Also displayed at the Native American Museum was a necklace with a cord made of human hair and a pendant made from walrus tooth. The text next to the necklace informed me that such an accessory symbolized the divinity and sacred status of a Hawaiian chief. In van der Leeuw’s description of the king as god in “Religion in Essence and Manifestation” he states that in the king’s divinity, power has been embodied in a living figure. The king as a living, active and changeable power is, in a sense, a god walking among men (120). The king is often attributed with sonship of a certain deity, and because of this is a sort of salvific figure.
The notion of the king as a god or son of god, who often possesses influence over the milieu (the weather), and offers the people a salvation of sorts was one that prompted me to consider the following. Is the idea of a King, or God, and that God having a Son that brings Salvation part of the fabric of man? Coming from a Christian background I wonder if God may have sewn that into our DNA and the way we think, as a sort of foreshadowing of the true King and Son of God. If so, it whets one’s palate in a way, making them hungry for the real thing, the real Deity. Perhaps these ideas and notions are so often found across various cultures and ages because they were placed in the hearts and minds of men by an intentional God. Perhaps not, maybe it’s coincidence. It is an interesting thought to entertain, however.
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