Younger brother of the naked ones, the ’Olohe
Out from the slime come rootlets
Out from the slime comes young growth
Out from the slime come branching leaves
Out from the slime comes outgrowth
Born in the time when men came from afar
Still it is night
VIII Well-formed is the child, well-formed now
Child in the time when men multiplied
Child in the time when men came from afar
Born were men by the hundreds
Born was man for the narrow stream
Born was woman for the broad stream
Born the night of the gods
Men stood together
Men slept together
They two slept together in the time long ago
Wave after wave of men moving in company
Ruddy the forehead of the god
Dark that of man
White-[bearded] the chin
Tranquil was the time when men multiplied
Calm like the time when men came from afar
It was called Calmness [La’ila’i] then
Born was La’ila’i a woman
Born was Ki’i a man
Born was Kane a god
Born was Kanaloa the hot-striking octopus
It was day
The wombs gave birth [?]
Ocean-edge
The-damp-forest, latter of the two
The first chief of the dim past dwelling in cold uplands, their younger
The man of long life and hundreds upon hundreds of chiefs
Scoop out, scoop out,
Hollow out, hollow out, keep hollowing
Hollow out, hollow out, “the woman sat sideways”
La’ila’i, a woman in the time when men came from afar
La’ila’i, a woman in the time when men multipled
Lived as a woman of the time when men multiplied
Born was Groping-one [Hahapo’ele], a girl
Born was Dim-sighted [Ha-popo], a girl
Born was Beautiful [Maila] called Clothed-in-leaves [Lopala-pala]
Naked [’Olohe] was another name
[She] lived in the land of Lua [pit]
[At] that place called “pit of the ’Olohe”
Naked was man born in the day
Naked the woman born in the upland
[She] lived here with man [?]
Born was Creeping-ti-plant [La’i’olo] to man
Born was Expected-day [Kapopo], a female
Born was Midnight [Po’ele-i], born First-light [Po’ele-a]
Opening-wide [Wehi-loa] was their youngest
These were those who gave birth
The little ones, the older ones
Ever increasing in number
Man spread abroad, man was here now
It was Day
—Martha Beckwith (trans. and ed.) The Kumulipo: A Hawaiian Creation Chant. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951, pp. 58–60, 63–67, 71–73, 77–79, 82–84, 87–88, 92–93, 97–98.
SEARCHABLE TERMS
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Absolute reality, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 21
Ages of man, 24, 166 ff.
Ancestors, 34, 215, 219–20, 287 ff., 298 ff.
Angels, 38 ff.
Animal spirits, 31 ff., 229 ff.
Anthropomorphizing, 12, 34, 187–88, 255 ff.
Appearance vs. reality, 189–90, 194–95
Asceticism, 192
Astrology, 137 ff., 141 ff.
Axis mundi, 24, 35 ff., 173 ff., 211 ff., 217, 218, 243–44, 248 ff., 305, 336–37
Awe, 21, 359 ff.
Being: goal of, 23; ground of, 7, 8, 11, 23, 29, 130 ff., 187–88, 284 ff., 336 ff., 353 ff.; origin and nature of, 6, 10, 88 ff., 188–89, 207–8
Being–Itself, 9, 21, 183 ff., 337, 338
Being—not–being, 9, 10, 16, 18, 22, 23, 29, 172–73, 183 ff., 186–87, 206, 207–8, 209–10, 284 ff., 313–14, 337–38, 339
Birth, 17, 144 ff., 315 ff.
Chaos, as potentiality, 9, 10, 24, 44, 80, 86–87, 121–22, 156, 157 ff., 169–70, 176 ff., 184 ff.
Chaos, as destroyer of order, 10, 18, 88–89, 170–71, 196 ff., 211–12, 236, 244–45, 284 ff., 308 ff., 334–35, 336–37
Colonialism and oppression, 45 ff., 229, 243, 244, 253, 255, 258, 301 ff., 334 ff., 349, 358
Creation: denial of the, 10, 192 ff., 194–95; of people (see People); of religious order (see Religious order); of social order (see Social order); of women (see Women)
Creation methods: by earth diving (see Earth diver); by emergence (see Emergence); by forming (see Forming); by idea (see Idea); by ordering (see Ordering); by procreating (see Procreating); by vomiting (see Vomiting); by word (see Word)
Creation myths: functions of, 2, 29; range and depth of, 7; sacredness of, 3
Dependence, 8, 23, 130–31, 337 ff.
