I will be examining many of the Polynesian Island groups separately in the near future, some with full pages of their own, but to whet everyone’s appetites I figured I would start out with a Top 11 list looking at the major Hawaiian deities. Kane, although still thought of as the great god of the Hawaiian people, is no longer worshiped, but Ku and Hina are still prayed to by fishermen, and perhaps Kanaloa―Kupihea repeating to me softly the prayer with which he himself invoked the god of fishes. Ruler of the ocean. Kane: Father of living creatures.

Animals, plants, places, professions, families, and all other objects and forces had their gods or spirits.

Complementary power and close companion of Kane. Set social order Chiefs who count their genealogy from Kāne are ranked among the highest tapu chiefs Mo'olelo's

References . He was one of the four gods (with Ku, Kane, and his twin brother Kanaloa) who existed before the world was created. A male given name from Hawaiian. Usage notes . Lono was also the god of peace. Kane is the highest of the four major gods. It is also the Hawaiian belief that mana is an external as well as an internal thing.

Other articles where Kane is discussed: Hawaiian: They had four principal gods—Kane, Kanaloa, Ku, and Lono—and innumerable lesser gods and tutelary deities. She offers the example of Kāne, who, along with Kū, Kanaloa and Lono, is one of the four main Hawaiian gods. You can’t come to Hawaiʻi Island without hearing the name “Pele” for she is perhaps the most visible of all the ancient Hawaiian gods and goddesses. Lono: God of agriculture. He is also the name of an extinct volcano in Hawaiʻi.

Systems 'Aikapu System Regulation of certain foods - What we can and can't eat.

It is the Hawaiian belief that there is a chance to gain mana and lose mana in different hints that you do.

Mo'oku'auhau System of genealogy in which your ancestors determined your inherited mana. In Hawaiian culture, Mana is spiritual energy of power and strength, it exists in objects and persons. In Hawaiian mythology Ku is one of the four great gods along with the ancient tiki gods, Kanaloa, Kane, and Lono. A surname . In agricultural and planting traditions, Lono was identified with rain and food plants.

Kanaloa was god of the underworld and a teacher of magic. Kanaloa: God of the underworld and a teacher of magic. Formerly also given to women, presumably in honor of the god (though there were some men named Wahine). He was the husband of the goddess Hina (Beckwith 1970:12), suggesting a complementary dualism as the word ku in the Hawaiian language means "standing up" while one meaning of 'hina' is 'fallen down.' Painting of the goddess Pele by Herb Kane at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Visitor Center.

In ancient Hawaiʻi, Kanaloa is represented by the squid or the octopus, and is also associated with Kāne. The use of salt water for purification is, however, ascribed to Kane in Hawaii and such water is called "tapu water of Kane" (wai tapu a Kane), the particle a instead of o denoting direct handiwork rather than simple possession. “There is some connection between the characteristics of the god and the kino lau,” says Hokulani Holt, a Hawaiian cultural expert and revered kumu hula (teacher of hula). Associated with fertility, rainfall, music and peace. Ku: God of war.

Human sacrifices were made to Ku in ancient times. (Hawaiian mythology) One of the four major gods; the god of creation. Photo courtesy Prayitno of via flickr. In Hawaiian mythology, Lono is a fertility and music god who descended to Earth on a rainbow to marry Laka. Mary Kawena Pukui - Samuel Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary, University of Hawaii Press 1971, page 387

Hawaiian mythology as a subset of Polynesian mythology will be the subject I tackle here. Tangaroa is god of the ocean in the South Seas, Tane of land and of plant and animal life.

Temples of stone and idols of wood abounded, and hardly anything was undertaken without religious ceremonies. Ruler of the ocean. Complementary power and close companion of Kane.