Deities of Canoes and Canoe-Building
Hawaiians are traditionally a deeply religious and spiritual people. From ancient times the land and sea upon which they live belonged to their deities--the people are just the caretakers. The building of a canoe was (and is) a religious affair, and there are deities specifically associated with this activity. So too, when voyagers went to sea, they asked for protection from the god of the ocean, Kanaloa, and the god or goddess of the weather and winds, La'amaomao. The gods and goddesses of canoes and canoe-building included the following (the list is from Tommy Holmes' The Hawaiian Canoe, p. 31):
Hina-ke-ka: Goddess of canoe bailers
Hina-ku-wa'a: Another name for Lea
Hina-puku-'ai: "Hina gathering food"; goddess of food plants; sister of Lea; took the form of an 'elepaio
Ka-pu-'a-o-alaka'i: Another name for Ka-pu-o-alaka'i
Ka-pu-o-alaka'i: Forest goddess; presided over the lines (pu) by which new canoes were guided as they were transported from mountains to sea; also "Ka-pu-o-alaka'i'
Kama-i-ka-huli-wa'a-pu: "God who aided in floating, righting and bailing out upset canoes"
Kanealuka: God of canoe builders
Ku'alana-wao: Ku of the upland offering
Ku-holoholo-pali: "Ku who steadies the canoe as it is carried down steep places"
Ku-kalanawao: "Ku who guides through the mountain wilderness"
Ku-kanaloa: (No data; Kanaloa was the god of the Ocean; his ocean form is the he'e, or octopus; his land form is the banana.)
Ku-ka-'ohi'a-laka: "Ku of the sacred 'ohi'a;" also Ku-maha-ali'i: "Ku who journeys in the canoe"
Ku-mauna: "Ku of the mountains"
Ku-moku-hali'i: "Ku who bedecks the island"; canoe builders chief god; husband of Lea; also Mokuhali'i
Ku-ohanawao: (no data; cf. Ku'alana-wao and Ku-kalanawao)
Ku-'ohi'a-Laka: Another name for Laka
Ku-olonawao: "Ku of the deep forest"
Ku-pepeiao-loa: "Ku of the long comb-cleats"; god of the seat braces by which the canoe is carried
Ku-pepeiao-poko: "Ku of the short comb-cleats"; god of the seat braces by which the canoe is carried
Ku-pulapula: "Ku with many offspring"
Ku-pulupulu: "Ku, the chip-maker"; god of the forests
Ku-pulupulu-i-ka-nahele: Another name for Ku-pulupulu
Kulauka: Another name for Ku-pulupulu
Laka: God of canoe builders; also Ku-'ohi'a-laka
Lea: Goddess of canoe builders; wife of Ku-moku-hali'i; sister of Hina-puku-'ai; she takes the form of an 'elepaio (a forest bird); also "Hina-ku-wa'a," "Laea," "Lea-ka-wahine"
Lea-ka-wahine: Another name for Lea
Moku-hali'i: Another name for Ku-moku-hali'i