Post #136261 by christiki295 on Tue, Jan 18, 2005 7:48 PM

Aloha Kono,

True enough and, yes, Pele, Ku and Lono are all refernced, but what I was hoping to read about was the conflict between the missionaries and the large, imposing tiki statutes, such as those at the Bishop Museum.

Atomic Cocktail's superb Hawaiian history website

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/kona/history1h.htm

revealed the following on Tiki history:

In 1823 the Reverend William Ellis

took a sketch of one of the idols [on the ruins of the heiau Ahuena at Kailua], which stood sixteen feet above the wall, was upwards of three feet in breadth, and had been carved out of a single tree. The above may be considered as a tolerable specimen of the greater part of Hawaiian idols. The head has generally a most horrid appearance, the mouth being large and usually extended wide, exhibiting a row of large teeth, resembling in no small degree the cogs in the wheel of an engine, and adapted to excite terror rather than inspire confidence in the beholder. Some of their idols were of stone, and many were constructed with a kind of wickerwork covered with red feathers. . .

(There's more on the website)

[ Edited by: christiki295 on 2005-01-19 20:53 ]