1.
Hawaiian religion
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Hawaiian religion encompasses the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Native Hawaiians. It is polytheistic and animistic, with a belief in deities and spirits, including the belief that spirits are found in non-human beings and objects such as animals, the waves. Hawaiian religion originated among the Tahitians and other Pacific islanders who landed in Hawaiʻi between 500 and 1300 AD, today, Hawaiian religious practices are protected by the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. Traditional Hawaiian religion is unrelated to the modern New Age practice known as Huna, Hawaiian religion is polytheistic, with four deities most prominent, Kāne, Kū, Lono and Kanaloa. Other notable deities include Laka, Kihawahine, Haumea, Papahānaumoku, in addition, each family is considered to have one or more guardian spirits known as ʻaumakua that protected family. The Kumulipo is divided two sections, night, or pō, and day, or ao, with the former corresponding to divinity. This, in turn, illustrates the transition of mankind from being symbols for the gods into the keeper of these symbols in the form of idols, the Kumulipo was recited during the time of Makahiki, to honor the god of fertility, Lono. The kahuna were well respected, educated individuals that made up a social class that served the King. Selected to serve many practical and governmental purposes, Kahuna often were healers, navigators, builders, prophets/temple workers and they also talked with the spirits. Kahuna Kūpaʻiulu of Maui in 1867 described a ritual to heal someone ill due to hoʻopiʻopiʻo. He said a kapa was shaken, then, If the evil spirit suddenly appears and possesses the patient, then he or she can be immediately saved by the conversation between the practitioner and that spirit. Pukui and others believed kahuna did not have mystical transcendent experiences as described in other religions, although a person who was possessed would go into a trance-like state, it was not an ecstatic experience but simply a communion with the known spirits. Kapu refers to a system of taboos designed to separate the pure from the potentially unclean. Thought to have arrived with Pāʻao, a priest or chief from Tahiti who arrived in Hawaiʻi sometime around 1200 AD, the spiritually pure or laʻa, meaning sacred and unclean or haumia were to be separated. During times of war, the first two men to be killed were offered to the gods as sacrifices, other Kapus included Mālama ʻĀina, meaning caring of the land and Niʻaupiʻo. The Hawaiian islands are all children of Papa, Wākea and Hoʻohokukalani so basically meaning that they are siblings of the Hawaiian chiefs. Second child of Wākea and Hoʻohokukalani became the first Aliʻi Nui and this came to be called Niʻaupiʻo, the chiefly incest to create the godly child. Punishments for breaking the kapu could include death, although if one could escape to a puʻuhonua, kāhuna nui mandated long periods when the entire village must have absolute silence
2.
Household deity
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A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a belief in pagan religions as well as in folklore across many parts of the world. The second type of household deities are those that are not one singular deity, but a type, or species of animistic deity, who usually have lesser powers than major deities. This type was common in the religions of antiquity, such as the Lares of ancient Roman religion, the Gashin of Korean shamanism and these survived Christianisation as fairy-like creatures existing in folklore, such as the Anglo-Scottish Brownie and Slavic Domovoi. Household deities were usually worshipped not in temples but in the home and they could also be found on domestic objects, such as cosmetic articles in the case of Tawaret. The more prosperous houses might have a shrine to the household god. The gods would be treated as members of the family and invited to join in meals, or be given offerings of food, in many religions, both ancient and modern, a god would preside over the home. Certain species, or types, of household deities existed, an example of this was the Roman Lares. Many European cultures retained house spirits into the modern period, because of their immediacy they had arguably more influence on the day-to-day affairs of men than the remote gods did. For centuries Christianity fought a war against these lingering minor pagan deities. For example, Martin Luthers Tischreden have numerous quite serious references to dealing with kobolds, drawing the picture with broader strokes. Under these conditions, the spirits of the family-ancestors only are worshipped, --each family propitiating its own dead, finally, with the union of all the clans or tribes under one supreme head, there is developed the custom of propitiating the spirits of national, rulers. This third form of the cult becomes the obligatory religion of the country, but it does not replace either of the preceding cults, the three continue to exist together. As stated in the Wikipedia article on Shinto, Whenever a child is born in Japan, after death an ujiko becomes a family spirit, or family kami. Many Japanese houses still have a shrine (kamidana where offerings are made to ancestral kami, Edward Burnett Tylor, one of the main founders of the discipline of cultural anthropology, spoke of survivals, vestiges of earlier evolutionary stages in a cultures development. He also coined the term animism, in contradistinction to both Herbert Spencer and Edward Burnett Tylor, who defended theories of animistic origins of ancestor worship, Émile Durkheim saw its origin in totemism. Freud preferred to emphasize the implications of the reification of metaphysical forces. This emphasis underscores, rather than weakens, the ancestral component, the doyen of European folklorists Jacob Grimm did not hesitate to equate the Roman lar familiaris to the brownie
3.
