(Why does it seem that POLYAMOUOROUS relationships are considered to be either PRIMATIVE/ INDIGENOUS or EXTREMELY MODERN?)
POLYNESIA refers to Islands in the Pacific, some which are thousands of miles from others. The Hawaiian Island chain, which formed due to volcanic eruption, is one of the largest group of Islands in the Pacific and considered to be extreme northern Polynesia. Speculation on how it is that groups of people managed to arrive there in canoes hundreds of years ago, goes on.
Culturally, the ancient Hawaiians practiced POLYAMORY - at least the term means LOVING MORE THAN ONE PARTNER.
In about 1820, however, Christian missionaries began to think Hawaii just might be the next place to convert the "natives." Following whaler boats and merchant ships, the missionaries of many faiths - Catholic, Mormon (Latter Day Saints), and various Protestant groups showed up, keen to establish missions and save souls from their Pagan ways.
What did they find?
According to multiple sites I referenced, Pre-Christian Hawaiians of both genders enjoyed the right to begin or end a sexual relationships, so we'd consider the women to be liberated in that way. If you were Royal, a Chief or Chieftess, you had a marriage ceremony. For common people being married was perhaps only understood as being someone's primary or longest held relationship. The birth of a child required a bit more celebration. Polygyny was normal for Chiefs, but not so much for the commoners. That might have had something to do with who was expected to raise or afford to raise a child, but everyone was living in extended family groups and raised children together, again blurring the definition of who is family for Westerners. Neither matriarchal or patriarchal when it came to who went to live where, it was a pragmatic decision. Men, however, seemed to be the ones who owned land so I can imagine a man had say on who would be living on it.
I found the following site to be especially interesting: RANKERCOM' LOVE AND SEX IN ANCIENT HAWAII (PRE CHRISTIAN) by Rachel Souerbry
EXCERPTS:
Siblings married frequently, all for the purpose of producing offspring with the most MANA or DIVINE LIFE FORCE.
Hi,uwai is a celebration held during the Hawaiian month of Weiehu, which cooresponds to the time period much of the world knows as November. Hi'uwai consists of a frenzied, splashing bath in the sea from midnight until daybreak, followed by a grand feast the next day.
Although the event is not overtly sexual, one observer in 1830 wrote that with all of the excitement the lavish and beautiful objects people had adorned themselves with, and the darkness all around, people became "attracted" to each other.
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