could transform a deceased member of the family into a special class of aumākua. This was done in the ceremony of kākū ʻai. Mary Pukui describes kākū ʻai as her forebears practiced it:

"... They would take the bones after the flesh was all gone, wrap the bones in red and black tapa, and take them to the volcano. Then the kahuna [priest] would prepare the ʻawa [Hawaiiʻs ceremonial drink] ... After the awa had been poured into the crater, the bones were thrown down there. For generations, some of our folks were taken there. Later, others who were related to the sharks were given the kākū ʻai ceremony and their bodies placed in the sea. The aumakua shark was supposed to take the bundle of bones, cover it with a belly fin, and care for it until that bundle of bones somehow turned into another shark.

"The last time my people conducted kākūʻai rituals was when my great grandmother was taken to the volcano. From my grandmother on down, we had earth burial," Mrs. Pukui explains.*

A relative so transfigured became a particular type of spirit who served family aumākua within their own supernatural realm. For example, a relative consigned to the volcano became a flame spirit serving Pele. Living descendants did not call on these spirits for help. Though they were usually called aumākua, and sometimes loosely classified as ʻunihipili, they were generally considered unique spirit-beings.

In other kākūʻai rites, a still-born or malformed live baby or a fetus could be returned to its aumakua. This is described in listing, kākūʻai.

For the early Hawaiians, the aumākua as invisible force or in tangible form were ever-present, permeating thought and action. The ritualistic care given the piko (umbilical cord) came, in part, from the knowledge that the cord had connected the baby with an living ancestor who after death would be a directly linked aumakua. The kapu (taboo) against hitting anyone on the head or face was intertwined with the belief that good spirits—and the aumakua was certainly a good one—entered the body by the head. The many kahunas of the healing arts prayed to their aumākua for diagnostic insights. The child was taught which specific aumakua to call on for help. And when one man became an expert canoe maker and another an especially skilled fisherman, this was due only partially to individual training. The training was superimposed on the mana (special power or talent) each had received from his aumakua.

aumakua warned and protected

The aumākua also brought warnings of coming misfortune and deliverance from immediate danger.

If, for example, your family aumākua included the shark, you might have had an experience like this one, reported from the Puna District on Hawaii to anthropologist Martha Beckwith:

"... this one family ... had a supernatural helper or aumakua who appeared in the form of a particular shark. When any of the family go fishing, the shark appears. The aumakua obeys the voice of man. Name the fish you want and it will bring it. This family can never be drowned. If there is a storm and the boat capsizes, the shark appears and the men ride on its back."

Or Mary Pukui's personal experience:

"... in our ohana, we were taught to observe the owl. Owls were among the family aumākua ... If the owl cries in a strange way, ʻeuʻeu, that means ‘get out of here today.’ When I was in Puna, an owl came and lit in a bread-fruit tree and cried ʻeuʻeu. I told the aunt I was visiting that I was going home right away, and I'm glad I did, because when I got home I found my hānai (foster child) was sick and feverish."The same aumākua could also punish. One way to bring certain retribution was to eat the physical form of one's aumakua. Co-author Pukui relates:

"There were things we could not eat because if we did, it would kill us ... a cousin of mine defiantly ate a certain sea creature and said ‘I ate the body of our aumakua!’ He died a month later."

Though this death 30 days later cannot be considered an illustration, the late Nils P. Larsen, M.D., speculated that sudden death or illness after "eating one's aumakua" might be "clan allergies," family-line allergic sensitivities reinforced by the Hawaiian practice of intermarriage within the ʻohana.

Personal Note: One of my own family member was Kaku'ai in a ceremony done about 19 years ago. I was present with a few others. I will leave out the details but a red fire ball and light came down from the sky and exploded amongst those present as the iwi of the deceased was being ceremonially offered to their kupuna and aumakua with an awa ceremony . The next morning the spirit of the deceased was transfigured into a Io or Hawk, which looked like it was just born as it moved around under a tree by itself. The tree in which it was under was about 12 feet outside of the kitchen window. It took a few days till it was flying around the home of the family. This new spirit has a name and has continually been seen flying in and around the same location for many years. It size also changes as sometimes it appears to be the size of a small plane, and has been seen by me in Tahiti when i travel there for ceremony.