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December 1, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Makahiki

There were four months devoted to the observances of the Makahiki, during which time the ordinary religious ceremonies were omitted, the only ones that were observed being those connected with the Makahiki festival. The keepers of the idols, however, kept up their prayers and ceremonies throughout the year. (Malo)

Traditionally, the rising of Makaliʻi (Pleiades) at sunset following the new moon (beginning in late-October or early-November) in noted the change of the season to winter.

The Makahiki is a form of the “first fruits” festivals common to many cultures throughout the world. It is similar in timing and purpose to Thanksgiving, Oktoberfest and other harvest celebrations – it celebrated Lono, god of plenty.

Something similar was observed throughout Polynesia, but it was in pre-contact Hawaiʻi that the Makahiki festival was celebrated during a designated period of time following the harvesting season.

The first period of the Makahiki was the kapu time when the people, although they had stopped working, were not yet allowed to play. Before they could play, the taxes for the King – the pig, the taro, the sweet potatoes, the feathers, the kapa, the mats, all things that were made – had to be brought together and offered on the alters of Lono. (Handy)

Then an image of Lono was carried around the island by the priests. At each of the ahupua‘a, the chief of that district presented the gifts. (Handy)

The Makahiki circuit conducted by the Lono priests carrying the akua loa representation of Lono was marked not only by the collection of tribute within each territorial unit (ahupua‘a), but also by large gatherings of people from each community as the procession of priests and warriors passed through. (Kirch)

Once the ʻAuhau (taxes) and hoʻokupu (offering) were collected, the Makahiki festival, including sports, feasting and dancing, could begin.

While the lands rested and are softened by the rains, in preparation of the new planting season, all wars were prohibited and goodwill prevailed. The chiefs joined with the makaʻāinana in feasting, testing or argumentative skills and athletic competition. (PKO)

At the end of the Makahiki festival, the king went off shore in a canoe. When he came in, a group of men with spears rushed at him (he was protected by his own warriors.) It was believed that unless the king was sacred enough to be superior to death, he no longer was worthy of representing Lono. (Handy)

Various rites of purification and celebration closed the observance of the Makahiki season. During the special holiday the success of the harvest was commemorated with prayers of praise made to the Creator, ancestral guardians, caretakers of the elements and various deities – particularly Lono.

The Kukui tree is considered to be the kinolau, or form, of Kamapuaʻa, the pig god, the lover of fire goddess Pele (perhaps due to light’s affinity with fire) and so a pig’s head carved from kukui wood is placed on the altar to Lono at the annual Makahiki festival.

Kapa was closely linked to Lono. White kapa streamers adorned the akua loa, or ‘long god’ during the Makahiki. The hale o Lono temples were located immediately inside the eastern boundary of each ahupua‘a. They served in the annual tribute collection by the ali‘i during the Makahiki. (Kirch)

Captain Cook sailed past Hāmākua, Hilo, Puna, and Kaʻū and put in at Kealakekua Bay, and on January 17, 1779, he put in at Kaʻawaloa Bay – the sails and masts of the ships of Captain James Cook resembled Lono’s akua loa.

When Captain Cook appeared they declared that his name must be Lono, for Kealakekua was the home of that deity as a man, and it was a belief of the ancients that he had gone to Kahiki and would return. (Kamakau)

“During the Makahiki season … the people of different districts gathered at one place”. (Malo) Kamakau, noted that “a place had been made ready” before the arrival of the Makahiki gods, where sporting matches were performed after the tribute offerings were made. (Kirch)

Hawaiian ethno-historic sources indicate the existence of special gathering places where members of an ahupua‘a community would assemble during the Makahiki period, especially for the offering of tribute to the Lono priests and for various sports, games and other ceremonies associated with this important ritual period. (Kirch) On such has been identified on Kauai.

Lono, the god of agriculture, along with Kāne’s help, insures a life cycle and abundance to all animal husbandry and crops. Kanaloa, the god of the sea, also needs Kāne’s help in order to insure a life cycle for the fish. This is significant as these three components are represented at Kāneiolouma on the South Shore of the island of Kauai.

“The heiau was the principal medium through which all religious activities were manifested, and was therefore the most important representative of religion collectively in ancient Hawai‘i.”

As noted by Henry Kekahuna in his 1959 mapping of the Kāneiolouma complex, the Kāneiolouma heiau at Poʻipū had three main sections (religion, agriculture and aquaculture (fish ponds.))

