Genealogies of the Ali'i (ruling class) of Hawaii are traced to a time in Hawaiian creation when gods walked the earth. This inherited ancestral mana (spiritual power) acknowledged the Ali'i as living gods of giving them the right of rule.

In the fourteenth century, Maui's Pi'ilani lines of chiefs were recognized for their inherited mana and carried the kapu, a system of prohibitive and sacred laws.

At Moku'ula, the chiefess, Kala'aiheana, was born to the High Chief Pi'ilani. The familial lines of Pi'ilani had for centuries been tied to the powerful Mo'o Akua (large lizard-like gods). As a result, at the death of Kala'aiheana, the sacred rite of deification was performed and she became a Mo'o Akua, the sacred goddess known as Kihawahine.

Kihawahine became the guardian for the sacred Mokuhinia ponds and Moku'ula island. She was worshiped by many, but most notably by Kamehameha I who carried her image, along with its sacred kapu, throughout the islands in his quest to unite the Hawaiian Kingdom.