Abstract
Hawaiian Temples.—In the course of a study of the archology of Kauai Island, Hawaii (Bull. No. 80, Bernice P. Bishop Museum), Dr. Windell Clark Bennett describes the various types of heiaus (temples), of which there are traces, and discusses their uses and affinities. To-day only their foundations survive. Temple forms are influenced by two factors. Many old temples were remodelled by later chiefs; and the temple architect was a priest whose business it was to study the forms of old heiaus and design new ones, incorporating features which seemed to him the cause of the success of important heiaus. A great confusion of forms and features was the result. The principal types in both small and large heiaus are those (1) with open platforms, (2) walled enclosures, (3) terraced platforms; each of these in the group of larger heiaus having several subdivisions. In function the heiaus fall into five general classes: (1) The sacrificial heiau, called by various names, but chiefly luakini and pookanaka. (2) The agricultural heiau, for which one of the commonest names was heiau hoouluulu. Its purpose was to induce rain, increase the crops, and fulfil any other purpose useful to agriculture. (3) Fishing shrines, hoa, located along the shore and used in sacrificing to the fish god in order to increase the catch of fish. (4) The pohaka o kane or family heiau, for private prayer or worship. (5) Miscellaneous heiaus, including a great variety of heiaus built by lesser chiefs and priests for such purposes as circumcision, aid in child-birth, impelling love, paying debts, surf riding, hula dancing, and tapa making. To-day the purpose of the heiaus is little known and the information given is likely to be faulty. There seems to be no connexion between the functional and descriptive classifications.
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Research Items. Nature 128, 497–498 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/128497a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/128497a0