Welaahilaninui

Welaahilaninui
Father Iwahinakiʻiakea
Mother Lohanakiʻipapa
Wife Owe
Issue Kahiko

In Hawaiian mythology, Welaʻahilaninui (“Wela’ahilani the Great”) was a god or the first man, the forefather of Hawaiians.[1][2] He is mentioned as an ancestor of Hawaiian chiefs in the ancient Hawaiian chant Kumulipo.[3]

Etymology

Wela’ahilaninui’s name can also be spelled as Wela-Ahi-Lani-Nui. Wela means “heat” or “lust”,[4] whilst ahi means “fire”.[5] Lani is a word for sky.[6] Nui means “the great”.

Family

Wela’ahilaninui’s wife was called Owe.[7][8][9][10] Their son was Kahiko,[11] who fathered Wākea the Sky father.[12][13]

Wela’ahilaninui’s parents were Iwahinakiʻiakea (son of Hikiuanahina by Waluanahina[14])[15] and his consort Lohanakiʻipapa (Umiwahinakiʻipapa),[16] whose parents are not known.[17]

Mythology

There are many Hawaiian traditions of how people obtained fire. According to one, fire was obtained in the time of Welaahilaninui.[18] This is related to his very name.

Abraham Fornander mentioned that Welaahilaninui and his wife were the first couple of humans. They were created by the great gods Lono, Kāne and Kū.

Notes

  1. ↑ J. Kēhaulani Kauanui (2008). Hawaiian blood: colonialism and the politics of sovereignty and indigeneity.
  2. ↑ The Journal of the Polynesian Society
  3. ↑ Kumulipo
  4. ↑ Wela, Hawaiian dictionary
  5. ↑ Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert. Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian.
  6. ↑ Wiktionary entry for "Lani": Lani
  7. ↑ Samuel Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii, Revised Edition, (Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press, 1992).
  8. ↑ Hawaiian Genealogies: Extracted from Hawaiian Language Newspapers, Volume 2 by Edith Kawelohea McKinzie
  9. ↑ “In the tradition of Welaahilaninui, he was of the true original ancestors of Hawaii's chiefly generations...”
  10. ↑ Pacific Studies, Svesci 1-2. Brigham Young University, Hawaii Campus, 1977.
  11. ↑ Hawaiian Mythology by Martha Warren Beckwith
  12. ↑ Chant Kumulipo
  13. ↑ Abraham Fornander, An Account of the Polynesian Race: Its Origin and Migrations, Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1969
  14. ↑ Kumulipo
  15. ↑ Family of Iwahinakiiakea and Wela’ahilaninui
  16. ↑ Samuel M. Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii, Revised Edition, (Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press, 1992)
  17. ↑ Wala-Ahi-Lani-Nui
  18. ↑ Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication, volume 61
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