Kanaloa is one of the four great akua of the Hawaiian tradition, the god of the ocean and of the underworld, often paired with Kane; the two travel together in the traditions, and the octopus (he'e) is his kinolau. The Kumulipo pairs him with Kane, and the mo'olelo give him the deep sea and the realm of the dead. He is the Hawaiian cognate of Tangaroa and Ta'aroa, but the Hawaiian figure is distinct from the Maori and Tahitian ones. Nineteenth-century missionary writers sometimes equated him with the devil, a Christian reading the tradition does not support.
Modern Practice
Kanaloa is honoured at the sea with water, fish, salt and the first catch, and his practice is the relationship with the deep and with voyaging. The octopus is his, and the conch is sounded for him. The offering is made at the water's edge, not in a circle.