Alii | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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December 26, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Aliʻi, the Missionaries and Hawaiʻi

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US, led by Hiram Bingham, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Hawaiian Islands.

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands.

Collaboration between native Hawaiians and the American Protestant missionaries resulted in, among other things, the introduction of Christianity, the creation of the Hawaiian written language, widespread literacy, the promulgation of the concept of constitutional government, making Western medicine available and the evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition (with harmony and choral singing).

By the time the Pioneer Company arrived, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished; through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by his father’s wives, Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.

The kapu system was the common structure, the rule of order, and religious and political code. This social and political structure gave leaders absolute rule and authority. In addition to the abolition of the old ways, Kaʻahumanu created the office of Kuhina Nui (similar to premier, prime minister or regent) and would rule as an equal with Liholiho – this started the shift from absolute rule to shared rule.

Introduction of Christianity

Within five years of the initial arrival of the missionaries, a dozen chiefs had sought Christian baptism and church membership, including the king’s regent Kaʻahumanu. The Hawaiian people followed their native leaders, accepting the missionaries as their new priestly class. (Schulz)

Kamakau noted of her baptism, “Kaʻahumanu was the first fruit of the Kawaiahaʻo church … for she was the first to accept the word of God, and she was the one who led her chiefly relations as the first disciples of God’s church.”

Creation of the Hawaiian Written Language

When Captain Cook first made contact with the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, Hawaiian was a spoken language but not a written language. Historical accounts were passed down orally, through oli (chants) and mele (songs.)

After Western contact and attempts to write about Hawaiʻi, early writers tried to spell words based on the sound of the words they heard. People heard words differently, so it was not uncommon for words to be spelled differently, depending on the writer.

In addition to preaching the gospel, one of the first things Bingham and his fellow missionaries did was begin to learn the Hawaiian language and create an alphabet for a written format of the language. The 12-letter we use today was established by the missionaries on July 14, 1826.

Widespread Literacy

The missionaries established schools associated with their missions across the Islands. This marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of Chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

By 1831, in just eleven years from the first arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiians had built over 1,100-schoolhouses. This covered every district throughout the eight major islands and serviced an estimated 53,000-students. (Laimana)

The proliferation of schoolhouses was augmented by the missionaries printing of 140,000-copies of the pī¬ʻāpā (elementary Hawaiian spelling book) by 1829 and the staffing of the schools with 1,000-plus Hawaiian teachers. (Laimana)

By 1853, nearly three-fourths of the native Hawaiian population over the age of sixteen years were literate in their own language. The short time span within which native Hawaiians achieved literacy is remarkable in light of the overall low literacy rates of the United States at that time. (Lucas)

Constitutional Government

King Kamehameha III asked missionary William Richards (who had previously been asked to serve as Queen Keōpūolani’s religious teacher) to become an advisor to the King as instructor in law, political economy and the administration of affairs generally.

Richards gave classes to King Kamehameha III and his Chiefs on the Western ideas of rule of law and economics. His decision to assist the King ultimately resulted in his resignation from the mission, when the ABCFM board refused to allow him to be in the mission while assisting the King.

Of his own free will, King Kamehameha III granted the Constitution of 1840, as a benefit to his country and people, that established his Government upon a declared plan. (Rex v. Booth – Hanifin)

That constitution introduced the innovation of representatives chosen by the people (rather than as previously solely selected by the Aliʻi.) This gave the common people a share in the government’s actual political power for the first time.

Western Medicine

Judd, a doctor by training, had originally come to the islands to serve as the missionary physician. While in that role, Judd set up part of the basement in the Mission House as a Western medicine pharmacy and doctor’s office, beginning in 1832.

Judd wrote the first medical book in the Hawaiian language and later formed the first medical school in the Islands. Ten students were accepted when it opened in 1870, all native Hawaiians (the school had a Hawaiians-only admissions policy.)

Later (when Richards was sent on a diplomatic mission to the US and Europe to recognize the rights of a sovereign Hawaiʻi,) King Kamehameha III asked missionary Gerrit P Judd to resign from the mission and serve as his advisor and translator.

Distinctive Musical Tradition

Another lasting legacy left by the missionaries in the Islands related to music. Some songs were translations of Western songs into Hawaiian; some were original verse and melody.

