Nuʻakea (deity)

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title: "Nuʻakea (deity)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["hawaiian-goddesses", "milk-in-culture", "wet-nursing"] description: "Hawaiian goddess of milk and lactation" topic_path: "general/hawaiian-goddesses" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuʻakea_(deity)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Hawaiian goddess of milk and lactation ::

In Hawaiian mythology, Nuʻakea is a beneficent goddess of milk and lactation.

This name was also a title for a wet nurse of royal prince, according to David Malo.

Nuʻakea was appealed to, to staunch the flow of milk in the mother's breasts.

Euhemerism

There was a chiefess named after the goddess—Nuʻakea, wife of Keʻoloʻewa, chief of Molokai.

Martha Warren Beckwith suggested that Nuʻakea was deified.

According to the myth, Nuʻakea was a goddess who came to Earth and married mortal chief Keʻoloʻewa, but it is known that historical Nuʻakea was born on Oahu.

Notes

References

1. ''Native planters in old Hawaii: their life, lore, and environment'' by Edward Smith Craighill Handy, Elizabeth Green Handy, [[Mary Kawena Pukui]].
2. ''Hawaiian antiquities (Moolelo Hawaii)'' by David Malo
3. ''Hawaiian Mythology'' by Martha Warren Beckwith. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FyIEpx1aLXEC&dq=goddess+nuakea&pg=PA33 See this page.]

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