Malaehaʻakoʻa: The Dancing Priest
From the preface of Taupōuri Tangarō:
The epic chant of Malaehaʻakoʻa and Wailuanuiahoano has a message that is timeless, ethnic, and universal all in the same breath. The message is: we can continue to achieve heightened awareness of who we are and how we can relate better to those around us.
The chant outlines a process that defines the deification of Pele as the model for the deification of Hiʻiakaikapoliopele, and as a model for the renewal of our god-selves. This process if ritual passage from the mortal to the immortal is under the stewardship of the deepest inner sanctums of the ʻAihaʻa, also known as the Hula Pele. This coming into oneness with our god-selves is why ʻAihaʻa/Hula Pele has not left our practice. This process is mythic in origin and speaks to both regional and universal dialects of mythology.
Layered in metaphor, ambiguity, pattern, and pun (the esoteric language of myth), the two hundred lines pulled from the epic chant and presented within this book delineate the ʻAihaʻa process as it moves toward profound actualization.