"Who are you to tell us our history?" Kultur och religion i ... - Anpere

There is no superstition perhaps more general and deep-rooted in the minds of this people,
than the belief that certain persons have the power, by prayers and incantations, to destroy
the lives of others; and many, doubtless, have become victims to their credence in this
device of darkness. A person, who has fallen under the displeasure of one of these “kanaka
anana”, or sorcerers, is told that his power is exercised over him, and that he will die. He
himself believes in the efficacy of that power – thinks perhaps that he has known many
instances of it. Anxiety is awakened; his mind becomes filled with pictures of death; he
cannot sleep; his spirit sink; his appetite fails; and the effects of his imaginary fears become
the real causes of the evil he deprecates. Finding his health and strength affected by these
natural but unperceived causes, he considers his fate inevitable; refuses all nourishment, as
unnecessary and unavailing; pines, languishes, and dies beneath the influences of his own
ignorance and superstition. The less enlightened of the people think no one dies a natural
death, and resolve every instance of mortality into the effects of this pule anana, prayer of
sorcery, some other incantation of a similar kind, or into the equally insidious influence of
secret poison.
Of the power of this superstition we had proof in a native of our own household. A thief
was put to flight from our yard one day while we were at dinner; this lad joined in the chase,
and seized the culprit, but lost by his hold by tearing of his kihei, or outer garment. The
thief was greatly exasperated; and immediately engaged a sorcerer to pray the boy to death.
Information of this reached the lad in the course of the afternoon; and we soon perceived
him to be troubled by the intelligence, though he attempted with us to ridicule the
superstition.
The next morning he did not make his appearance with the other boys: and upon inquiry
from them, they said he was sick. We asked the nature of the sickness; to which they
replied-“mai no i ka pule anana paha”- that he “was sick from the prayer of sorcery perhaps.”
We found him lying in the corner of his house, pale with fear, and trembling like an aspen
leaf, and was satisfied that the whole arose from terror; and compelled him,
notwithstanding his declarations that he was too sick, to come from his retreat – diverted
his mind – set him at work- and before noon he was as full of life and spirits as ever –
laughed at his fears, and began to defy the power of pule anana! 533
Missionärernas fokus på att beskriva och generalisera det destruktiva och negativa som
representativt för hawaiianernas inställning till sjukdom och död har också marginaliserat
det uppbyggande och positiva. Hawaiianernas traditionella medicin var baserad på mer än
”trolldom” och magi. ‘Oihana lapa‘au, medicinsk tillämpning, grundade sig därtill på stora
kunskaper kring anatomi och medicinalväxter och yrket i sig innebar specialistkompetens
på olika sätt.
Samuel Kamakau gör en jämförelse med västerländsk medicin och menar att det
inom denna är det visuellt bevisliga som styr. 534 De västerländska läkarna har uppnått
kunskap om sjukdomar genom att dissekera och studera kroppen, invändigt såväl som
utvändigt. Dessa kunskaper har legat till grund för utveckling av olika metoder att bota
sjukdomar. För de medicinska kāhuna (specialister) var det andra saker än det enbart
visuellt bevisliga som var avgörande. Kamakau förklarar: “…the god was the foundation,
and secondly came prayers. Third came schooling in the kinds of diseases; fourth, in the
kinds of remedies; fifth, in the art of killing; and sixth, in the art of saving.” 535
533 Stewart 1828: 263f.
534 Kamakau 1991a: 106.
535 Kamakau 1991a: 107. Pukui m.fl. (1972/1979 (vol. 2): 154f) definierar hawaiiansk läkekonst
som ”empirisk” i den bemärkelsen att kahuna lapa‘au noga iakttog patienten och drog slutsatser
efter att han observerat vad som fungerade eller inte fungerade. ”He concentrated on results,
rather than rationale. In the empirical approach, medication was often prescribed on the basis
of, ’first we’ll try this, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll try that.’”
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