“On the East side, there is a large sports arena where Hawaiian games such as forearm wrestling, or uma, wrestling, or hakoko, and deadly grappling, or lua, were carried on.” (Kekahuna)

“On the South side, there is a large fishpond where special fish intended only for the ali‘i were raised. The Waiohai spring is the center of this fishpond.”

Extensive walled enclosures, alters, numerous bases for temple images, shrines, taro patches, irrigation ditches, a series of large fishponds, house platforms, extensive cooking areas, and terracing throughout make this complex ideal for rehabilitation.

Within the complex, an intricate system of walls and terraces trace the architecture of an ancient way of life. Near its center, the complex contains what may be the only intact Makahiki sporting arena in the state.

The Kāneiolouma and agricultural site complex is part of a huge complex of agricultural and habitation sites ranging from Kōloa town to the coast of Poʻipū and ranging from the Weliweli area westward to Kukui‘ula Bay and the Kōloa Field System.

Per the Bishop Museum Planetarium, December 1, 2016, marks Makahiki (start of the Hawaiian year.) To mark the start of the Makahiki season: 1) wait for the star cluster of the Pleiades to rise at sunset, which occurs every year on November 17; 2) wait for the new moon that follows this sunset rising of the Pleiades, which occurs in 2016 on November 29 …

3) wait for the first visible crescent moon that follows this new moon. This year, this slender crescent should be visible in the west at dusk on December 1, thus marking the start of the Makahiki season and of the Hawaiian year. (BM)

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Webber drawing of a Makahiki boxing match before Capt. Cook done at Napoopoo in 1779

Makahiki-Cook’s arrival-HerbKane

Akua Loa at Bishop Museum

Kaneiolouma-Poipu,_Kauai

Kaneiolouma-Poipu, Kauai

Kaneiolouma-Henry_Kekahuna-Map

Makahiki-Mural-MauiCollege

Makahiki-Hookupu-MauiCollege

Makahiki-Hookupu_MauiCollege

Makahiki-Celebration-MauiCollege

Makahiki-Celebration_MauiCollege

November 30, 2016 by Peter T Young 14 Comments

Kahikilani

The island of Oʻahu is divided into 6 moku (districts), consisting of: ‘Ewa, Kona, Koʻolauloa, Koʻolaupoko, Waialua and Waiʻanae. These moku were further divided into 86 ahupua‘a (land divisions within the moku.)

Paumalū (‘taken secretly’ (a shark bit off the legs of a woman who caught more squid than was permitted)) is an ahupua‘a in the moku (district) of Koʻolauloa, on the North Shore of O‘ahu. (23-ahupua‘a make up the district of Koʻolauloa.)

“’Pūpūkea-Paumalū survey in progess’ is a note appearing in for February (1904,) which refers to an important discovery of homestead lands on this island. They consist of two tracts of good land aggregating 4,000-acres just northeast of Waimea Bay, and the Oahu Railway runs through the lower portion on the seashore.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, April 29, 1904)

In 1907, the territory was advertising sale of agricultural – pastoral land in the Pūpūkea-Paumalū Tract, “Each of these lots contain large proportions of fine pineapple land.” (Evening Bulletin, June 1, 1907) Later, appropriations were made for water service.

A few years later (1913,) portions of the makai land was noted as subdivided into the Pūpūkea-Paumalū Beach Lots. A resubdivision happened later (1919.)

By 1919, land along the beach, named the Pūpūkea-Paumalū Beach Tract, was sold for residential property. These houses were mostly vacation homes for those who lived in Honolulu. (Dagher) Territorial appropriations were made in 1921 for the construction of roads through the tract.

Long ago there lived on Kauai a chief who was very fond of surfing by the name of Kahikilani (‘the arrival (of) chief.’) He had won every surfing contest on his own home island and now came to O‘ahu to try his skill.

As the surf at Waikiki was not to his liking, he went on to the Koʻolau side of the island. He wanted to prove his prowess in Paumalū surf. He found what he wanted in the large thundering waves of Paumalū.

While he was surfing he noticed some birds circling about him. One old bird in particular would fly a short distance away and then return to circle about him as if urging him to follow.

He did so, and the bird led him into a cave where he met a beautiful girl who had fallen in love with him as she watched him surfing and had sent her pets, the sea-birds, to lead him to her.

She asked him to become her husband and he accepted her proposal. Each morning before he left her for his favorite sport she made him two lehua wreaths to wear, one for his head and one for his neck.

For a long time they lived thus happily until one day as he came ashore from surfing, another girl greeted him and threw about his neck several strands of the golden ʻilima.

The old seabird flew home and reported to his mistress what he had seen. When she saw her lover returning with the ʻilima wreaths about his neck in addition to the lehua strands which she had braided for him, she was very angry and called upon her ancestral gods (ʻaumakua) to punish him.

