Posted by Tracy Russell on May 02, 1998 at 02:30:47:
In Reply to: Re: hawaiian customs relating to men and women posted by Uncle Charlie on April 29, 1998 at 05:13:33:
: : aloha, i'm helping a friend with a research project relating
: : to the kapu of women as it relates to men. also the effects
: : missionairies had on hawaiians especially on first contact.
: : i was wondering aboutthe effect on religion, dance and the art of tattoo
: : i have some info but would like more..mahalo..kehaulani
: Kehaulani, before I answer your question, your last name, (I believe is your husband, would he be related to Manu Boyd?) The reason I ask is because My wife was a Boyd, e-mail me(kale@mauinet.com) with your answer.
: Well the women had to obstain from all kinds of food kapu. could not eat, banana, pork, certain kinds of fish and were placed in a special house when she had her period. She could not take part in any religious ceremonies during that time and was basically shunned as being "defiled" during the 7 day period. When the first missionaries arrived they truely came to help the "heathens" repent and live to the good life. What they succesfully did was kill the Hawaiian culture and made slaves of our people, physically, socially and politically. When they realized that the Hawaiians considered the land belonged to the gods, and they had no concept of western "ownership" they left the ministry, sent their children to be lawyers, engineers, architects and survayors. When they came back from college, they helped their parents who was working with the Kings and Queens through the sake of Christianity, to take away their land forever. The names are like a directory of Schools that were named in their honor. The
: Damons, Castles, the Cooks, The Baldwins, The Alexanders, the Thurstons, The Twiggs, the Smiths and the list goes on and on. All of missionary stock, who "came here to do good, instead they did well". An old saying was that when the first missionaries came and told the Hawaiians to "look to heaven, when they looked down, the land was all gone" Need I say more. Aloha Uncle Charlie