Sports and games in ancient Hawaii

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SPORTS AND GAMES

When those ancient mariners, who left their homes in Polynesia, arrived at Hawaii they brought with them the agricultural products and livestock needed to sustain life in the new land. Additionally, they carried with them the customs, beliefs and ideas from their parent lifestyle. As time passed, the people, plants, animals and their practices were modified, synthesized and adapted to the new land and situations they found themselves in. One of the concepts they had transported with them was the recreational sports and games they had played in their childhood and during their maturing years.

A complete list of the sports and games played by the Hawaiians would be a very long one and on it you would the equivalent of practically every European sport, game or amusement. Many of these sports were suited to an agrarian society, which utilized the provincial community for its military forces, and thus served to keep them physically fit and mentally alert. Some of these sports were of a social nature and reinforced community bonds and cultural values. Many of these games were associated with one or another of the numerous gods within the Hawaiian pantheon and would have been held on the specific days honoring these deities, though not necessarily only on those days. In Hawaii, games and sports were indulged in throughout the year and the occasions for them would have been many and various. The Makahiki was the greatest festival period stretching over four lunar months from approximately October to and including January. This was the time when men, women and chiefs were compelled by law to leave their ordinary work and religious observances of other gods to honor Lono through games, worship and other recreational activities. This can be considered to be called a national holiday for the Hawaiians though it was a carefully regulated one.

The games offered a welcome respite from a toilsome life for most people. What was of more importance, however, was that they provided a much needed relief from the oppressive weight of the kapus, a belief system that laid many and strict injunctions on the habits and customs of their society with the costliest penalty being a swift and violent death. Without such diversions, it is hard to believe that Hawaiian society could have survived let alone prosper and grow into the vibrant civilization it was. Males and females participated in most, if not all, of the sports played throughout the islands.Another important aspect of these games would have been the attainment of mana for the victors, especially in those contests, which pitted individuals against each other. Those athletes, who showed a skill at boxing, wrestling or foot racing, were excused from the daily regimen of work, trained with great severity and made to practice these sports frequently as representatives of their local communities. During the Makahiki, the champions from the various districts would assemble and compete, collecting honors for their villages and individual mana with each victory.Custom writing service can write essays on Sports and games in ancient Hawaii

Hawaiians differed from the other Polynesians in their passion for betting on their sports and games. While this no doubt added to the pitch of the excitement, it was also the cause of many of their sports falling into the hands of professionals. This gambling caused much personal suffering and grief within families and tribes, when in the intensity of the moment a man would sometimes rashly bet all his possession or even worse his bones, and so lose his life or his personal liberty. In fairness to the Hawaiians, it must be admitted that this betting became more common and exerted its worst influence in the first years after European contact was made.

The games can be classified into two groupings, first would be those games, which attuned an individualfs physical or mental abilities, and secondly are those games, which strengthened social behaviors and attitudes. The most popular sports were boxing and wrestling as they were the most personal of endeavors and accumulated the most honors for the individual. Boxing, called mokomoko, was more favored than wrestling. Tournaments were held amongst great crowds with great boasting and swaggering by both champions. They finally approached each other with both arms outstretched before them, and commenced to pummel each other with their fists. They aimed their blows at the head and avoided their opponentfs blows only by dodging or striking their fist directly with their own. Such a custom resulted in many a broken hand or arm and it is curious that they did not use the forearm as a guard. This may perhaps reflect an accounting of an individualfs personal courage and strength for the attainment of mana as any parrying or deflection of the blow might seem to be cowardly or debasing of onefs fortitude. The moment one of the fighters was struck down, stooped or shunned his antagonist, they were considered vanquished and the fight was over. Many early visitors to the islands were invited to try their manhood in the ring but after viewing one such contest most abjured the invitation. Wrestling, called hakoko, was the second biggest draw for crowds but this sport seems to have been practiced more by the aristocratic alii than the common people. The multitude would form a circle as the wrestlers took their stand in the center. The principal aim of the sport was to throw your adversary by tripping with the feet. The one who was thrown was beaten with much jeering and heckling from the crowd.