Destiny, 174–75
Dignity, 13
Dogmatism, 29
Earth diver, 232–33, 244–45, 246–47, 326–27
Emergence, 36 ff., 260–61, 263–64, 268 ff., 284 ff., 305 ff., 313 ff., 330–31
Evil, 18, 22. 31 ff., 34 ff., 47, 48 ff., 130–31, 137–38, 139 ff., 184 ff., 215–16, 217–18, 219–20, 258–60
Faith, 4, 29
Fall, the, 23, 24, 35 ff., 220 ff.
Fertility, 18, 201–2, 211 ff., 217–18, 256 ff., 315 ff., 323 ff., 327 ff., 359 ff.
God: abandoning the world, 35 ff., 75, 211 ff.; as “dead,” 24; attitudes toward, 12; mind of, 22; mistakes of, 232–33, 331 ff.; oneness of, 12
Gods: attributes of, 12; invention of, 11, 179–80; revolutions among, 29, 91 ff., 157 ff., 166 ff., 172–73, 196 ff., 339 ff., 351–52; numbers of, 12, 80 ff., 179–80, 210–11; relation to God, 11, 12, 151, 152–53, 192 ff., 257–58, 337 ff., 346 ff.
Good and evil, 18, 22, 31 ff., 34 ff., 130 ff., 137–38, 139–40, 141–42, 143 ff., 146 ff., 211 ff., 237 ff., 246–47, 248 ff., 327 ff.
Harmony: initial, 23 ff., 36 ff., 47 ff., 125–26, 339 ff.; loss of (see Fall)
Heroes, 26, 31 ff., 172–73, 305 ff., 325–26, 330–31
History, 28, 29, 253
Holy, the, 8, 10, 12, 21, 22, 23, 29, 302 ff., 349
Hope, 20
Idea, as means of creation, 18, 288 ff., 326–27, 336–37, 338
Idolatry, 4. 5. 12, 187–88
Incest, 47 ff., 49 ff., 66 ff., 156–57, 307 ff.
Institutionalism. 29
Light vs. dark, 18, 77 ff., 90, 135–36, 143 ff., 146 ff., 229 ff., 330, 331 ff., 353 ff.
Literalism, 4, 12, 14, 15
Male vs. female, 17, 49 ff., 76, 199–200, 206 ff., 211 ff., 302 ff., 323 ff., 353 If.
Manifest vs. unmanifest, 17, 137 ff., 139 ff., 179 ff.
Masturbation, 17, 77 ff., 80 ff., 88–89
Meaning, 1, 3, 5, 29
Meaninglessness, 24
Memory, 2
Metaphors, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 25
Mind of God, 22
Mind vs. matter, 19, 22, 134–35, 143–44
Monsters, 18, 29, 91 ff., 248 ff., 287 ff.
Myths: as archetypes, 27; as prototypes, 27; attitudes toward, 3; dependence on, 2; functions of, 1, 2, 6, 11, 21, 27, 29, 242; influence of, 1; relation to “facts,” 2, 3, 4, 16; truth of, 3, 4, 28, 30
Names, 19
Not–being—being. See Being—not–being
Not–Being Itself, 9, 21, 206–7, 209–10
Nothing, 7, 9, 10, 38 ff., 202 ff., 209–10, 337, 338 ff., 352
Numerology, 141 ff.
Order—chaos, 18, 88–89, 170–71, 196 ff., 211–12, 236, 284 ff., 334–35, 336–37
Ordering, as means of creation, 31 ff., 38 ff., 315 ff., 346 ff., 353 ff.
Parents of the world, 17, 18, 19, 172–73, 195–96, 211–12, 315 ff., 323 ff., 326–
27
People: creation of, 38 ff., 44 ff., 114 ff., 125–26, 170–71, 220 ff., 229–30, 236–37, 268 ff., 287 ff.; instruction of, 118–19, 123–24, 156–57, 209–10, 220 ff., 229–30, 263 ff., 268 ff., 323 ff.
