Tapu

Tapu is the Polynesian idea of what is holy and set apart, with a force of prohibition behind it. The word is shared across Polynesia, in Tonga, Samoa, Hawaii, where it is kapu, and in Māori; the English taboo comes from Captain James Cook's visit to Tonga in 1777.

Anything touched by tapu could not be approached or handled, and breaking it could bring sickness or death. A chief's house and belongings were tapu. Priests, among the Māori called tohunga, could declare a fishery tapu to protect it from overuse. In Hawaii the ʻai kapu forbade men and women to eat together and kept pork, most bananas and coconuts from women.

In 1819 the new king Kamehameha II, with Queen Keōpūolani and the high priest Hewahewa, ended the ʻai kapu by eating with women.