Hawaiian Beliefs
Aloha and Welcome to Hawaiian Beliefs teacher’s guide. This is a teacher guide but yet is open to anyone who
wants to learn more about the Hawaiian Beliefs. There is information about gods, goddesses, and legends found in
Hawai’i. In this website, there are links to external websites, videos, and other resources.
4th grade students at any Hawai’i public school will describe how significant gods and goddess affected pre-contact
Hawai’i (before Westerns) through readings of gods, goddesses, and legends and doing writing activities and
drawings of them.
Students who are in 4th grade in Hawai’i will meet the Hawai’i Performance and Content Standard III for Standard 3
History: Pre-Contact Hawai’i History- understanding the people, events and ideas that were significant in precontact Hawaiian history. The benchmark is SS.4.3.10: Events in Hawaiian History- describe how significant people,
including those of legend (including Papa and Wakea, Pele, and Pa’ao) affected pre-contact Hawaii.
The way students will meet this standard and benchmark is by doing some activities. Some activities students can
do are making a popup folder with one of his/her favorite myth, legend, god, or goddess. They would write down
information about the god/goddess. Students can retell the legend or myth through writing and drawing a picture
from the story. Students are able to display their work around the classroom. Students are able to use this website
to get some information and click on links to get more information and resources to help aide in their research for
their activity.
Students have basic reading, math, communication, writing, typing, and computer skills. Students have access to a
computer at school through the computer lab and in the classroom with Internet access. Many students have
computer at home with Internet access where they are able to go online with parent supervision. Many students
love to listen to stories of the gods, goddesses, and legends of Hawai’i. Many public schools in Hawai’i has a Kumu
(teacher) comes into or students go to Hawaiian Studies to learn to speak Hawaiian and Hawaiian culture.
Instructional Plan:
The way this instructional website is design is to start with the home page where the introduction is about the
website. Then move to the gods and goddesses page to learn about all the different gods and goddesses where
found in the Hawaiian culture. Once students have learned all the gods and goddesses, the next website is the
legends pages where students will read and click on more websites to find more legends readings. The legends
page has the Kumulipo chant of creation that Hawaiian’s believed how the world and living things were created.
After the legends page, students will have more resources to find out more information about Hawaiian beliefs
with websites, books, videos, and podcasts. The last page is the information page where students will find out
information about the author who has created the website.
Materials Need:
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Computer with Internet access
Makers
Crayons
Pencil
Paper
Color Pencils
Books
Hawaiian Beliefs
Evaluation & Assessment:
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Create a rubric of all the guidelines from writing and picture drawing about the activities.
Note: There is no right or wrong way students have vision the gods and goddess when drawing a picture
that represents them.
Check to make sure students correctly spelled gods, goddess, and legends names correctly.
Note: that you will have to give students the list of gods and goddesses for the correct spelling because of
the way Hawaiian language there is certain characters where it doesn’t show correctly on the Internet.
On the next page is the actually website in black and white form. The list of gods and goddesses is after the
website.
Hawaiian Beliefs
Aloha & Welcome!
In Hawai'i, there are many different gods, goddess, and legends that have shaped Hawaii’s Culture. Many
gods and goddess are presented through Hula (dance) and oli's (chanting). Hawai'i is a group of islands
found in the Pacific Ocean.
I have been born and raised on Maui all my 28 years of life. One of my favorite hobbies is to listen, read,
and watch about god, goddess, and legends of Hawai'i. I wanted to create this web site to help students
to learn more about the Hawaiian Religion for which they live in.
Hawaiian Beliefs
Gods & Goddess
‘Ai'ai is the god of fishermand and son of Ku'ula.
‘Aku means god.
‘Aumakua is famiy god.
Haumea is the goddess of fertility and childbirth.
Hina is the goddess of the moon and god of healing.
Hi'iaka is the goddess of arts and hula.
Kamapua'a is the pig god.
Kamohoali'i is the shark god and keeper of water. He was Pele's brother.
Kanaloa is the god of the vast, endless kai (sea), sailing, and ocean voyaging. Also, Kanaloa is the
underworld god and teacher of magic.
Kane is the god of procreation. Kane is connected to freshwater springs, fishponds, and sunlight. Also
Kane is known for the cultivation of plants.
Kanehekili is the spirit of thunder. He is Pele's brother.
Ku'ula is the god of fisherman.
Ku is the god of war, agriculture to the forest and rain, canoes, husbandry, and fishing.
La'amaoma the goddess of wind.
Laka is the goddess of the hula and hula dancers.
Lono is god of agricultural fertility, medicine, and peace. Also, Lono is known as god of growing things
and rainmaker. Lono is the god of the makahiki, where for a four month period war and labor are
forbidden, and Hawaiians enjoy feasting and games.
Mana is the power from the gods.
Maui is a god who has many legends about the things he did.
Papa is Earth Mother.
Pele is the goddess of fire, lighting, dance, volcanoes, and violence. Pele is found at Kilauea on the Big
Island of Hawai'i.
Hawaiian Beliefs
Poli'au is the snow goddess. Poli'au is found on the slopes of Mauna Kea.
Wakea is Sky Father.