Veneration of the dead
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The veneration of the dead, including ones ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, the social or non-religious function of ancestor veneration is to cultivate kinship values, such as filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the family lineage. Ancestor veneration occurs in societies with every degree of social, political, and technological complexity, ancestor reverence is not the same as the worship of a deity or deities. In some Afro-diasporic cultures, ancestors are seen as being able to intercede on behalf of the living, as spirits who were once human themselves, they are seen as being better able to understand human needs than would a divine being. In other cultures, the purpose of ancestor veneration is not to ask for favors, some cultures believe that their ancestors actually need to be provided for by their descendants, and their practices include offerings of food and other provisions. Others do not believe that the ancestors are even aware of what their descendants do for them, most cultures who practice ancestor veneration do not call it ancestor worship. In English, the word usually refers to the reverent love. However, in cultures, this act of worship does not confer any belief that the departed ancestors have become some kind of deity. Rather, the act is a way to respect, honor, in this regard, many cultures and religions have similar practices. Some may visit the graves of their parents or other ancestors, leave flowers and pray to them in order to honor and remember them, however, this would not be considered as worshipping them since the term worship shows no such meaning. This is consistent with the meaning of the veneration in English. Although there is no accepted theory concerning the origins of ancestor veneration. Although some historians claim that ancient Egyptian society was a “death cult” because of its tombs and mummification rituals. The philosophy that “this world is but a vale of tears” and this was not to say that they were unacquainted with the harshness of life, rather, their ethos included a sense of continuity between this life and the next. Tombs were housing in the Hereafter and so they were constructed and decorated. Mummification was a way to preserve the corpse so the ka of the deceased could return to receive offerings of the things s/he enjoyed while alive, if mummification was not affordable, a “ka-statue” in the likeness of the deceased was carved for this purpose. The Blessed Dead were collectively called the akhu, or “shining ones” and they were described as “shining as gold in the belly of Nut and were indeed depicted as golden stars on the roofs of many tombs and temples. If the heart was in balance with the Feather of Maat, at this point only was the ka deemed worthy to be venerated by the living through rites and offerings
4.
Shark
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Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorpha and are the group to the rays. Under this broader definition, the earliest known sharks date back to more than 420 million years ago, acanthodians are often referred to as spiny sharks, though they are not part of Chondrichthyes proper, they are a paraphyletic assemblage leading to cartilaginous fish as a whole. Since then, sharks have diversified into over 500 species, Sharks are found in all seas and are common to depths of 2,000 metres. They generally do not live in freshwater although there are a few exceptions, such as the bull shark and the river shark. Sharks have a covering of dermal denticles that protects their skin from damage and they have numerous sets of replaceable teeth. Well-known species such as the white shark, tiger shark, blue shark, mako shark. Many shark populations are threatened by human activities, until the 16th century, sharks were known to mariners as sea dogs. The etymology of the shark is uncertain. One theory is that it derives from the Yucatec Maya word xok, however, the Middle English Dictionary records an isolated occurrence of the word shark in a letter written by Thomas Beckington in 1442, which rules out a New World etymology. Evidence for the existence of sharks dates from the Ordovician period, 450–420 million years ago, before land vertebrates existed and before many plants had colonized the continents. Only scales have been recovered from the first sharks and not all agree that these are from true sharks. The oldest generally accepted shark scales are from about 420 million years ago, the first sharks looked very different from modern sharks. The majority of sharks can be traced back to around 100 million years ago. Most fossils are of teeth, often in large numbers, partial skeletons and even complete fossilized remains have been discovered. Estimates suggest that sharks grow tens of thousands of teeth over a lifetime, the teeth consist of easily fossilized calcium phosphate, an apatite. When a shark dies, the decomposing skeleton breaks up, scattering the apatite prisms, preservation requires rapid burial in bottom sediments. Among the most ancient and primitive sharks is Cladoselache, from about 370 million years ago, which has been found within Paleozoic strata in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee
5.
Pueo
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The pueo is a subspecies of the short-eared owl that is endemic to Hawaii. The pueo is one of more famous of the physical forms assumed by ʻaumākua in Hawaiian culture. Pueo is listed by the state of Hawaiʻi as a species on the island of Oʻahu. This taxon was first named by Andrew Bloxam and he saw it, although did not collect a specimen, while in the Hawaiian Islands in 1825 as the naturalist on board HMS Blonde. It is now considered to be a subspecies of the owl, Asio flammeus. Pueo nest on the ground, which makes their eggs and young susceptible to predation by the introduced small Asian mongoose and other predators, pueo are strongly affected by light pollution. They are often killed in accidents in which they dive toward the headlights of cars. Many such collisions have been reported on Interstate H-3 and other newly built roadways in areas which once held high populations of pueo, the cause of sick owl syndrome is unknown, it is suspected that pesticide toxicity may be responsible, particularly through secondary rodenticide poisoning. However, it has also hypothesized that the cause may be an infectious agent, seizure-like confusion due to light pollution. More information with sounds produced by the pueo Article on the pueo by Veronica S. Schweitzer
6.
