The Evil Tapu System
My ancestors governed and maintained these beautiful islands known today as the Hawaiian Islands. From the time my ancestors sailed here from the land of Tahiti in the south pacific, all the way up to when we discovered Captain Cook these islands were full of food, fresh water, rich culture, and we had order in our society. The ancient Kanaka Māoli were in my opinion ingenious to have survived on one of the most isolated island chains in the pacific (arguably the world) for over 1000 years. Doesn't anyone wonder how my ancestors accomplished this feat? Part of that is due to the Tapu System. Tapu not Kapu, let's respect the old tongue people... Tapu in ʻŌrero Hawaiʻi can be translated in English to mean scared, law, restricted, and prohibited. But most people don't understand that tapu also means to protect or to be under protection. In all societies there has to be order, and to maintain that order you need rules/laws. Some laws are meant to benefit one specific class of people within a social structure and some are meant for the betterment of all people. In America, the fourth amendment protects people against searches and seizures. But before getting on an airplane you have to have TSA check you and your bag's. Most people complain about how its "Violating my rights!" But TSA does that so nobody sneaks a bomb on board and blows the plane up. They take away your personal right to ensure the safety of the public. That's kind of how the tapu system was. Many Hawaiians and teachers in public schools today love to preach about how vile, bad, terrible and evil the tapu system was. Many Hawaiians scoff at even hearing "tapu system" then they start preaching some verse from the bible and go on about how that was our old 'wicked ways'. At school here in Hawaiʻi you are told the stories of how people would be killed for fishing or for eating a certain kind of food etc. etc. I grew up thinking the tapu was bad because of that. But if you think about the logic behind these stories you began to see why those kind of things happened. People mostly weren't killed for no reason, it was to protect the community, it was for the good of all people. Like fishermen were put to death if they were caught catching a fish that had a tapu on it. All nā tapu were assigned by nā tahuna for religious and economic reasons. A tapu would be put on a fish for reasons like maybe it was the fish's breeding season and to ensure they weren't disturbed a tapu would be put on them. After the season's over, the tapu would be lifted and THEN you could catch that kind of fish. Tapu on food was to ensure natural resources weren't depleted. On isolated islands like Hawaiʻi, rules needed to be followed in order to survive. If it weren't for the Tapu System, us Kanaka Māoli probably wouldn't be here right now.