Compare And Contrast The Ancient Hawaii System

Having a system is essential for maintaining order and the reason for order is keeping everything in line. In ancient Hawaii there were systems of sharing resources and they were called Kapu, Ahupua’a, and Makahiki. Kapu was sort of an ancient Hawaiian law that dictated what you could or could not do in the society based on spiritual powers.
Ahupua’a was the ancient Hawaiian system of dividing land between the different groups of people in ancient Hawaii. The Makahiki was a yearly festival that the ancient
Hawaiians celebrated to commemorate their harvests which was also religious. The
Hawaiians ancient systems were a balance in their society to keep everything in order.
Kapu was sort of an ancient Hawaiian law that dictates what you can or
cannot do in a society based on spiritual powers. It was a religious law that contained thousands of rules to follow. Kapu applied for everyone even royalty and it was sacred. It was forbidden to question the Kapu and if disobeyed there can be fatal consequences. It was their own form of a spiritual religion and if the laws are not followed it is a great sin.
Most of these laws were about land or family, neither could be disrespected. Kapu is what kept ancient Hawaii in order that was good for the Hawaiians.
Ahupua’a was the ancient Hawaiian system of dividing the land between different classes of people in ancient Hawaii. Ahupua’a was a complex division of the land to different classes of people. Usually the highest chiefs owned all the land but these chiefs divided them into smaller portions handed to lesser chiefs. After these chiefs the land is then divided to the rest of the people. This is a good order of land division because decisions over land can come from high chiefs and these chiefs consult with the higher chiefs and so on. This system was stable for the people to pay taxes with labor or trading goods. This division was also deemed religious because of separation between classes in different parts of the island. Ahupua’a was a great sustainable system that the ancient
Hawaiians followed that offered peace and more resources.
The Makahiki was a yearly festival that the ancient Hawaiians celebrated to commemorate the harvesting of crops and animals. This celebration was a farming cycle that was another sacred ancient Hawaiian practice that formed peace between the people.
The Makahiki would halt any proceedings or wars that were occurring during the celebration. Although it was a religious offering to the gods the chiefs would also have a take. The offerings were for the chiefs to pay tribute to the gods of war and water and other gods they praised. After all the gift offering is finished then the feasts and games began. There were a variety of foods and games that were local to the ancient Hawaiians.
The Makahiki festival was a great way to keep peace and celebrated the hard work of harvesting and brought the whole island together.
These three systems that the ancient Hawaiians used all correlated with each other in a religious and spiritual way. The ancient gods of Hawaii influenced them all and this religion was polytheistic. They were all spiritual practices that praised these gods. All three of these practices put together kept order in the ancient Hawaiian system. These practices all were involved in one another and bonded strongly to keep the ancient
Hawaiian system stable.