In Hawaiian mythology, the creation chant that tells the origin of the universe is the Kumulipo.
The Kumulipo is a Hawaiian cosmogonic genealogy: a sacred chant describing the emergence of the universe, living things, and human ancestry. Its name is commonly translated in connection with “source” or “beginning” and “deep darkness,” reflecting the chant’s movement from primordial darkness toward the development of life.
The work is divided into 16 wā, or eras. The first seven belong to pō, a realm of darkness or spiritual existence, while later sections describe the appearance of plants, animals, humans, chiefs, and other beings. Rather than presenting creation as a single instant, it describes development across a vast sequence of generative stages.
The chant was transmitted orally and later written down. King Kalākaua published a 60-page version in 1889, and Queen Liliʻuokalani translated it while under house arrest; her translation appeared in 1897. It is therefore both a creation account and a record of chiefly genealogy and Hawaiian cultural memory.