Mary Kawena Pukui
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Mary Abigail Kawenaʻulaokalaniahiʻiakaikapoliopelekawahineʻaihonuaināleilehuaapele Wiggin Pukui, known as Kawena, was a Hawaiian scholar, dancer, composer, and educator. She was born in the Kaʻū district of the Island of Hawaiʻi, to Mary Paʻahana Kanakaʻole, in the traditional custom of hānai, she was initially reared by her mother’s parents. Her great grandmother Keliʻipaʻahana was a kahuna pule in the Pele line, keliiPaahanas parents were the High Chief KU or Kauhi and High Chiefess Naai Hunalii. KeliiPaahana was interned in Halemaumau in 1869 in the Kau district and she married the High Chief KeliiKanakaole the son of King Kamehameha I and Queen Wahinepio also known as Ka haku haakoi of the Piilani and Liloa line. Family is known to inherit the sacred Alii Moe Kapu, upon the death of her grandmother Nalii Poai moku she returned to live with her parents and spoke both Hawaiian and English. She was educated in the Hawaiian Mission Academy, and taught Hawaiiana at Punahou School, Pukui was fluent in the Hawaiian language, and from the age of 15 collected and translated folk tales, proverbs and sayings. She worked at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum from 1938–1961 as an ethnological assistant and she also taught Hawaiian to several scholars and served as informant for numerous anthropologists. She published more than 50 scholarly works and she is the co-author of the definitive Hawaiian-English Dictionary, Place Names of Hawaii, and The Echo of Our Song, a translation of old chants and songs. Her book, ʻŌlelo Noʻeau, contains nearly 3,000 examples of Hawaiian proverbs and poetical sayings, the two-volume set Nānā i ke Kumu, Look to the Source, is an invaluable resource on Hawaiian customs and traditions. She was a chanter and hula expert, and wrote lyrics and she is often credited with making the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s possible. She was named a Living Treasure of Hawaii by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaiʻi in 1977, in 1995 she was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame. In order of first publication,1933, Hawaiian Folk Tales, honolulu, HI, University Press of Hawaii. »Partial preview of Place Names of Hawaii,1972, Nānā i ke Kumu, Look to the Source, Vols. 1 and 2, with Haertig and Lee 1972, Native Planters in Old Hawaii, Their Life, Lore, honolulu, Bishop Museum Press, Revised edition. Elbert, Samuel H, Pūkui, Mary Kawena, honolulu, HI, University of Hawaii Press. Honolulu, HI, University of Hawaii Press, Pukui, Mary Kawena, Elbert, Samuel H, Mookini, Esther T. Nishizawa, Yū. Honolulu, HI, University of Hawaii Press, Pukui, Mary Kawena, Elbert, Samuel H, Mookini, Esther T. Nishizawa, Yu Mapuana. New Pocket Hawaiian Dictionary with a Concise Grammars and Given Names in Hawaiian, honolulu, HI, University of Hawaii Press
7.
Sea turtle
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Sea turtles, sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines. The seven extant species of sea turtles are, the green, loggerhead, Kemps ridley, olive ridley, hawksbill, flatback, the majority of a sea turtles body is protected by its shell. The turtles shell is divided two sections, carapace and plastron. The shell is made up of plates called scutes. The leatherback is the sea turtle that does not have a hard shell. Instead, it bears a mosaic of bony plates beneath its leathery skin, in general, sea turtles have a more fusiform body plan than their terrestrial or freshwater counterparts. The reduced volume of a body means sea turtles can not retract their head, legs. However this more stream-line body plan reduces drag in the water, the leatherback is the largest species of sea turtle. Measuring 2-3 meters in length, and 1-1.5 m in width, other species are smaller, being mostly 60-120 cm and proportionally narrower. Sea turtles, along with turtles and tortoises, are part of the order Testudines. All species except the leatherback are in the family Cheloniidae, the leatherback is the only extant member of the family Dermochelyidae. The origin of sea turtles back to the Late Jurassic with genera such as Plesiochelys. In Africa, the first marine turtle is Angolachelys, from the Turonian of Angola, however, neither of these are related to extant sea turtles, the oldest representative of the lineage leading to these was Desmatochelys padillai, from the Early Cretaceous. A lineage of unrelated marine testudines, the pleurodire bothremydids, also survived well into the Cenozoic, Sea turtles constitute a single radiation that became distinct from all other turtles at least 110 million years ago. The flatback sea turtle is found solely on the northern coast of Australia, the Kemps ridley sea turtle is found solely in the Gulf of Mexico and along the East Coast of the United States. Sea turtles are found in the waters over continental shelves. During the first three to five years of life, sea turtles spend most of their time in the pelagic zone floating in seaweed mats, Green sea turtles in particular are often found in Sargassum mats, in which they find shelter and food. Once the sea turtle has reached adulthood it moves closer to the shore, females will come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches during the nesting season
8.
