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Ka Po‘e Mo‘o Akua: Hawaiian Reptilian Water Deities
Tradition holds that when you come across a body of fresh water in a secluded area and everything is eerily still, the plants are yellowed, and the water covered with a greenish-yellow froth, you have stumbled across the home of a mo‘o. Leave quickly lest the mo‘o make itself known to you!
Revered and reviled, reptiles have slithered, glided, crawled, and climbed their way through the human imagination and into prominent places in many cultures and belief systems around the world. Ka Po‘e Mo‘o Hawaiian Reptilian Water Deities explores the fearsome and fascinating creatures known as mo‘o that embody the life-giving and death-dealing properties of water. Mo‘o are not ocean-dwellers; instead, they live primarily in or near bodies of fresh water. They vary greatly in size, appearing as tall as a mountain or as tiny as a house gecko, and many possess alternate forms. Mo‘o are predominantly female, and the female mo‘o that masquerade as humans are often described as stunningly beautiful. Throughout Hawaiian history, mo‘o akua have held distinctive roles and have filled a variety of functions in overlapping religious, familial, societal, economic, and political sectors.
In addition to being a comprehensive treatise on mo‘o akua, this work includes a detailed catalog of 288 individual mo‘o with source citations. Marie Alohalani Brown makes major contributions to the politics and poetics of reconstructing ‘ike kupuna (ancestral knowledge), Hawaiian aesthetics, the nature of tradition, the study and appreciation of mo‘olelo and ka‘ao (hi/stories), genre analysis and metadiscursive practices, and methodologies for conducting research in Hawaiian-language newspapers. An extensive introduction also offers readers context for understanding how these uniquely Hawaiian deities relate to other reptilian entities in Polynesia and around the world.
Revered and reviled, reptiles have slithered, glided, crawled, and climbed their way through the human imagination and into prominent places in many cultures and belief systems around the world. Ka Po‘e Mo‘o Hawaiian Reptilian Water Deities explores the fearsome and fascinating creatures known as mo‘o that embody the life-giving and death-dealing properties of water. Mo‘o are not ocean-dwellers; instead, they live primarily in or near bodies of fresh water. They vary greatly in size, appearing as tall as a mountain or as tiny as a house gecko, and many possess alternate forms. Mo‘o are predominantly female, and the female mo‘o that masquerade as humans are often described as stunningly beautiful. Throughout Hawaiian history, mo‘o akua have held distinctive roles and have filled a variety of functions in overlapping religious, familial, societal, economic, and political sectors.
In addition to being a comprehensive treatise on mo‘o akua, this work includes a detailed catalog of 288 individual mo‘o with source citations. Marie Alohalani Brown makes major contributions to the politics and poetics of reconstructing ‘ike kupuna (ancestral knowledge), Hawaiian aesthetics, the nature of tradition, the study and appreciation of mo‘olelo and ka‘ao (hi/stories), genre analysis and metadiscursive practices, and methodologies for conducting research in Hawaiian-language newspapers. An extensive introduction also offers readers context for understanding how these uniquely Hawaiian deities relate to other reptilian entities in Polynesia and around the world.
288 pages, Paperback
Published January 31, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 20, 2024
This book features a fantastic amount of research — I can’t imagine how long it took for the author to find and translate all of these mo`ōlelo — not just from Hawai`i, but nearly every island in the Pacific. This is a subject of significant interest to me, and I doubt any other scholar could have unearthed the treasures Brown does.
That said, the writing itself is repetitive and clunky at times. Consider:
“Kamakau offers a clear statement about the difference between the ordinary lizard and the mo`o akua. He notes that the little lizards Hawaiians saw were not the mo`o akua, but their bodies recalled the long and frightening forms of these gods. Kamakau’s statement is a reminder that there is a difference between the ordinary lizard and the lizard deity. His declarations suggests that there might have been some confusion about this point, which he felt should be cleared up. His point is crucial, and it needs to be reiterated.”
I won’t quote more — just know that his point is indeed reiterated several times. Brown also notes several times that geckos are the symbolic kino lau (roughly “corporeal manifestation” for those who don’t speak Hawaiian) of mo`o akua.
At times, I feel like Brown is not only explaining the stories to an audience unfamiliar with the topic (understandable) but attempting to prove that Mo`ōlelo are worthy of study. Obviously, they are. But given how many stories Brown has brought to light, I hope she is able to get out suffocating academia and collaborate on an illustrated series — or better, capture the stories in hula.
That said, the writing itself is repetitive and clunky at times. Consider:
“Kamakau offers a clear statement about the difference between the ordinary lizard and the mo`o akua. He notes that the little lizards Hawaiians saw were not the mo`o akua, but their bodies recalled the long and frightening forms of these gods. Kamakau’s statement is a reminder that there is a difference between the ordinary lizard and the lizard deity. His declarations suggests that there might have been some confusion about this point, which he felt should be cleared up. His point is crucial, and it needs to be reiterated.”
I won’t quote more — just know that his point is indeed reiterated several times. Brown also notes several times that geckos are the symbolic kino lau (roughly “corporeal manifestation” for those who don’t speak Hawaiian) of mo`o akua.
At times, I feel like Brown is not only explaining the stories to an audience unfamiliar with the topic (understandable) but attempting to prove that Mo`ōlelo are worthy of study. Obviously, they are. But given how many stories Brown has brought to light, I hope she is able to get out suffocating academia and collaborate on an illustrated series — or better, capture the stories in hula.
September 3, 2022
Excellent scholarship and a fascinating topic! This book, Ka Po'e Mo'o Akua: Hawaiian Reptilian Water Deities, brings the reader into the cultural context of the mo'o as well as describing lore, appearances, characteristics, and other aspects of these fresh-water spirit beings. I can't do justice to this book in a review--much better for you to read it yourself. Let me just say, though, that when a friend lent it to me, I knew after two pages that I had to buy my own copy. It's a stunning work, and it may very well be unique in depth and scope and treatment of this topic. I'd give it six stars if I could.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews