Kapuhenasa

The Kapuhenasa is the governing body of the Loa faith and serves as the overarching judge and arbiter of all religious matters and disputes. However, unlike Occidental Christianity, the Loa faith does not exist as a concept independent of the Kapuhenasa, with most Loa regarding the church and the faith as one and the same, likely due to the fact that any and all schisms in the faith have been reconciliated. As such, the term Kapuhenasa has come to refer to both the church and the liturgy and tenets behind the Loa faith, though Henasa is used to refer to the church while Kapu is used to refer to the tenets.

The Loa faith is panentheistic, revering a central, feminine manifestation of the energy of the universe named Nagala. She is the summation of the Polynesian concept of mana, the divine energy that permits change, action and existence. Nagala is called the Perfected Mana, as it is believed she is the absolute expression of all mana. She is often likened to the center of the universe, and is said to draw all creation back to her radiant center.

The Loa also believe that Nagala 'flows' or 'blossoms' into certain individuals, who then possess her divine perfection and are called Incarnates, referring to how they are viewed as the incarnation of the Goddess on earth. The Incarnates are viewed as infallible, with every action, belief and will of their's possessing the grace of Nagala, and as such are worshipped as the agents of her will on earth. The accounts of their lives and the books of poetry describing Nagala that every Incarnate is expected to write serve as the liturgy of the Kapuhenasa and are called the Anahuenna and Books of Ecdysis specifically.

Despite this, the Loa do revere a vast pantheon of other gods unrelated to Nagala, who are viewed of as spirits existing separate from this earth but still subject to Nagala's will. The spirit that are seen as aligned with the divine will are permitted to be revered, though their reverence cannot supersede that of Nagala. These gods and goddesses vary tremendously from region to region and are derived from the polytheistic pre-Henasa religions of the Loa people, having been absorbed into the theology.

The Henasa serves as an extremely influential aspect of Loa society, with Takatta Loa being described as a pseudo-theocracy due to the significant role the church plays in the bureaucracy, a role almost equal to that of the state. Indeed, prior to the formation of the modern day quasi-confederacy of Takatta Loa, there was a significant effort to unite the lands of the Loa under a theocratic state managed by the Henasa. Despite the collapse of this movement, the church still exerts tremendous influence in not only Takatta Loa but also other nations with significant Lao populations.

Etymology

Kapuhenasa comes from the Polynesian concept of kapu or taboo. It refers prohibitions of concepts, behaviors and actions that are impure or unclean in the sense that they degrade mana, the universal divine energy. Breaking a kapu is a grave offense, and the Kapuhenasa evolved out of a religious structure designed to enforce the kapu. The term henasa translates roughly to "gardener", and hence Kapuhenasa means "Gardener/Cultivator of Sacred Law" which corresponds to the function of the Loa religious organization as the arbiters of divine will.