Oli and mele were already a part of the Hawaiian tradition. “As the Hawaiian songs were unwritten, and adapted to chanting rather than metrical music, a line was measured by the breath; their hopuna, answering to our line, was as many words as could be easily cantilated at one breath.” (Bingham)

Missionaries used songs as a part of the celebration, as well as learning process. “At this period, the same style of sermons, prayers, songs, interrogations, and exhortations, which proves effectual in promoting revivals of religion, conversion, or growth in grace among a plain people in the United States, was undoubtedly adapted to be useful at the Sandwich Islands. … some of the people who sat in darkness were beginning to turn their eyes to the light”. (Bingham)

“In view of the fact that the best modern Hawaiian music, now known the world over, owes much to the musical form of these early hymns, one wishes that history had been less restrained. Yet, even in default of any direct, consecutive record, one may piece out quite a little of the story of Hawaiian hymns from references in early letters and accounts of their printing.”

“And when one has the good fortune to touch with one’s own hands many of the early songbooks printed in Hawaiian, the search toward a complete account of them becomes a fascinating pursuit.” (Wilcox; Damon The Friend, March 1935)

“When our Protestant missionaries came to hymnody in Hawaiian – as they very soon did – they reared a natural superstructure upon this rich and rhythmical foundation of the Bible. It was a veritable treasure house.”

“But strangely, too, another very deep-seated source of balance and rhythm and figured speech flowed in the cultural consciousness of the Hawaiian people to whom these new Christian messages were being brought. Instinct in the Hawaiian mode of thought was the impulse and the act of prayer, of supplication, of praise.” (Wilcox; Damon The Friend, March 1935)

MISSION-HOUSES-drawing-by-James-P.-Chamberlain-LOC-ca-1860

June 2, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawaiian Food

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Hawaiian Islands. There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in this first company.

“(A)s the mission period progressed (the) missionaries developed a close association with ali‘i …The relationships constituted around gift giving and exchange created a necessary favorable link between American missionaries and ali‘i in this period.” (Thigpen)

“Their manner of eating is something singular. They spread a mat on the floor, then, seat themselves on it in a circle & eat with their fingers. They have three kinds of poe, which is made of tarrow.”

“One is about as thick as starch which we use on muslin, and something resembles it. This is eaten with one finger. They get their finger in and turn it round to make it stick to it, then put it in their mouth and suck it off. When one has dipped in his fingers, the dish is passed to the next & so goes round.”

“The second kind which is thinner, is eaten in the same manner except with two fingers. The third which is still thinner with three. With this they eat fish, hogs and dogs.”(Mercy Whitney Journal, April 4, 1820)

“For their breakfast, one of the natives killed a hog by tying a rope around its neck and choking it. They dug a hole in the ground sufficiently large to put in the hog & when they had singed off the hair over a slow fire & took out the intestines, they filled the body with hot stones, putting it into the hole with hot stones both beneath & over it & then covering it with dirt.”

“In almost an hour they took it out & put it on a board to carve it. They had no knife to dress it with except a jackknife which one of the men had in his pocket. One of the natives took a dirty handkerchief off his neck put in some sugar-cane & squeezed it into a little chocolate which they had for drank. This they drank out of a gourd shell.” (Mercy Partridge Whitney Journal, April 8, 1820)

The missionaries also ate New England foods shipped to them: dried apple rings, sea biscuits, salted beef and pork, and things made from wheat flour. (Smola)

Some food came from the missionaries buying food with money, from trading or bartering items like cloth and books, and from agricultural land given to the mission.

The items of New England food that they got came by supply shipments from the ABCFM usually brought out in whale ships or merchant ships that were already headed to Hawai‘i or were brought here to be planted once the missionaries landed. (HMCS)

Much of the food came in the form of gifts from the ali‘i. According to the account books, these gifts of food from the ali‘i occurred virtually daily for over 10 years. (HMCS) They also received land in order to grow food.

“On Monday the 2d, Krimakoo (Kalanimōku) and the king’s mother granted to the brethren three small pieces of land cultivated with taro, potatoes, bananas, melons, &c. and containing nineteen bread-fruit trees, from which they may derive no small portion of the fruit and vegetables needed by the family.”

“They proposed also to build, without delay, a thatched dwelling house for each of the two brethren, and a house for public worship.”

