Hiʻiaka

Hiʻiaka Hiʻiaka is a major figure in Hawaiian mythology known as a younger sister and messenger of Pele, central to narratives of creation, voyaging, healing, and hula. Her stories intersect with oral traditions, chants, genealogies, and ritual practice across the Hawaiian Islands, Maui, Oʻahu, Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi. Hiʻiaka appears in mele, oli, and moʻolelo that connect to chiefs, kahuna, voyagers, and places named in Hawaiian history and culture.

Etymology and Mythology

The name Hiʻiaka appears in mele and chants associated with figures such as Pele, Kamapuaʻa, Laka, and Kapo and resonates in place names like Puna, Hilo, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Waiʻanae. Oral genealogies tie Hiʻiaka to aliʻi like King Kamehameha I, Queen Liliʻuokalani, and noted kahuna such as Hoʻoulu and Paʻao through mele and moʻolelo transmitted by chanters including David Malo, Samuel Kamakau, and Mary Kawena Pukui. Her myths overlap with narratives about voyagers like ʻIolani and Kalaniʻōpuʻu and are invoked in ceremonial contexts with instruments linked to Kamehameha Schools, Bishop Museum collections, the Hawaiian Historical Society, and the Royal Mausoleum.

Origins and Birth Narrative

Accounts of Hiʻiaka’s birth appear in chants that mention family lines connected to Hāloa, ʻAikanaka, Keōua, and other ancestors recorded by ethnographers and historians such as William Ellis, John Papa ʻĪʻī, and Kepelino. Stories describe her emergence alongside siblings like Pele and Namakaokahai, in locales referenced by Captain James Cook, George Vancouver, and later by ethnomusicologists and folklorists working with institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, Yale University, Harvard University Press, and the University of Hawaiʻi. Narratives involve voyages via canoes similar to those of Kuapele and navigators like Nainoa Thompson and Mau Piailug, linking to Polynesian migration themes studied by Thor Heyerdahl, Te Rangi Hīroa, and Ben Finney.

Role in Hawaiian Religion and Hula

Hiʻiaka functions as a patron of hula, chants, and healing rites associated with kahuna like Ku, Lono, and Kane and practitioners in halau connected to kumu hula such as ʻIolani Luahine, Edith Kanakaʻole, Auntie Mary Kawena Pukui, and Reverend Abraham Akaka. Her association with Laka and Kumu Hula traditions is recorded in collections at ʻIolani Palace, Kamehameha Schools, Honolulu Academy of Arts, and the Merrie Monarch Festival, where dancers interpret mele by composers like Don Ho, Kealiʻi Reichel, and George Naʻope. Rituals invoking her name intersect with ceremonies performed at heiau, pond sites near Nuʻuanu, Waimea, and Kāneʻohe, and in pedagogical settings at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the East-West Center.

Cultural Practices and Festivals

Festivals and events feature Hiʻiaka in programs by entities such as the Merrie Monarch Festival, ʻAha Pūnana Leo, Hoʻolauleʻa, Queen Liliʻuokalani Trust events, Kūpuna gatherings, and city-sponsored celebrations in Honolulu, Hilo, Lahaina, and Kāneʻohe. Her mele are included in repertoires presented by groups like Hālau Nā Kamalei, Hālau Hālau o Kekuhi, Hawaiian Civic Club, and the Polynesian Cultural Center. Performances connect to broader Pacific festivals involving delegations from Samoa, Tonga, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Tahiti, and Rarotonga, and to archives held by the Library of Congress, Hawaiʻi State Archives, and the Bishop Museum.

Iconography and Artistic Depictions

Visual and material culture depicting Hiʻiaka appear in paintings, prints, featherwork, kapa, lei, and sculpture by artists such as Charles Furneaux, Theodore Baldwin, Herb Kawainui Kāne, Paul Gauguin (in Pacific contexts), and modern practitioners exhibited at the Honolulu Museum of Art, ʻIolani Palace, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Literary treatments by writers like Mark Twain (in travel narratives), Julia Flynn Siler (in historical works), and Emma Nāwahī manifest alongside contemporary interpretations in film, theatre, and dance curated by directors associated with ʻUluʻulu, Kahilu Theatre, and the Hawaii Theatre. Photographers and ethnographers including Edward Curtis, Anna Rice Cooke, and Paul Emmert documented performances and regalia now conserved by institutions such as the Getty, MoMA, and the British Museum.

Modern Interpretations and Revival Movements

Contemporary revivals of Hiʻiaka-centered practice intersect with movements led by scholars and practitioners at the University of Hawaiʻi, Kahoʻokahi Kanuha, Nā Maka o ka `Āina, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and involve activists tied to the Thirty Meter Telescope protests, Kanaka Maoli sovereignty efforts, and cultural preservation programs funded by ʻIolani Palace Trust, Kamehameha Schools, and private foundations. Modern scholarship appears in journals published by Oxford University Press, University of California Press, and the American Anthropological Association, and in media by PBS Hawaii, KUAM, Hawaii Public Radio, and oral-history projects at the Center for Oral History Research. Contemporary artists, hula masters, historians, and elders including Kealiʻi Reichel, Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa, and Nathaniel Kaʻai explore Hiʻiaka through exhibitions, curricula, law initiatives, and community-based language immersion programs. Category:Hawaiian mythology