The Kumulipo: A Hawaiian Creation Chant – Eras 4 -8 of Creation, Part 1 of 2

Ancient Hawaiian beliefs have a deep reverence for nature with roots in the Polynesian religious traditions. The Kumulipo is a Hawaiian creation chant detailing the evolution of life, the emergence of humans, and our connection to the universe. All matter has consciousness, whether it be rocks, trees, animal-people, or human beings, and the consciousness of matter interacts with the consciousness of the spirit and the connectiveness of all life. The Kumulipo was passed down through oral tradition, and this 2000-line chant describes the change from darkness to when creation occurred. Through this birth process, the elements of creation are all genealogically related.

Today, it is a delight to present “The Kumulipo, A Hawaiian Creation Chant,” translated by Martha Warren Beckwith. The fourth chant describes the fourth era of creation, where it is still night, and many kinds of crawling animal-people are created. CHANT FOUR The Crawlers

“[…] The night produces horn-billed turtles The night gives birth to dark-red turtles The night is pregnant with the small lobster The night gives birth to sluggish-moving geckos Slippery is the night with sleek-skinned geckos The night gives birth to clinging creatures The night proclaims rough ones The night gives birth to deliberate creatures The night shrinks from the ineffective The night gives birth to sharp-nosed creatures Hollowed is the night for great fat ones The night gives birth to mud dwellers The night lingers for track leavers Born is the male for the narrow stream, the female for the broad stream Born is the turtle [Honu] living in the sea Guarded by the Maile seedling [Kubonua] living on land […]”

Next, the fifth chant describes the fifth era of creation, which introduces the cultivation of plants for food.

CHANT FIVE The Night-Digger

“The time arrives for Po-kanokano To increase the progeny of Po-lalo-uli Dark is the skin of the new generation Black is the skin of the beloved Po-lalo-uli […] The beaked nose that digs the earth is erected Let it dig at the land, increase it, heap it up Walling it up at the back Walling it up in front The pig child is born Lodges inland in the bush Cultivates the water taro patches of Lo’iloa Tenfold is the increase of the island Tenfold the increase of the land The land where the Night-digger dwelt Long is the line of his ancestry The ancient line of the pig of chief blood The pig of highest rank born in the time The time when the Night-digger lived […].”