Hawaiian Beliefs
Legends
Legends grow out of humankind’s propensity to explain the world around them and make a distinction
between themselves and nature. The Hawaiian culture brought forth a myriad of legends, many of which
bear strong similarities to those of other islands groups in the Pacific. These legends laid a basis for
religion, government and science. Families traced genealogical lineages back to the gods and goddess of
legend.
Legends, of course, explain how life came to be. The Hawaiians acknowledged many goods and
supreme beings on various levels in representing every object, facet of life, and aspect of nature.
Maui who caught the sun is a famous legend told to children. There was a boy name Maui. Maui one day
decided to catch the sun because day after day the sun would run across the sky. Plants couldn't grow
because there wasn't enough sunlight. Also, there weren't enough time to make tapa. One day, Maui
woke up early before sunrise and went to the mountain to catch the sun. Maui catches the sun. The sun
agrees to move across the sky so that the day would be longer.
The Kumulipo is the Hawaiian Creation Chant. Kumulipo means the origin or the source of life. Kumulipo
is very long but is very detail to how Hawaiian's believe the the world and everything thing has come to
exist. Here are some links for information and the actual text. Also, there is a podcasting on the Kumulipo.
"He Kumulipo" is a podcast you may get through iTunes. This is free. There is the 60 minutes podcast of
the whole chant/song or you may just decide to take it in parts which is in Hawaiian with English parts. .
Links for Kumulipo::
The Kumulipo - Song of Creation
Explanation on the song/chant.
The Kalakaua Text
The actual text of the who chant which is only in Hawaiian.
Kumulipo A Hawaiian Creation Chant
There is the Hawaiian and English translations of the chant/song.
More Links for Legends:
Mythology & Legends
Hawaiian Historical Legends
Hawaiian Beliefs
Resources
Here are some books and links to read about Hawaiian legends.
Links:
Hawaiian Mythology
Hawaiian Legends
Mythology and Legends
Hawaiian Legends
Hawaiian Legends Video
Legends of Hawaii
Activity:
Choose a link above and write about one of the legends you like and why.
Books:
Akua Hawai'i: Hawaiian Gods and Their Stories by: Kimo Armitage
Kamehameha: The Boy Who Became A Warrior King by: Ellie Crowe
Lono and The Magical Land Beneath the Sea by: Caren Loebel-Fried
Hina and the Sea of Stars by: Michael Nordenstorm
Pele and Poli'ahu: A Tale of Fire and Ice by: Malia Colllins
Pele by: Dietrich Varez and Pua Kanaka'ole Kanahele
Pele Goddes of Hawai'i's Volacanoes by: Herb Kawainui Kane
Myths and Legends of Hawai'i by: Willam D. Westrervelt
Koa Son of Ku by: Scott Temple
Pele's Wish by: Sondra Ray
Hawai'i Island Legends Pikoi, Pele, and Others by: Caroline Curtis
Hawaiian Beliefs
The Waters of Kane and Other Legends of the Hawaiian Islands by: Caroline Curtis
Resource Units in Hawaiian Culture by: Donald D. Kilolani Mitchell
Hawaiian Beliefs
Contact
My name is Stacie. I am a Master's student at University of Hawai'i at Manoa. I live on the island of Maui.
I am a Tech Coordinator and Computer Teacher at Kula Elementary School. I have created this site to
help students and anyone who wants to learn about the Hawaiian Religion. I will be adding more
information on to the web site. I hope to create a page about the traditional plants that the Hawaiian's
used. You can email at staciefe@hawaii.edu
Hawaiian Beliefs
List of Gods & Goddess
‘Ai'ai is the god of fishermand and son of Kū'ula.
‘Aku means god.
‘Aumakua is famiy god.
Haumea is the goddess of fertility and childbirth.
Hina is the goddess of the moon and god of healing.
Hi'iaka is the goddess of arts and hula.
Kamapua'a is the pig god.
Kamohoali'i is the shark god and keeper of water. He was Pele's brother.
Kanaloa is the god of the vast, endless kai (sea), sailing, and ocean voyaging. Also, Kanaloa is the
underworld god and teacher of magic.
Kāne is the god of procreation. Kane is connected to freshwater springs, fishponds, and sunlight. Also
Kāne is known for the cultivation of plants.
Kanehekili is the spirit of thunder. He is Pele's brother.
Kū'ula is the god of fisherman.
Kū is the god of war, agriculture to the forest and rain, canoes, husbandry, and fishing.
La'amaoma the goddess of wind.
Laka is the goddess of the hula and hula dancers.
Lono is god of agricultural fertility, medicine, and peace. Also, Lono is known as god of growing things
and rainmaker. Lono is the god of the makahiki, where for a four month period war and labor are
forbidden, and Hawaiians enjoy feasting and games.
Mana is the power from the gods.
Māui is a god who has many legends about the things he did.
Papa is Earth Mother.
Pele is the goddess of fire, lighting, dance, volcanoes, and violence. Pele is found at Kilauea on the Big
Island of Hawai'i.
Poli'au is the snow goddess. Poli'au is found on the slopes of Mauna Kea.
Wākea is Sky Father.