Orion as a celestial representation of Wākea as determined from Kūkaniloko on O’ahu in the Hawaiian Islands

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper investigates whether in Hawaiʻi, Orion – one of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky – represents Wākea, the best known cosmogonic male progenitor of Hawaiian cosmogony. Wākea, commonly referred to as Sky Father and the ‘wide expanse of the sky,’ is noted in the name for the celestial equator, Ke ala i ka piko o Wākea (the path to the navel/center of Wākea), with the star Mintaka of Orion’s Belt representing Wākea’s celestial piko.