“It is interesting and worthy of our grateful remembrance, that these overtures were made known to the brethren at the time, when the Christian world were presenting their united supplications before the throne of grace for the blessing of heaven upon the efforts of missionaries.”

“Several brethren went to see the land, in the back part of Witeete (Waikiki), appropriated, some time since, by Krimakoo, to the use of the mission.”

“It contains two or three acres of upland on the side of the hill called Uala-kaa [Rolling potato] and an acre and half of low taro ground in a well watered valley of 600 acres.”

“On one side of this secluded valley they visited an old heiaoo (heiau) or place of worship in Tamahamaha’s time, consisting now simply of a stone wall from three to six feet thick, and from six to twelve feet high, enclosing a small area about twenty feet square.”

“They walked over these deserted grass grown ruins … After giving some directions to the tenants of our land, the brethren ascended, with some difficulty, a mountain, at the head of the valley, supposed to be about 3000 feet high, where they enjoyed an interesting and extensive prospect of the valley …”

“… the village and harbor of Honorooroo, the bay and district of Witeete, the salt lake at Moonarua, Pearl River or WaiEva, with its bays and plantations, the Alpine pass, called the pare (pali), between Honorooroo and Koolou, and the valley and ocean beyond …”

“… the craters of Diamond and Punchbowl Hills, many deep ravines, sharp ridges, and lofty mountains in the island of Woahoo, together with the islands of Ranai, Morokai, Mowee, and, as they believed, the more majestic heights of Maunakea, and Mounaroo on Owhyhee, at the distance of 130, or 140 miles.”

“Their assent to this commanding point occupied three hours, and was attended with some difficulty from the ruggedness of the way, the steep ascent of the rocks in some places, and the denseness of the shrubbery and vegetation in others.” (Journal of the Mission, June 4, 1823)

Collaboration between native Hawaiians and the American Protestant missionaries resulted in, among other things, the introduction of Christianity; the creation of the Hawaiian written language and widespread literacy; the promulgation of the concept of constitutional government; making Western medicine available; and the evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition (with harmony and choral singing.)

Manoa_Valley_from_Waikiki,_oil_on_canvas_by_Enoch_Wood_Perry_Jr.-1860s

February 11, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Alii, the Missionaries and Hawaii

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US, led by Hiram Bingham, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)

The Mission Prudential Committee in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. …”

“Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.” (The Friend)

The Laws and Regulations of the ABCFM stated, “No missionary or assistant missionary shall engage in any business or transaction whatever for the sake of private gain …”

“… nor shall anyone engage in transactions or employments yielding pecuniary profit, without first obtaining the consent of his brethren in the mission; and the profits, in all cases, shall be placed at the disposal of the mission.”

Introduction of Christianity

Keōpūolani is said to have been the first convert of the missionaries in the Islands, receiving baptism from Rev. William Ellis in Lāhainā on September 16, 1823. Keōpūolani was spoken of “with admiration on account of her amiable temper and mild behavior”. (William Richards) She was ill and died shortly after her baptism.

On December 24, 1825, Kaʻahumanu, six other Chiefs and one makaʻāinana (commoner) were baptized and received Holy Communion at Kawaiahaʻo Church. This was the beginning of expanded admission into the Church.

Creation of the Hawaiian Written Language

Then, on July 14, 1826, the missionaries established a 12-letter alphabet for the written Hawaiian language, using five vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p and w) in their “Report of the committee of health on the state of the Hawaiian language.” The alphabet continues in use today.

Widespread Literacy

Interestingly, as the early missionaries learned the Hawaiian language, they then taught their lessons in the mission schools in Hawaiian, rather than English. In part, the mission did not want to create a separate caste and portion of the community as English-speaking Hawaiians.

In 1839, King Kamehameha III called for the formation of the Chiefs’ Children’s School (Royal School.) The main goal of this school was to groom the next generation of the highest ranking Chiefs’ children and secure their positions for Hawaiʻi’s Kingdom. The King asked missionaries Amos Starr Cooke and Juliette Montague Cooke to teach the 16-royal children and run the school.

In this school, the Hawai‘i sovereigns who reigned over the Hawaiian people from 1855 were educated, including: Alexander Liholiho (King Kamehameha IV;) Emma Naʻea Rooke (Queen Emma;) Lot Kapuāiwa (King Kamehameha V;) William Lunalilo (King Lunalilo;) Bernice Pauahi (Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, founder of Kamehameha Schools;) David Kalākaua (King Kalākaua) and Lydia Liliʻu Kamakaʻeha (Queen Liliʻuokalani.)

