kapu system
Sacred Hawaiian restrictions
The kapu system was the ancient Hawaiian code of sacred laws and prohibitions governing daily life.
Kapu (related to Polynesian *tabu*, source of English taboo) designated people, places, objects, or activities as forbidden or restricted.
Violations could bring death.
The system regulated everything from eating practices to gender roles to interactions with chiefs.
It was formally abolished in 1819.
- kahunaHawaiian priest or expert
- manaSupernatural indwelling power
- chiefTop-ranking leader
- hulaGestural Polynesian dance
- fishing rightsAuthorization to harvest fish
pule · abolition · taboo · death penalty · sustainability · sacrifice · authority · rank · balance · land division · food preparation · ritual · monarchy · women · law · death · Hawaiian · divine
- Hawaiian culturealoha, hula, lei, luau, mahalo
- Hawaiian HeritageHawaiian culture, Hawaiian history, Hawaiian language, hula, luau
- Hawaiian kaputaboo, taboos, tabu, kahuna, mana
- Hawaiian KingdomKamehameha, King Kamehameha, royal family, throne room, royal palaces
- Hawaiian lawsroyal decrees, royal edicts
- fishing regulationscatch limits, fishing license, fishing permit, fishing permits, bag limits
kapu systempermissiveness
Tolerance of behavior others forbid
lawlessness · anarchy · libertinism · licentiousness · anomie
kapu systemsecular law
Legal code without religious basis
civil code · constitutional government · civil law · common law · rule of law
kapu systemegalitarianism
Philosophy of universal equality
classless society · social equality · democracy · meritocracy · egalitarian society
system, systems, systematic, systematically, systematize, systemic