HAWAIʻI’S GOD OF FERTILITY—LONO
LONO-MAKUA, OR LONO the Provider, is the god of fertility and food plants. He is one of Hawaiʻi’s four major precreation gods who shaped the universe.
Hawaiʻi’s wet months, or Makahiki, are dedicated to him. This four-month period begins when the Pleiades star cluster, or Seven Sisters, rises on the horizon at sunset.
Since Lono was a god of peace, Makahiki was a time of non-work activities like festivals. It was f*******n for aliʻi to conduct war or surf. Surfing wasn’t allowed because the winter swell’s monstrous waves allowed sharks to swim close to shore. Hawaiians saw this and respected it as the time when gods surfed.
Instead of fighting, warriors participated in physical sports. Some aliʻi allowed warriors to throw spears at them, which they’d par