The King also saw the importance of education for all; “Statute for the Regulation of Schools” was passed by the King and chiefs on October 15, 1840.

Its preamble stated, “The basis on which the Kingdom rests is wisdom and knowledge. Peace and prosperity cannot prevail in the land, unless the people are taught in letters and in that which constitutes prosperity. If the children are not taught, ignorance must be perpetual, and children of the chiefs cannot prosper, nor any other children”.

Constitutional Government

Kamehameha III asked Richards (who had previously been asked to serve as Queen Keōpūolani’s religious teacher) to become an advisor to the King as instructor in law, political economy and the administration of affairs generally.

“The Hawaiian people believed in William Richards (Rikeke), the foreigner who taught the king to change the government of the Hawaiian people to a constitutional monarchy and end that of a supreme ruler, and his views were adopted.” (Kamakau)

Of his own free will, King Kamehameha III granted the Constitution of 1840, as a benefit to his country and people, that established his Government upon a declared plan. (Rex v. Booth – Hanifin)

That constitution introduced the innovation of representatives chosen by the people (rather than, as previously, solely selected by the Aliʻi.) This gave the common people a share in the government’s actual political power for the first time.

Western Medicine

Later (when Richards was sent on a diplomatic mission to the US and Europe to recognize the rights of a sovereign Hawaiʻi,) King Kamehameha III asked missionary Judd to resign from the mission and serve as his advisor and translator.

Judd, a doctor by training, had originally come to the islands to serve as the missionary physician. While in that role, Judd set up part of the basement in the 1821 Mission House as a Western medicine pharmacy and doctor’s office, beginning in 1832.

Dr Judd did not dismiss Native Hawaiian medical practices. He thought Native Hawaiian practice should be improved. Over the years, Dr Judd modified his practice to include Native Hawaiian ingredients in his treatments.

Distinctive Musical Tradition

Another lasting legacy left by the missionaries in the Islands related to music. Some songs were translations of Western songs into Hawaiian; some were original verse and melody.

Oli and mele were already a part of the Hawaiian tradition; it was delivered in an almost monotone way, without instrumentation, or with percussion (drums) or flutes.

“As the Hawaiian songs were unwritten, and adapted to chanting rather than metrical music, a line was measured by the breath; their hopuna, answering to our line, was as many words as could be easily cantilated at one breath.” (Bingham)

The missionaries introduced Western choral tradition, harmony, hymns, gospel music, and Western composition. In the early period, instrumentation included the “Church Bass,” a cello-like instrument and a flute. Later on, church organs, pianos, melodeons, and other instruments were introduced to Hawai`i.

One of the unique verses (sung to an old melody) was Hoʻonani Hole – Hoʻonani I Ka Makua Mau. Bingham wrote/translated it to Hawaiian and people sang it to a melody that dates back to the 1600s – today, it is known as the Hawaiian Doxology.

Another popular Hawaiian song was written by another missionary, Lorenzo Lyons. Lyons composed many poems and hymns; Lyons’ best known and beloved work is the hymn “Hawaiʻi Aloha,” sung to the tune of “I Left It All With Jesus.” The song was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

“Widely regarded as Hawaiʻi’s second anthem, this hymn is sung in both churches and public gatherings. It is performed at important government and social functions to bring people together in unity, and at the closing of Hawaiʻi Legislative sessions.” (Hawaiian Music Museum)

Today, the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives (Hawaiian Mission Houses) promotes an understanding of the social history of 19th-century Hawai‘i and the relationship between the Aliʻi and the missionaries, and their critical, collaborative role in the formation of modern Hawai‘i.

Over the years, the growing partnership and collaboration between native Hawaiians and the American Protestant missionaries resulted in the introduction of Christianity, a written Hawaiian language, literacy, constitutional government, Western medicine and an evolving music tradition.

Mission_Houses,_Honolulu,_ca._1837._Drawn_by_Wheeler_and_engraved_by-Kalama

January 22, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Makaʻāinana

In the generations that followed initial settlement, the Hawaiians developed a sophisticated system of land use and resource management. In the early 1500s, the island (moku-puni) was divided into districts or moku-o-loko.

