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

trolldom. Likaså utvecklades konsten och kom att användas och fruktas över hela öriket.
Kāhuna som sysslade med denna konst ansågs vara ”onda”, och de liknades vid kāhuna
‘anā‘anā ‘aihamu men använde sig av andra metoder:
Death from a kahuna ‘aihamu was slow, sometimes taking a year or more, but the prayers of
the kahunas who used ho‘opi‘opi‘o, hi‘u, kaina, apo leo or alelo pu sorcery killed quickly. Their
prayers seemed to be just songs, mele and seemed insignificant as they came from the
mouth of the kahuna, but it was not from the songs that trouble came. It came from the
command to the spirits of death (kana kauoha ana i na ‘uhane oka make) – that was where
death came from. 562
Förtroende för det beprövade
Att hawaiianer fortsatte att förlita sig på traditionell hawaiiansk medicin vittnar också
Emersons berättelse om. Han berättar om hur hawaiianer år 1885 hade en fortsatt relation
till traditionell hawaiiansk medicin, om än i hemlighet:
On one occasion as I was sitting in my office in the study which had been used by father
Thurston, a native came to see me who attracted my attention as being of a rather oldfashioned
type. After completing our business I began to ask him questions as to his beliefs.
‘All the old gods are dead?’ I inquired. ‘Pele is certainly still alive’, said he, ‘for we see the
activity of the volcano.’ How about the other ‘household gods’?’ ‘Some of them still live,’
he replied. ‘Tell me about your household god, has it ever done you any good?’ It was with
some difficulty that I persuaded him to pour out his soul, assuring him that what he told me
should not come to the ears of the Church and that I would not mention his name as a
believer in the old gods. Having got him into the right frame of mind, I closed the door and
he entrusted me with the following story.
‘My wife,’ said he, ‘had a young infant which she was unable to nurse. We are poor people
and had neither a cow nor a milk goat. I could not afford to buy ‘deer’s' milk’ (this is the
term which they designate canned milk), ‘and my poor baby was suffering from lack of
food.’
‘Why didn’t you pray to Jesus and ask Him to help you?’ I inquired.
‘I did,’ he said, ‘but He never heard me, it is scarcely more than sixty years since he came to
this country and learned our language. He has got so many people calling upon Him in
English and French and all the other languages He had not time to listen to me, a poor
kanaka, and He paid no attention to my prayer. I could not let my child starve so I got the
kahuna to come and help me secure aid from our aumakua, the dear family god. The
kahuna came and we did our best to prepare a good meal for him. We had no black pig and
could not buy one, but we had got some pig grass to represent the pig; we made ready a
moa lawa (white fowl), and an ia ula (red fish), and some awa. Around the brow and neck
of the mother we placed leis made of the leaves of the sweet potato vine. After prayer to
aumakua we offered him some of the awa, the remainder we drank ourselves while eating
the chicken and fish. Our aumakua heard our prayer and after this ceremony the mother
was amply able to nourish the little one. Now, Mr. Emerson, do you blame me for trusting
in our aumakua and asking his help when no other avail us?’ 563
Emersons samtal med den hawaiianska mannen visar också på att hawaiianernas relation
till ‘aumākua fortlevde och var central även 1885. Och att den kristna tron och hawaiiansk
tro kunde korrelera. Detta framgår också av en rad andra källor. Under slutet av 1880-talet
562 Kamakau 1991a: 133.
563 Emerson, J. S. Persistence of Heathen Ideas, 1885 (ej publicerat manuscript). HEN 614-615.
BM. Missionärsättlingen A. F. Judd berättar hur hawaiianer fortfarande förlitade sig på kāhuna
även om det inte talades om det öppet. Judd 1886: 10.
130