Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

“It Was Not Done By The Missionaries”

John Papa ʻĪʻī began his service in the royal court when he served as an attendant to Liholiho (Kamehameha II.) Īʻī later became a trusted advisor and chief in the court of Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) and continued to serve the sovereigns of Hawaiʻi until his death in 1870.

On February 26, 1829, he wrote an account of events of that day dealing with drunken foreigners who wanted to tear down the missionary house because “they guessed that the missionaries had made the sanction” forbidding prostitution. ‘Ī‘ī notes in his letter, “but that was not so; the chiefs had laid the sanction for they knew that the word of God was right saying not to commit adultery, not to commit prostitution and that is why they forbade it. It was not done by the missionaries.” (Follow the like to see the letter.)

by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Was Christianity Forced or Sought?

To help answer the question posed in the title, we look at portions of letters written during the first decade of the arrival of the missionaries by various chiefs/chiefesses that were in power at that time. Follow the link to the full post – it includes a link to some of the Ali‘i letters – these letters are part of the Ali‘i Letters Collection at Mission Houses.

Related to that, there is also a link to an audio of Puakea Nogelmeier’s presentation at Mission Houses related to the translation project he worked on associated with these letters from the ali‘i to missionaries. In it he noted many believe the missionaries “just kind of came in and took over. They got off the boat and said ‘stop dancing,’ ‘put on clothes,’ don’t sleep around.’” He noted, “And it’s so not the case.”

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John Papa ʻĪʻī

John Papa ʻĪʻī, one of the leading citizens of the Hawaiian kingdom during the nineteenth century, was born at Waipi‘o, Oahu, on August 3, 1800.  At the age of ten John was brought to Honolulu and became an attendant of Kamehameha I and later became a companion and personal attendant to Liholiho (later King Kamehameha […]

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Cemetery Pupu Theatre at Oʻahu Cemetery – Videos of Performances

Hawaiian Mission Houses sponsored Cemetery Pupu Theater the past two weekends – if you missed it, you missed some great live performances.  However, I taped each (on my cell phone) and links to each are provided here. Actors are dressed in period costume telling the life events of select individuals buried at O‘ahu Cemetery – […]

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Cemetery Pupu Theatre at Oʻahu Cemetery, Hawai‘i – 6 pm, June 22-23

This is waaay cool – we went last night. Founded in 1844, O‘ahu Cemetery is Hawai‘i’s oldest public graveyard.  Over the years, O‘ahu Cemetery has become the permanent resting place of hundreds of prominent history makers. Located on 18-acres in lower Nu’uanu Valley, near downtown Honolulu, O’ahu Cemetery is a “classic” example of an early […]