Day 27. Queen Ka’ahumanu.

Queen Ka’ahumanu was instrumental in overthrowing the ancient Kapu system that included such traditions as human sacrifice and forbade women and men from eating together. Following Kamehameha I’s death, she publicly ate together with her son, Liholiho (Kamehameha II), thus breaking that kapu. This “overthrow” of the kapu system happened just a few years before the arrival of the first missionaries to the islands.

Her conversion to Christianity played a pivotal role in the survival of the Hawaiian people who were being wiped out by STDs. Converting her people to Christianity limited the sexual exposure of Hawaiian women to monogamous marriage and thereby slowed the spread of disease.

Hawaiian royalty understood that adopting western ways was vital to their recognition as an autonomous country in the eyes of the imperial colonizers.

Learn More about Queen Ka’ahumanu at (https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/queen-ka-ahumanu.htm).

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