In every halau stood the kuahu, or altar, as the visible temporary abode of the deity, whose presence was at once the inspiration of the performance and the luck-bringer of the enterprise--a rustic frame embowered in greenery. The gathering of the green leaves and other sweet finery of nature for its construction and decoration was a matter of so great importance that it could not be intrusted to any chance assemblage of wild youth, who might see fit to take the work in hand. There were formalities that must be observed, songs to be chanted, prayers to be recited. It was necessary to bear in mind that when one deflowered the woods of their fronds of íe-íe and fern or tore the trailing lengths of maile--albeit in honor of Laka herself--the body of the goddess was being despoiled, and the despoiling must be done with all tactful grace and etiquette.
It must not be gathered from this that the occasion was made solemn and oppressive with weight of ceremony, as when a temple was erected or as when a tabu chief walked abroad, and all men lay with their mouths in the dust. On the contrary, it was a time of joy and decorous exultation, a time when in prayer-songs and ascriptions of praise the poet ransacked all nature for figures and allusions to be used in caressing the deity.
The following adulatory prayer (kánaenáe) in adoration of Laka was recited while gathering the woodland decorations for the altar. It is worthy of preservation for its intrinsic beauty, for the spirit of trustfulness it breathes. We remark the petitions it utters for the growth of tree and shrub, as if Laka had been the alma mater under whose influence all nature budded and rejoiced.
It would seem as if the physical ecstasy of the dance and the sensuous joy of all nature's finery had breathed their spirit into the aspiration and that the beauty of leaf and flower, all of them familiar forms of the god's metamorphosis--accessible to their touch and for the regalement of their senses--had brought such nearness and dearness, of affection between goddess and worshiper that all fear was removed.
He kánaenáe no Laka
A ke kua-hiwi, i ke kua-lono,
Ku ana o Laka i ka mauna;
Noho ana o Laka i ke po'o o ka ohu.
O Laka kumu hula,
5
Nana i a'e ka tvao-kele, 3
Kahi, kahi i moli'a i ka pua'a,
I ke po'o pua'a,
He pua'a hiwa na Kane. 4
He kane na Laka,
10
Na ka wahine i oni a kelakela i ka lani:
I kupu ke a'a i ke kumu,
I lau a puka ka mu'o,
Ka liko, ka ao i-luna.
Kupu ka lala, hua ma ka Hikina;
15
Kupu ka laau ona a Maka-li'i, 5
O Maka-lei, 6 laau kaulana mai ka Po mai. 7
Mai ka Po mai ka oiaio--
I ho-i'o i-luna, i o'o i-luna.
He luna au e ki'i mai nei ia oe, e Laka,
20
E ho'i ke ko-kua 8 pa-ú;
He la uniki 9 e no kaua;
Ha-ike-ike 10 o ke Akua;
Hoike ka mana o ka Wahine,
O Laka, kaikuahine,
25
Wahine a Lono i ka ou-alii. 11
E Lono, e hu' 12 ia mai ka lani me ka honua.
Nou okoa Kukulu o Kaniki. 13
Me ke ano-ai 14 i aloha, e!
E ola, e!
[Translation]
A Prayer of Adulation to Laka
In the forests, on the ridges
Of the mountains stands Laka;
Dwelling in the source of the mists.
Laka, mistress of the hula,
5
Has climbed the wooded haunts of the gods,
Altars hallowed by the sacrificial swine,
The head of the boar, the black boar of Kane.
A partner he with Laka;
Woman, she by strife gained rank in heaven.
10
That the root may grow from the stem,
That the young shoot may put forth and leaf,
Pushing up the fresh enfolded bud,
Like the tree that bewitches the winter fish,
The scion-thrust bud and fruit toward the East,
15
Maka-lei, tree famed from the age of night.
Truth is the counsel of night--
May it fruit and ripen above.
A messenger I bring you, O Laka,
To the girding of paû.
20
An opening festa this for thee and me;
To show the might of the god,
The power of the goddess,
Of Laka, the sister,
To Lono a wife in the heavenly courts.
25
O Lono, join heaven and earth!
Thine alone are the pillars of Kahiki.
Warm greeting, beloved one,
We hail thee!
The cult of god Lono was milder, more humane, than that of Kane and the other major gods. No human sacrifices were offered on his altars,--The statement in verse 26 accords with the general belief of the Hawaiians that Lono dwelt in foreign parts, Kukulu o Kahiki, and that he would some time come to them from across the waters. When Captain Cook arrived in his ships, the Hawaiians worshiped him as the god Lono.
The following song-prayer also is one that was used at the gathering of the greenery in the mountains and during the building of the altar in the halau. When recited in the halau all the pupils took part, and the chorus was a response in which the whole assembly in the halau were expected to join:
Pule