Makahiki: The Hawaiian New Year and Festival of Lono

Makahiki was the Hawaiian new year, a four-month festival period that governed the rhythm of the entire island year. It was governed by the god Lono, the deity of agriculture, rain, and fertility, and it followed the rising of the Pleiades in the night sky, which marked the beginning of winter. During Makahiki, the rules of ordinary life changed: warfare was forbidden throughout the islands, taxes were collected, and communities celebrated with feasting, ceremony, and competitive sports.

What Makahiki was

Makahiki lasted approximately four lunar months, running roughly from mid-November to mid-March. The season was divided into specific periods with their own rituals. The first weeks involved ceremonial processions around each island, led by priests carrying an image of Lono, during which the akua loa (long god) image was paraded from district to district and tribute was paid to the ruling chief. This procession was called the circuit of Lono, and it moved clockwise around each island.

The tribute collected during Makahiki represented a significant redistribution of resources. Chiefs received food, cloth, and other goods from the communities within their territories. In return, they were expected to ensure the community's wellbeing and to sponsor the sports and ceremonies that followed.

Timing and the god Lono

Lono was the god of clouds, rain, agriculture, and fertility. He was associated with the winter months when rain and growth were expected, as opposed to Kū, the war god, who governed the drier months when warfare was more common. The alternation between Lono's and Kū's seasons gave the Hawaiian year a religious and agricultural structure.

Lono was also associated with darkness and the earth below, with the idea of things growing unseen, which connected his season to the agricultural cycle. The end of Makahiki marked his departure for Kahiki (the ancestral homeland), with the promise to return in the following year's Makahiki, bringing rain and abundance.

Sports, games, and feasting

The second half of Makahiki, after the tribute procession was complete, was devoted to competition and celebration. The sports played during this period were serious and prestigious. Hōlua was a sled race down specially constructed stone-paved slopes, reaching considerable speeds. Heʻe nalu (surfing) was both sport and spiritual practice. Wrestling, boxing, javelin throwing, and canoe racing were all part of the Makahiki games.

Champions in these sports gained prestige, could attract the favor of chiefs, and were celebrated throughout their districts. The games were not simply entertainment; they were a way of testing and demonstrating excellence, a value that ran through Hawaiian culture from athletic competition to navigation to craftsmanship.

Makahiki and Captain Cook

Captain James Cook arrived at Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island in January 1779, during the Makahiki season. This timing has been the subject of significant scholarly debate. Some scholars, most prominently Marshall Sahlins, have argued that Hawaiians may have associated Cook's arrival from the sea during Lono's season with the returning god himself. Others, including the anthropologist Gananath Obeyesekere, have challenged this interpretation.

What is documented is that Cook received an extraordinary reception at Kealakekua Bay, including elaborate ceremonies that the English crew could not fully interpret. When Cook's ship returned shortly after departing, following damage from a storm, the reception was markedly cooler. A confrontation over a stolen boat led to a violent encounter on the beach on February 14, 1779, in which Cook was killed. Read the full account on our Captain Cook in Hawaii page.