There were many games, which exercised hand and eye coordination, an invaluable talent for hunting, fishing and in warfare. The most popular was javelin throwing, called pahee or moa, which was played for either distance or accuracy. The spears used were made of a heavy wood and between to 5 feet long depending on which type of game was to be played. For distance the long spear called pahee was used and for accuracy, which required placing the javelin between two markers at a set distance, the shorter spear called moa was employed. This game was usually reserved for men only. The game in which men, women and children all participated was arrow darting, called kefa pua or pa pua. The darts were manufactured from the flower stems of the sugar cane. Players usually posted themselves on a slightly elevated piece of ground and grasping the arrow well towards its tail end would run forward a few steps while bent over in a stooping posture. Upon reaching the throwing step, they would swing their arm down and forward from the shoulder, releasing the arrow at such an angle that it just grazed the surface of the ground occasionally skipping off of it, much like skimming a stone on water. This game was an easy spear practice for children, who often threw the arrows at each other and caught them in mid-air.

Unique to Polynesia was the use of the bow arrow. For though it was found on all of the islands, it was never used in warfare but only in sport. The sling took its place in Polynesian warfare. One probable reason for this was the training required to effectively use a bow and arrow in battle precluded its employment. Hawaiian armies consisted of part time soldiers drawn from a chieffs district, whose principal occupations would have been either agricultural or maritime. Another reason would have been the necessity to transport sufficient supplies of arrows to a battlefield, again Hawaiian armies did not consist of professional soldiers nor was the concept of combined arms known. As such the bow and arrow was relegated to a childfs plaything. Yet the chiefs made a sport of shooting rats, called pana iore, using the bow and arrow. The rats were driven into a wooden enclosure within a large field where the chief awaited. The Hawaiians became quite skillful shooting at a mark or moving target and it is here that they differ from other Polynesians, who simply shot for distance.

One distinctly Hawaiian game was a form of bowling called maika. In this game either a round stone ball or a stone disk fashioned after the shape of a wheel, approximately inches in diameter and 1 inch thick, was used as the motive object. A half-grown breadfruit, which is generally of a globular shape, was much used in playing this game, and undoubtedly gave its name, ulu, to both the thing itself and to the sport. The game was played on a designated track, which was sometimes curved to enable a skillful player to spin the disk to travel further. This was a game in which much betting was involved and professional players seemed to dominate the sport. Sledding or coasting was another sport in which the Hawaiians differed from their southern kin. The Hawaiian sled was built much narrower than other Polynesian sleds with the forward ends of the runners turned up so as not to dig into the ground. The track the sleds ran on was a long course, which had been carefully prepared to increase the sledfs speed. The players launched themselves headlong down this track attaining terrific speed and running the risk of severe injury if got off the track or became upset. One person slid at a time, and the victory belonged to the one who slid the farthest.

Hawaiians had two very popular guessing games, which sharpened their visual attention to detail and attuned their mental faculty for observing a personfs expressions. The first was called noa and it consisted of two groups facing each other with five bundles of cloth between them. A small smooth stone, called the noa, was given to a member of one group, who then grasping it in his fist moved his hand underneath all of the different bundles dropping the noa at one point. It became the other teamfs turn to decide which bundle of cloth the noa was hidden under. Each team usually hid the stone five to ten times before reversing places. Whichever party came through with the fewest guesses was the winner, though they sometimes reversed this and those who guessed the most without finding the stone were considered the winners. The second game was called puhenehene and it differed from noa it that the stone was hidden on a person instead of under some cloth. This game was played indoors at night with two teams of ten people, five men and five women alternating, facing each other. A large piece of cloth was placed between them and upon the call of puheoheo one of the parties was covered with the cloth. The stone was passed between the team members until one person hid it somewhere on their body. The cloth was removed and all of the team members leaned forward and looked down to conceal their faces from the opposing team. The other side then made a guess as to where the noa was hidden. If the guess was correct, it counted for them; if not, for the other team. The first party to score ten was considered the winner.

The Hawaiians had another game, which honed their intellective competence in tactics and strategy, called konane. It resembled checkers to the Europeans but unfortunately the rules of the game have not survived through the ages. The game consisted of a flat playing surface with two sets of playing pieces or checkers. A flat stone was frequently used for the playing surface although many chiefs had boards made of wood. A study of the existing boards does not indicate a consistent size of the board nor a set number of pegs or squares between them. Some boards have as few as 65 holes or slots for pegs, while the largest board found has 180 slots. Sets of konane holes have also been found on slabs of lava and flat basaltic rock located in various locations around the Hawaiian Islands. The pieces used in the game usually consisted of small black and white pebbles termed ilifelefele (black skinned) and ili kea (white skinned). An equal number of black and white pieces were given to each player with a total amount of stones enough to cover each alternating hole or peg on the board. This game was noted to be a particular favorite of old men. Though of special comment, this game could be played between men and women as opponents.