Pessimism, 20
Physical—mental, 17, 353 ff.
Polar oppositions: being—not-being (see Being—not–being); good—evil (see Good—evil); light—dark (see Light—dark); male—female (see Male—female); manifest—unmanifest (see Manifest—unmanifest); mind—matter (see Mind—matter); order—chaos (see Order—chaos); physical—mental (see Physical—mental); spirit—matter (see Spirit—matter); yin—yang (see Yin—yang)
Potency, 18, 19. See also Fertility and Parents
Procreation, 17, 18, 19, 219
Racial awareness, 45 ff., 229 ff., 243, 244–45, 258
Reality: attitudes toward, 1, 3, 4, 5, 21; awe before, 21; limits of, 21, 27, 323 ff.; nature of, 7, 10, 21; structure of, 25
Reality, absolute. See Absolute reality
Reality, relative. See Relative reality
Rebirth, 31 ff., 169, 192 ff., 194–95
Relative reality: absolute dimension of, 12, 22, 25, 49 ff., 67 ff., 199–200, 268 ff., 350 ff.; sacredness of, 21, 211–12, 268 ff., 325, 350 ff.
Relativity, 13, 21, 207–8
Religion: as escape, 26; myth as part of, 5; structure of, 5; universality of, 29
Religious order, creation of, 77 ff., 116–17, 315 ff.
Revelation, 11
Ritual, 26, 31 ff., 77 ff., 87–88, 91 ff., 114–15, 116, 117–18, 120–21, 126, 127–28, 179–80, 181 ff., 184 ff., 315 ff., 325 ff., 329 ff., 344 ff.
Sacrifice, 17, 19, 20, 23, 118–19, 121–22; 179–80, 181 ff., 189 ff., 201–2
Saviors, 146 ff., 237 ff., 248 ff., 305 ff.
Science, 1, 10, 21, 135
Self: as relative, 2, 13, 24; as sacred, 13, 325 ff.; attitudes toward, 13, 49 ff.
Shamans, 220 ff., 242, 258–59, 305 ff.
Sin, 35 ff., 47 ff., 125–26, 156–57, 219–20, 268 ff., 298 ff., 305 ff., 327 ff.
Social order: as reflection of divine order, 25, 91 ff., 116 ff., 202 ff., 302 ff., 331 ff.; attitudes toward, 25; creation of, 25, 29 ff., 66 ff., 179 ff., 268 ff., 315 ff., 330–31, 334 ff.
Soul, 13, 14, 143 ff., 169, 192 ff., 287 ff.
Space, 3
Speech, 19, 49 ff. See also Word
Spirit, 22
Spirit—matter, 22, 169, 337, 338
Suffering, 7
Symbols: myth’s use of, 14, 21; relation to referrents, 14; understanding of 15, 16
Temporality, 20, 22
Time, 1, 3, 13, 26, 28, 123–24, 137–38, 139–40, 141 ff., 152, 153, 184–85, 188, 189, 217–18, 325, 331 ff.
Timelessness, 23, 25, 38 ff.
Tricksters, 220 ff., 237 ff., 260–61
Unity, 20, 22, 23, 201, 202 ff., 336 ff., 244 ff.
Unknowable, the, 7, 8, 11, 21, 47 ff., 187 88, 301 ff., 338, 344 ff.
Value: absolute, 6, 13, 22; determination of, 1, 3; structures of, 1, 3, 5, 29
Vomiting, as means of creation, 44 ff.
Wisdom, 133, 134, 141 ff., 268 ff., 331 ff.
Women, creation of, 125–26, 232–33, 343, 344–45
Word, as means of creation, 18, 19, 49 ff., 126–27, 134, 135, 153 ff., 287 ff., 349, 353 ff.
Yin—yang, 199–200, 202 ff., 206 ff., 209, 210, 344
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BARBARA SPROUL IS DIRECTOR OF THE PROGRAM IN RELIGION AT HUNTER COLLEGE OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK.
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PRIMAL MYTHS: Creation Myths Around the World. Copyright © 1979 by Barbara C Sproul. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.
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