The large moku-o-loko were further divided into political regions and manageable units of land. Ahupua‘a, another division of land, were usually marked by altars with images or representations of a pig placed upon them, thus the name ahu-pua‘a or pig altar.

The ahupua‘a were also divided into smaller manageable parcels of land—such as the ‘ili, kō‘ele, mahina ‘ai, māla, and kīhāpa – makaʻāinana lived on kuleana.

In these smaller land parcels the makaʻāinana cultivated crops necessary to sustain their families, and supplied the needs of the chiefly communities they were associated with. (Maly)

“The makaʻāinana were the planters and fishers who lived on (ma) the (ka) lands (‘āina;) the final na is a plural substantive.” (Handy) Or, they may be viewed as maka (eye) ‘āina (land) – ‘the eyes of the land.’ Pukui notes the name literally translates to ‘people that attend the land.’

“They were the commoners who were a class distinct and apart from the aliʻi, or class of chiefs, the temple kahuna or priests, koa or warriors, and konohiki or overseers.” (Handy) The rulers were set apart from the general populace, the makaʻāinana, by an elaborate, strictly enforced series of kapu or restrictions. (Mitchell)

“(T)he reason for this division being that men in the pursuit of their own gratification and pleasure wandered off in one direction and another until they were lost sight of and forgotten.” The makaʻāinana are said to have fallen to their common status because they lost their genealogies. (Malo)

The makaʻāinana made up the largest segment of the population. In addition to their work as the planters and the fishermen they were the craftsmen and the soldiers. They were the major source of manpower. (Mitchell)

The ahupua‘a supplied food and materials to the makaʻāinana who tended the land, as well as to the konohiki (overseers,) who administered the ahupua‘a and the aliʻi nui (chief,) who was responsible for several ahupua‘a.

This responsibility to provide for himself and the aliʻi on a long-term basis generally compelled the konohiki toward sustainable management of both human and natural resources. (Garovoy)

The makaʻāinana lived on the lands assigned to them by the chiefs as long as they worked acceptably and paid adequate taxes.
They could be removed from their lands by the konohiki or any chief with authority in the ahupuaʻa. If they were unhappy under a chief they were free to move to another ahupuaʻa. (Mitchell)

As long as sufficient tribute was offered and kapu (restrictions) were observed, the makaʻāinana who lived in a given ahupua‘a had access to most of the resources from mountain slopes to the ocean.

These access rights were almost uniformly tied to residency on a particular land, and earned as a result of taking responsibility for stewardship of the natural environment and supplying the needs of ones’ ali‘i. (Maly)

The makaʻāinana were allotted a plot of ground by their chief. Here they planted, irrigated, nurtured and harvested taro, sweet potatoes and other crops. They raised pigs, dogs and chickens to supplement their diet, and they had the right to fish in the sea or in protected fish ponds.

The makaʻāinana worked for the chief 6 days each month, fought in the chief’s wars, and paid taxes in the form of goods produced. Order and discipline were maintained through a strict code of laws, known as the kapu system. (UH-CLEAR)

The material necessities and the luxuries of the people of old Hawai’i were produced by these skilled workers. The culture materials which we admire in the museums and private collections today as the unique arts and crafts of Hawai’i are from the hands and minds of these “commoners who were not common.” (Mitchell)

Following the Great Māhele, by 1855, the lands in Hawaii had been distributed: the Konohiki were granted 1.5 million acres (Konohiki Lands;) King Kamehameha was granted approximately 1 million acres (Crown Lands;) and the Hawaiian government was granted 1.5 million acres (Government Lands.)

Deeds executed during the Māhele conveying land contained the phrase “ua koe ke kuleana o na kānaka,” or “reserving the rights of all native tenants,” in continuation of the reserved tenancies which characterized the traditional Hawaiian land tenure system.

The Kuleana Act of 1850 authorized the Land Commission to award fee simple titles to all native tenants who lived and worked on parcels of Crown, Government, or Konohiki Lands. Most makaʻāinana never claimed their kuleana.

Of the 29,221 adult males in Hawaii in 1850 eligible to make land claims, only 8,205 makaʻāinana actually received kuleana awards. Their awards account for a combined 28,600 acres of kuleana lands—less than one percent of the Kingdom’s lands. (Garovoy)