The Hawaiians had two very special games, which dealt with their ideas and conception of social interaction and community bonds. Both games had similar results but were played under variant rules and differentiated between the commoners and the chiefs. These games were usually played at night within a house specially designated for the sport. The commonerfs game was called ume and was very popular with all Hawaiians. On the appointed night, the people would gather in the hale ume and once everyone was seated in a circle within, a man stood forth as the president of the assembly and called them to order. Another man came forward and carried with him a wand about two feet long trimmed at intervals with tufts of feathers and called the maile. He waved this to and fro as he circled about the room chanting a gay and lascivious song. As he made his circuit he would select a man and woman from the company; this man and woman would then leave the house and meet outside to enjoy themselves together. A husband or wife would not be jealous or offended if their mate was selected because each of them would have done the same if touched by the maile. During the night these couples consorted with each other but with the daylight, the men and women would return to their respective homes. Such a game was possible conceived by the earliest arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands as a means of reducing sexual tension and hostility amongst the male population. The first boatloads of colonists contained somewhere between 10 and 160 people, whose crews were probably two thirds male and one third female. Upon arriving on dry land, communities were set up and families established. However, those males without female companions would have experienced tremendous social pressure and frustration with no outlet available to them. This would have caused friction between the have and have-nots more than likely ending in violent confrontation. The game of ume would have allowed the release of this pent-up energy without any of the men or women feeling social disgrace or ostracism, a wonderful solution to a very complicated problem. The chiefs had a game similar to this called kilu, which would have been played in the same house as ume. This game, however, would have required a bit of skill to play. The contestants formed lines at either end of the room with pobs (broad-based, pointed cylinders) set up in front of them. Again one member would be selected as the president of the assembly and he would call the others to order and silence. At this time, those who were to play the game had kilus placed in front of them. The kilu was a gourd or coconut shell that had been cut obliquely from one end to another. The object was to spin the kilu on the floor across the room to hit the pob in front of the object of his affection. A hit would usually allow the winner to claim a kiss in payment for his success. The successful making of ten points in the game would entitle one to claim the same forfeit as ume. Such rights were often commuted, on the grounds of mana sharing, for an equivalent of land or some other possession. Still if the victor claimed his full payment, the two did not retire immediately but did so later in the night after the company had separated.

As stated earlier, these games were conveyed to the Hawaiian Islands with the first settlers and were noted to be in existence up to the reign of King Liholiho . Some authors have accounted that these sports were replaced by their European equivalents upon the occasion of the first contact with Europeans. Citing that after this initial encounter most Hawaiians were too busy learning to read and write and earning money for clothes and other foreign articles to participate in these games. Additionally, it was noted these pastimes were discouraged by the missionaries, who pressed for their abrogation. This reasoning though seems a bit contrite and we need only look at the actions of King Kamehameha II to find the answer to the vanishing of these ancient games. King Liholiho, Kamehameha II, ended the kapu system in 181 with his ordering the desecration of all heiaus and the destruction of the godfs images. The games had been strongly linked with the Hawaiian gods, this annulment of all religious belief and practices had with one swipe canceled these sports and nullified them within Hawaiian society. The games along with the gods ceased to be and disappeared from the annals of Hawaiian history, but not from the hearts and minds of the people.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MALO, David Hawaiian Antiquities (Bernice P. Bishop Museum Honolulu, 1

BUCK, Peter H. Arts and Crafts of Hawaii VIII; Games and Recreation (Bernice P. Bishop Museum Honolulu, 164)

HANDY, E. S. Craighill and Elizabeth Green Handy. Native Planters in Old Hawaii; Their Life, Lore and Environment (Bernice P. Bishop Museum Honolulu, 17)

HANDY, E. S. Craighill, Kenneth P. Emory, Edwin H. Brayan, Peter H. Buck, John H. Wise and Others. Ancient Hawaiian Civilization; A Series of Lectures delivered at The Kamehameha Schools (Charles E. Tuttle CO. Rutland & Tokyo, 165)

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