Over the millennia, Polynesian people have respected and even revered sharks. Unlike our own mythology as expressed in modern films like Jaws of Death, Shark Terror and Cruel Jaws, these people lived close to the sea and its animals, raising sharks to the level of deities. In Sharks: Stewards of the Reef, we try to present sharks in a light of reverence and with a respect for a culture that has lived with sharks for eons.

On the island of Molokai, temples called hieau were raised to the shark god Kamohoali'i on nearly every point of land that projected to the sea. In Pearl Harbor Oahu, an elaborate shark temple was located underwater, where the shark goddess Ka’ahupahau was said to reside. http://apdl.kcc.hawaii.edu/~oahu/stories/ewa/kaahupahau.htm.

Several Hawaiian myths refer to the shark god Kamohoali’i serving as protector of fishermen, and guider of lost canoes. Kamohoali'i is said to prowl the deep waters between Maui and Ko’olawe. When fishermen became lost in the fog and mists, the Kahuna, or wise man, would pour awa (also known as Kava, an extract from the plant piper methysticum) into the waters to appease the god. Kamohoali'i would guide the canoes safely home.

Not all shark gods were friendly; some sharks were uhnipili, “itchy mouthed” or eaters of men.

Kamohoali’i and Pele
The myth below is interpreted in our film Sharks: Stewards of the Reef by Kumu Patrick Makuakane of Na lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu. http://www.naleihulu.org/index.htm

This myth tells of the shark god guiding his sister Pele, goddess of fire across the oceans from the mythical homeland to Hawaii. We use this myth as an allegory of exploration and the interconnectedness between the islands of Hawaii, and their founding kinsman of Kahiki, an island thought to be part of the Tahitian Island group.

Ke Ka’ao A Pele I Ha’awi ia Kamohoali’i I ka ha’alele ana ia Kahiki
      Pele’s Account to Kamohoali’i of the Departure from Kahiki

Ku makou e hele me ku’u mau poki’i aloha
      We stood to sail with my kindred beloved
Ka ‘aina a makou i ike ole ai malalo aku nei
      To an unknown land below the horizon
A’e makou me ku’u poki’i, kau i ka wa’a
      We boarded, my kinsmen and I, our craft
No’iau ka hoe a Kamohoali’i
      Our pilot well skilled, Kamohoali’i
A’ea’e, kau i ka nalu
      Our craft o’ermounted and mastered the waves
He nalu haki kakala
      The sea was rough and choppy, but the waves
He nalu e imi ana i ka ‘aina e hiki aku ai
      Bore us surely on to our destined shore
O Nihoa ka ‘aina a makou i pae mua aku ai
      The rock, Nihoa, the first land we touched
Lele a’e nei makou, kau i uka o Nihoa
      Gladly we landed and climbed the cliffs of Nihoa
O ka hana no a ko’u poli’i, a Kaneapua
      Fault of the youngster, Kaneapua
O ka ho’oili i ka ihu o ka wa’a a nou i ke kai
      He loaded the bow till it ducked in the waves
Waiho anei o Kamohoali’i ia Kaneapua i uka o Nihoa
      Left the boy on the islet Nihoa
No’iau ka hoe a Kamohoali’i
      And, pilot well skilled, he sailed away
A pae i ka ‘aina i kapa ia o Lehua
      Till we found the land we christened Lehua

Aumakua

Other stories tell of tell of a family god called an Aumakua in the Hawaiian language. Aumakua is a totem often believed to be an ancestral spirit that watched over fishermen and paddlers of canoes. One story recounted by Beckwith tells of a fishing family on the Big Island of Hawaii named Puhi and their Aumakua:

“When the Puhi go fishing, the shark appears. The 'aumakua obeys the voice of man; name the kind of fish you want and it will bring it. The men give it some of the first catch, then it disappears, and they always come back with full nets. Only when the shark appears do they have luck (hence they recognize the god's intervention). Sometimes the 'aumakua tells them beforehand in a dream that it has gathered the fish together. Besides this, the Puhi family can never be drowned. If there is a storm and the boat capsizes, the shark appears and the man rides in on its back.” (Beckwith "Hawaiian Shark 'Aumakua" 504)

References

Beckwith, Martha, Hawaiian Mythology, Yale University Press, 1940, as re-issued in 1970, University of Hawaii Press
Kalakaua, David. The Legends and Myths of Hawaii. Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle, 1972. (First published in 1888.)
Nakuina, Emma M. et al. Nanaue the Sharkman and Other Hawaiian Shark Stories. Honolulu: Kalamaku Press, 1994.