Kahuna

Kahuna is a Hawaiian word, defined in Pukui & Elbert (1986) as a "priest, sorcerer, magician, wizard, minister, expert in any profession". (See also Ancient Hawaii.)

Forty types of kahuna are listed in the book Tales from the Night Rainbow. Kamakau lists more than 20 in the healing professions alone, including for example "Kahuna la'au lapa'au" (an expert in herbal medicine) and "kahuna haha" (an expert in diagnosing illnesses).

With the revival of the Hawaiian culture beginning in the 1970s, some native Hawaiian cultural practitioners call themselves kahuna today. Others, particularly devout Christians, disdain the term. In the New Age spiritual system known as Huna, which uses Hawaiian words and appears to be appropriated or adapted from Hawaiian tradition, kahuna similarly denotes someone of priestly or shamanic standing.

Legal status of kahuna

Many myths have grown up around kahuna. One is that kahuna were outlawed after the white man came to Hawaii. It is known that there were many different types of kahuna. Kahuna can be divided into two categories: "craft" kahuna, such as kālai waʻa, an expert canoe maker, and hoʻokele, an expert navigator; "sorcerers" including kahuna ʻanāʻanā and lapaʻau (healer). According to one source, there were ten types (or ranks) of sorcery kahuna.

Kahuna (disambiguation)

A kahuna is a Hawaiian priest, sorcerer, magician, wizard, minister, or expert in any profession.

Kahuna may also refer to:

See also

Kahuna (company)

Kahuna Inc. makes mobile marketing automation software for companies. It provides tools and services for mobile applications to market their apps through mobile messaging channels, including push notifications, in-app messages, and email. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Kahuna was founded in 2012 by Adam Marchick and Jacob Taylor, founding CTO of SugarCRM. The company received $2 million in seed funding in October 2013 from SoftTech VC, Costanoa Venture Capital, Chamath Palihapitiya, Tim Kendall, Lee Linden, Raj De Datta, Omar Siddiqui, David Vivero, among others. In February 2014, Kahuna received $11 million in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital and SoftTech VC. In August 2015, Kahuna raised $45 million in a Series B round of funding, led by Tenaya Capital.

References