Until 1819, all Native Hawai’ians lived under the Kapu system, which dictated their spiritual beliefs and lifestyles. The myth you are about to read would have been written early in their history, when the Kapu system still reigned.

        The Kapu system doubled as religion for the Native Hawai’ians; they believed in many gods and goddesses, and the rules of the Kapu system, the kapu akua, were considered the laws of the gods. These laws involved strict gender roles. Men had to hunt and be head of the family while women had to gather and watch the children.

Prologue

        Sharing was also extremely important to the Native Hawai’ians. They considered their community one big family (ohana) and believed everyone had an obligation to share with each other and contribute to society. It was also important to have a happy, close-knit family unit.

       Because Hawai’i is a chain of islands, water and fishing were a big part of Native Hawai’ian culture. They often used shell to make fishing hooks and spears. Nature as a whole was important to the Native Hawai’ians; they believed all natural things had “mana,” or power from the gods. They used plants for everything from cooking to making clothing. Typically, men wore loincloths called malo and women wore skirts called pa’u.

        While the Kapu system is no longer in place, many sacred Native Hawai’ian stories stem from its values. I hope you can see that same basis of Native Hawai’ian culture in this myth!

Long ago, the world was nothing but ocean and sky. Each of these realms was occupied by a great being: the ocean by Kai Honohu, named for the deep waters in which he dwelled, and the sky by Lani Laulā, named for the endless stretch of air she called home.

One day, Kai Honohu and Lani Laulā caught sight of each other. They quickly fell in love. Filled with longing, they pulled closer and closer together until their realms met on the horizon. Overjoyed to have found each other at last, the two beings began to prepare for a life together.



As man does, Kai Honohu set out to hunt. He fashioned a huge spear out of shell and used it to hunt the finest whales and fish in the sea. He was so strong that his spear struck the ocean floor each time he threw it, freeing giant chunks of rock that floated to the surface. Sometimes, Kai Honohu’s spear struck so deep it dislodged rock filled with fiery lava from the earth’s center. These lava-filled rocks floated to the surface with the others.

Lani Laulā, assuming her role as wife, started to gather. Reaching down from the sky, she gathered the rocks Kai Honohu had freed and arranged them into islands on the ocean’s surface. She created large islands from the biggest pieces, then piled smaller rocks on top of them to create jagged cliffs and mountains. Knowing only sky, she could not tell the difference between good rocks and the lava-filled rocks, so she included them all in her piles. Today, those lava-filled rocks are known as volcanoes.

Once the islands were complete, Kai Honohu and Lani Laulā paused in their work to admire what they had made. But as they did, they were struck by a terrible realization: neither of them had any use for the piles of rocks. The islands were trapped in limbo between the two realms, just beyond the control of either. And so would be anything else Lani Laulā and Kai Honohu created together. If they could truly share nothing, how could they share a life together? They began to grieve for their ill-fated love. Lani Laulā cried huge tears that rained from the sky, and Kai Honohu sent churning waves through the ocean in anger.