The Story of Hāloa

The story of Hāloa is part of the Kumulipo, and has been told over and over throughout the centuries. I discovered several different versions of the Hāloa story (Wilson, 1988; Lee, 2005; Kame’eleihiwa, 1992). While minor details vary, the mo’olelo itself and the lessons it imparts remain the same. Essentially, this is a re-cap of the Hāloa story:

Papa (Mother Earth) and Wākea (Father Sky) unite, and Papa gives birth to the islands in this order: Hawai’i, Maui, and Kaua’i. The afterbirth is thrust aside to form Molokini. Papa then gives birth to a daughter, Ho’ohōkūkalani. Once Ho’ohōkūkalani grows up to become a beautiful young woman, Wākea falls in love with his daughter, and consults his kahuna (priest, sorcerer) to devise a sneaky plan to spend time away from Papa. Wākea returns to Papa and tells her of the new set of kapu (taboo; laws) his kahuna commanded him to instill. The new ‘ai kapu (rules around eating) were as follows:

1. Men and women will eat in separate hale (house, building).
2. Men will prepare the food for the community; women are relieved from the food preparation due to cleanliness regarding a woman’s cycle of the month.
3. Women may no longer eat certain foods which are considered to be representation of male gods.
Additionally, four nights a week will be dedicated to worship Kū (ancient Hawaiian god of war).

Wākea uses the new kapu to steal time away from Papa and seduces his daughter Ho’ohōkūkalani, who eventually becomes hāpai (pregnant). She tells her mother what happened, and Papa becomes very angry with Wākea and leaves. Later in the story, Wākea takes other lovers and fathers Lāna’i and Moloka’i. Papa finds another husband and gives birth to ‘Oahu. In the end, Papa and Wākea reunite, and the islands of Kaua’i and Ni’ihau are born.

Back in the story of Hāloa, Ho’ohōkūkalani give birth to a son, who is stillborn, deformed, and gnarled like a root. Grieving, the parents receive a message to bury him in the ground on the east side of their hale (house), on the side where the sun rises in the morning. After the baby was buried, a plant grew from his body. This was the first kalo, or taro plant. They name their taro baby Hāloanakalaukapali’i (or Hālo for short, which kind of sounds like kalo). His name means “the long stalk of the quivering leaf” because it has a long stalk with had a large fluttering leaf on top.

Ho’ohōkūkalani later gives birth to a second son who lives. Wākea and Ho’ohōkūkalani call him Hāloa after his older brother; he is the first Hawaiian, the Kupuna (ancestor) of the Hawaiian race.

In the Hawaiian tradition, the elder siblings take responsibility for the younger ones, while it is the duty of younger siblings and keiki (children) to honor, love, and respectfully service their elders. This tradition is modeled through the story of Hāloa. The older brother Hāloanakalaukapali’i, the root of the kalo plant, provides Hāloa with kalo or taro which is the staple food of the Hawaiian people. Hāloa respects to his older brother by taking care of the lo’i, (taro patch), creating irrigation systems, harvesting the plant and replanting to continue the cycle…and by teaching his keiki (children) and mo’opuna (grandchildren) to mālama ‘āina as well. This behavior of interdependence between brothers – between man and kalo – is what the Hawaiians mean when they malama (to care for, respect) ‘āina (land), and live with hearts filled with aloha (love, compassion, kindness), and this I have come to believe, is truly the basis of Hawaiian epistemology.