Paao

Pa‘ao, a hero of Hawaiian legend, was a kahuna or priest; he was banished from an island in the South Pacific due to a feud with his brother. Pa‘ao boarded a sturdy voyaging canoe with a crew of over forty paddlers and his family, to look for new land to call home. The crew landed in the present-day region of the Big Island of Hawai‘i called Puna. One of Pa‘ao's first actions was to build a heiau or temple in thanksgiving to the god he worshipped. He called the heiau Aha‘ula.

Pa‘ao saw that the chiefs of the island had become degraded and corrupted (hewa). He returned to his home and fetched a true chief, Pili, who established his dominion over the Big Island of Hawai‘i. All the succeeding chiefs of the island claimed descent from the legendary Pili.

Pa‘ao is also said by some to have introduced the practice of human sacrifice to the Hawaiian islands.

His descendents became priests, and their line or order, called Hola'e, continued into historical times. The last high priest, Hewahewa, who acquiesced in the breaking of the kapus or 'Ai Noa in 1819, claimed descent from Pa'ao.