Hawaiian religion "Along with ancestors and gods, spirits are part of the family of Hawaiians. "There are many kinds of spirits that help for good and many that aid in evil. Some lie and deceive, and some are truthful ... It is a wonderful thing how the spirits ("ʻuhane") of the dead and the ‘angels’ ("anela") of the "ʻaumākua" can possess living persons. Nothing is impossible to god-spirits, "akua"." Kamehameha the Great died in 1819. In the aftermath, two of his wives, Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani, then the two most powerful people in the kingdom, conferred with the "kahuna nui", Hewahewa. They convinced
Mele (Hawaiian term) Mele (Hawaiian term) Mele are chants, songs, or poems. The term comes from the Hawaiian language. It is frequently used in song titles such as "He Mele Lahui Hawaii", composed in 1866 by Liliuokalani as a national anthem. Hawaiian songbooks often carry the word in the book's title. Mele is a cognate of Fijian language meke. In practical usage, the word can be combined with other words, such as Mele Hula, a metered chant. The word can either be a noun (He mele keia), or used as a verb to mean "to chant" or "to sing" (E mele mai...). The