Kingship and Sacrifice: Ritual and Society in Ancient Hawaii [Paperback]

Valerio Valeri (Author), Paula Wissing (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1985 | ISBN-10: 0226845605 | ISBN-13: 978-0226845609

Valeri presents an overview of Hawaiian religious culture, in which hierarchies of social beings and their actions are mirrored by the cosmological hierarchy of the gods. As the sacrifice is performed, the worshipper is incorporated into the god of his class. Thus he draws on divine power to sustain the social order of which his action is a part, and in which his own place is determined by the degree of his resemblance to his god. The key to Hawaiian society—and a central focus for Valeri—is the complex and encompassing sacrificial ritual that is the responsibility of the king, for it displays in concrete actions all the concepts of pre-Western Hawaiian society. By interpreting and understanding this ritual cycle, Valeri contends, we can interpret all of Hawaiian religious culture.

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Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 474 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (June 15, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226845605
• ISBN-13: 978-0226845609
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,255,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Those were the days my friend..., November 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Kingship and Sacrifice: Ritual and Society in Ancient Hawaii (Paperback)

Valeri's Kingship and Sacrifice is a well researched and thoroughly documented study of the ritual practices and beliefs of the state religion of Hawai'i prior to Christianization and subsequent colonization (you make the connection). This classic is an essential for those interested in the indigenous religious practices of Kanaka Maoli (the Native Hawaiian), specifically those of the ruling class or ali'i and consequently the participation required by the maka'ainana (watcher of the land). He relies extensively on oral histories recorded and/or translated by Native speakers, as well as other documents authored by Native Hawaiians primarily in the 1800's. These written sources are unique because Kanaka Maoli are rare among indigenious peoples as they were able to record their history in their mother tongue and English. In fact prior to the American backed coup that toppled the legitimate government of Hawaii in 1893, Native Hawaiians were the most literate nation in the world. Today Kanaka Maoli Nation is considered the most illiterate ethnic group in the American colony known as the State of Hawai'i. Politics aside, to Valeri's credit he consistantly avoids judgement of what might appear to be questionable cultural practices/values to some Western eyes (although let that reader first take the log out his own). On a metaphysical plane, Kingship and Sacrifice is a study of an alternative and (in its a time) viable reality. We are reminded that reality is not arbitrary construct or an absolute, but rather a mutable creation of the human mind and as such any reality functions because as an individuals within a society we give our conscious or unconscious consent. We are also given opportunity to reflect upon how Spirit was made manifest or channeled within a particuliar society, and noteworthy is the belief that mystery of Spirit imbued every aspect of life. The influence of this ancient way of being is still felt within contemporary Hawaiian culture.