The role of a kahuna in the Hawaiian culture takes on the responsibility of keeping a balance between the people and the nation. In doing so, they apply their field of expertise towards assisting the aliʻi and the makaʻāinana. In ancient Hawai’i, there were many different types of kāhuna that had a skill set that contributed or benefited the community. In this paper I will discuss the different ways a kahuna achieves this type of balance within the lāhui. These kuleana include advising the aliʻi to make pono decisions, guiding the makaʻāinana in their daily lives and practices, and taking care of the spiritual side of the Hawaiian culture and traditional practices of the people.
Ordinarily kāhuna took on a very important profession within …show more content…
They were the ones responsible for taking care of the spiritual side of the Hawaiian culture as well as the daily practices of the lāhui. According to Collier, “Pule was something that all kāhuna did and it was their specific kuleana to themselves. They have a direct contact with the akua, and pule was a way for kāhuna to seek knowledge and answers from the akua or ʻaumākua.” The exchange of words and language was expressed through different cultural practices. Kimura claims “An example of the importance of language in human activity is best illustrated in the area of music and dance.” The way that a kahuna expressed language is through guiding and advising the aliʻi and makaʻāinana in their daily practices. Kimura strongly continues to claim that “Prayer has words. From a traditional Hawaiian viewpoint, the western concept of silent prayer denies the god-giving human privilege of using words. The prayer is also chanted, which makes the words purposefully more subtle, thus very personal, a feature enhanced by the inclusion of extra sounds such as lā and ē.” It is a form of resource when a kahuna channel the ʻike of his/her ancestors, through pule, and is able to teach or pass down the knowledge orally. In traditional times, oral teachings done by the kāhuna was a huge amount of
Ordinarily kāhuna took on a very important profession within …show more content…
They were the ones responsible for taking care of the spiritual side of the Hawaiian culture as well as the daily practices of the lāhui. According to Collier, “Pule was something that all kāhuna did and it was their specific kuleana to themselves. They have a direct contact with the akua, and pule was a way for kāhuna to seek knowledge and answers from the akua or ʻaumākua.” The exchange of words and language was expressed through different cultural practices. Kimura claims “An example of the importance of language in human activity is best illustrated in the area of music and dance.” The way that a kahuna expressed language is through guiding and advising the aliʻi and makaʻāinana in their daily practices. Kimura strongly continues to claim that “Prayer has words. From a traditional Hawaiian viewpoint, the western concept of silent prayer denies the god-giving human privilege of using words. The prayer is also chanted, which makes the words purposefully more subtle, thus very personal, a feature enhanced by the inclusion of extra sounds such as lā and ē.” It is a form of resource when a kahuna channel the ʻike of his/her ancestors, through pule, and is able to teach or pass down the knowledge orally. In traditional times, oral teachings done by the kāhuna was a huge amount of