Aikanaka (mythology)
In Hawaiian mythology, ʻAikanaka (or ʻAi Kanaka, ʻAikane) is a mortal chief who married Lona, the moon goddess. They lived happily together in her palace until he died of old age.[1][2]
His name means "man eater".
ʻAikanaka also married Hinahanaiakamalama (according to the Ulu genealogy). She bore him sons Hemā and Puna.[3]
Both Lona and Hinahanaiakamalama are lunar goddesses, so it is likely that they are the same person, and ʻAikanaka is married to just one woman.[4]
According to Ulu genealogy, ʻAikanaka was born ca. 746.
Notes
- ^ Pacific mythology: an encyclopedia of myth and legend by Jan Knappert
- ^ Academic Dictionary Of Mythology by Ramesh Chopra
- ^ E.R. Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (Lyon and Blair: Lambton Quay), 1891.
- ^ Beckwith, pp. 214-25