Gecko
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Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 to 60 cm, most geckos cannot blink, but they often lick their eyes to keep them clean and moist. They have a fixed lens within each iris that enlarges in darkness to let in more light, Geckos are unique among lizards in their vocalizations. They use chirping sounds in social interactions with other geckos and they are the most species-rich group of lizards, with about 1,500 different species worldwide. The New Latin gekko and English gecko stem from the Indonesian-Malay gēkoq, all geckos, excluding the Eublepharidae family, lack eyelids and instead have a transparent membrane, which they lick to clean. Nocturnal species have an excellent night vision, their vision is 350 times more sensitive than human color vision. The nocturnal geckos evolved from diurnal species which had lost the eye rods, the gecko eye therefore modified its cones that increased in size into different types both single and double. Three different photopigments have been retained and are sensitive to UV, blue and they also use a multifocal optical system that allows them to generate a sharp image for at least two different depths. Most gecko species can lose their tails in defense, a process called autotomy, many species are well known for their specialised toe pads that enable them to climb smooth and vertical surfaces, and even cross indoor ceilings with ease. Geckos are well-known to people who live in regions of the world. These become part of the menagerie and are often welcomed, as they feed on insects, including moths. Unlike most lizards, geckos are usually nocturnal, the largest species, the kawekaweau, is only known from a single, stuffed specimen found in the basement of a museum in Marseille, France. This gecko was 60 cm long and it was endemic to New Zealand. The smallest gecko, the Jaragua sphaero, is a mere 1.6 cm long and was discovered in 2001 on an island off the coast of the Dominican Republic. Geckos occur in various patterns and colors, and are among the most colorful lizards in the world, some species can change colour and may be lighter in colour at night. Some species are parthenogenic, which means the female is capable of reproducing without copulating with a male and this improves the geckos ability to spread to new islands. However, in a situation where a single female gecko populates an entire island, the geckos mating call sounds like a shortened bird chirping which attracts males, when they are nearby. Like other reptiles, geckos are ectothermic, producing very little metabolic heat, essentially a geckos body temperature is dependent on its environment
9.
Lizard
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Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 6,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic as it excludes the snakes which are also squamates, Lizards typically have four legs feet and external ears, though some are legless, while snakes lack both of these characteristics. Lizards and snakes share a movable quadrate bone, distinguishing them from the sphenodonts, Lizards form about 60% of all the species of extant non-avian reptiles. Some extinct varanids reached great size, The giant monitor Megalania is estimated to have reached up to 7 m long, vision, including color vision, is particularly well developed in most lizards. Most lizards communicate using body language, using specific postures, gestures, and movements to define territory, resolve disputes, some species of lizards also use pheromones or bright colors, such as the iridescent patches on the belly of Sceloporus. These colors are visible to predators, so are often hidden on the underside or between scales and only revealed when necessary. The particular innovation in this respect is the dewlap, a colored patch of skin on the throat. When a display is needed, a lizard can erect the hyoid bone of its throat, anoles are particularly famous for this display, with each species having specific colors, including patterns only visible under ultraviolet light, as many lizards can see UV light. Lizard tails are often a different and dramatically more vivid color than the rest of the body so as to potential predators to strike for the tail first. Many lizards, including geckos and skinks, are capable of shedding part of their tails through a process called autotomy. This is an example of the pars pro toto principle, sacrificing a part for the whole, the detached tail writhes and wiggles, creating a deceptive sense of continued struggle, distracting the predators attention from the fleeing prey animal. The lizard partially regenerates its tail over a period of weeks, a 2014 research identified 326 genes involved in the regeneration of lizard tails. The new section contains cartilage rather than bone, and the skin may be discolored compared to the rest of the body, most lizards are oviparous, though in some species the eggs are retained until the live young emerge. Parthenogenesis occurs in at least 50 species and may be more widespread in the group. Sexual selection in lizards shows evidence of mate choice, favouring males display fitness indicators. However, doubt has been raised over the age of Tikiguania because it is almost indistinguishable from modern agamid lizards, the Tikiguania remains may instead be late Tertiary or Quaternary in age, having been washed into much older Triassic sediments. Lizards are most closely related to the Rhynchocephalia, which appeared in the Late Triassic, mitochondrial phylogenetics suggest that the first lizards evolved in the late Permian. It had been thought on the basis of data that iguanid lizards diverged from other squamates very early on
