This story comes from the Kumulipo which is a work of poetry that is chanted to tell the of the origin of the world in a very remarkable way. I really like this story because of the evolutionary undertones which tell me the Hawaiian's had a better grasp on how things came about than most creation story tellers. The Kumulipo was translated by Martha Warren Beckwith and published in 1951
When the earth first became hot and the heavens churned and the sun was dark, land emerged from the slime of the sea. The deepest darkness of caverns, a male, and the moonless darkness of night, a female, gave birth to the simple lifeforms of the sea. The coral that builds islands was born, and the grub, the sea cucumber, the sea urchin, the barnacle, the mussel, the limpet, and cowry, and the conch and other shellfish. Born was the seagrass, guarded by the tough landgrass on land; born was the Manauea moss of the sea, matched by the Manauea taro plant on land; born was the Kele seaweed, and the Ekele plant of the land.
This story begins with a vague similarity to a science text book about the formation of the planet but then we get to the second half of the sentence where land was formed by slime. Then we find out that a cave is a male and the darkness is a female who gives birth to to simple sea dwelling life forms. First of all, a cave and the darkness are different species so how did they mate? At least the islands made from coral makes sense.
Next the deep darkness of the deep sea and darkness broken by slivers of light in the moonlit forest gave birth to the fish of the sea. The porpoise was born, and the shark, and the goatfish, and the eel, and the octopus, and the stingray, and the bonito, and the albacore, and the mackerel and mullet, and the sturgeon. Born was the Kauila eel of the sea, matched by the Kauila tree on land; born was the Kupoupou fish of the sea, and the Kou tree on land; born was the A'awa fish of the sea, guarded by the 'Awa plant of the land. Trains of walruses and schools of fish swam past the coral ridges, still in the darkness of night.
At the very least this is a nice story.
Next darkness of night and night that just barely breaks into dawn gave birth to the flying creatures. The caterpillar was born, and the moth to which it leads; the ant was born, and the dragonfly that it becomes; the grub was born, and the grasshopper that it becomes. The snipe was born, and the turnstone and the mudhen, and the crow and the rail, and the albatross and the curlew, and the stilt and the heron. Born was the sea-duck of the islands, and the wild duck that lives on land; born was Hehe bird of the sea, matched by the Nene goose on land.
Sounds like a very simple version of evolution - kind of. Just have to add a couple billion years and change the word "born" into "developed" and there you have it!
Next, as the sea advanced onto the land and passed back and forth across it, the light of earliest dawn and half-darkness produced the crawling creatures that come from the sea. The rough-backed turtle was born, and the horn-billed turtle and the dark-red turtle. The lobster and gecko were born and the mud-dwelling creatures that leave their tracks in the sand. Born was the Wili sea-borer of the sea, and the Wilwili tree on land; born was the Opeope jellyfish of the sea, and the Oheohe bamboo of the land. Thus the crawling animals were born in the night, creeping and crawling onto the land.
It seems to me the Hawaiian's knew what they were talking about to an extent. The birds weren't around before the first creatures crawled on land but that can be forgiven when we understand how long ago this story was told. It's very Darwinesque. It was still dark and that is where the story fails I think.
Next were born the animals of the land, including the dog and rat. Then, in the stillness as the light of dawn came across the land, were born La'ila'i, a woman, and Ki'i, a man, and Kane, a god, and Kanaloa, the octopus. From the union of La'ila'i with Ki'i and Kane came humanity, waves of people who came from afar. Born was Hahapo'el, a girl, and Ha-popo, another girl, in the upland valleys whence chiefs arose. Born were humans, spreading across the earth, and now it was day.
So I guess all the things that were born up until now all happened in just one night, well that is one interpretation of it. Another way to look at it, with some poetic license, is this was the "dawn" of mankind. Who knows, none of us were there when it was written so we just have to take it for what it is, a very nice story of creation by the Hawaiian's.
I write this blog because it is a passion of mine to explore the myth of god and along the way I may even learn some cool stuff but it takes a lot of time and energy to write so if you enjoy reading this blog please make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on the right so I can put more time into creating a better blog.
Thank you all
Justin
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