As he ascended the hill he felt his body becoming heavy and, as he turned to look once more at his beloved surfing beach, there he remained transfixed in stone and is so to this day. (Cultural Surveys)

Some refer to the stone as the ‘George Washington Stone (or Rock;)’ it resembles George Washington wearing a hat.

Oh, one other thing …

Paumalū continues its reputation for its big waves; today, most generally refer to it as Sunset Beach.

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George Washington Rock-1924

Kahikilani-George_Washington

Emanuel_Leutze_(American,_Schwäbisch_Gmünd_1816–1868_Washington,_D.C.)_-_Washington_Crossing_the_Delaware

George Washington

Kahikilani-Paumalu

November 29, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Timeline Tuesday … 1820s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1820s – arrival of the missionaries (Protestant & Catholic,) death of Keōpūolani, Liholiho and Kamāmalu. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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November 28, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiākea Experiment

Toward the end of WWI a unique opportunity presented itself for a major homesteading experiment in Hawai‘i. A number of the long-term, thirty-year leases written during the closing years of King Kalākaua’s reign (1874-1891) were due to expire.

In anticipation of the expiration of these leases, and in keeping with the public land policies of President Wilson’s administration, preparations were undertaken for a large-scale homesteading experiment.

On June 1, 1918, shortly after Governor McCarthy took office, a lease of public land held by the Waiākea Mill Company on 7,261 acres of sugar cane land expired.

The Waiākea plantation had been one of the most profitable sugar corporations in the Islands from its inception until 1918, and there was every promise that homesteading could be successfully undertaken on a portion of the plantation’s land.

In March, 1919, and subsequently in February, 1921, a total of 216 lots in the Waiākea homestead tract were carved out of the plantation’s acreage and were conveyed to individuals under the terms of special homestead agreements.

These lots incorporated an area of 7,261 acres, of which approximately 6,300 acres, or 88 per cent, consisted of cane land. The balance of the acreage was a mixture of various kinds of land, some of which was suitable for other agricultural pursuits. The total appraised value of the land was more than half a million dollars. (LRB)

Applications for homestead lots in the Waiākea tract numbered over 2,000, far more than the number of lots available. To meet this problem, it was determined the homesteads would be awarded by a lottery …”

However, “without reference to whether the prospective homesteaders had any experience in farming, or any of the other qualifications that might have contributed to successful homesteading.”

“Nor did the territorial government plan to assist the homesteaders by providing trained agricultural agents, such as the county extension agents found on the mainland United States; neither did it assist the homesteaders with adequate roads or marketing facilities.”

“In short, virtually nothing was done to create conditions that would contribute to the success of this unique experiment in homesteading.”

“The inevitable outcome, of course, was that the Waiākea homesteading project was an immediate and overwhelming failure.”

“The majority of the Waiākea homesteaders’, unlike its pioneer American prototype, had no intention of tilling the soil. The recollection still lingers in many minds of “Waiākea No.1.” His intentions have been of the best but his agricultural background and qualifications were woefully lacking.”

“Forty percent of these homesteaders forfeited their land through failure to make their payments when due or for other breach of covenant.”

“Sixty percent, either directly or through their successors in interest, were strong enough, many as a result of legislative relief measures, to hold their lots and secure patents.”

“But forfeited or not, we find today nearly ninety percent of the original cane land again in the hands of Waiākea Mill Co. (5537 acres) for the production of sugar, partly as a result of direct leases with the Territory of forfeited lots and partly by direct lease agreements with the owners of the patented lots or lots still held for patent.” (LRB)

“What is considered by the territorial government and the Waiākea Mill Co. to be the only logical solution, under existing conditions, of the acute Waiākea homestead problem, was reached at a conference with Governor Wallace R. Farrington …”

“The Waiākea Mill Co. has agreed to take over the cultivation of the entire area of the Second Series Homesteads of the Waiākea tract, and to cancel all existing contracts with those homesteaders who desire to enter into the new agreement as now proposed.”

“Taking over of the homestead lands by the mill company will relieve the homesteaders of all responsibility with regard to cultivation, fertilization, harvesting, hauling, milling and care of stools.” (Louisiana Planter, 1922)

“The short-term results of the Waiākea experiment, then, were the ruin of many homesteaders, temporary disruption of the efficient functioning of a great and prosperous plantation, which suffered continued, substantial, financial losses until it was able to recapture most of its lost land, and a permanent loss of tax revenue to the territorial government.”

“In an effort to persuade him to resign as governor before the end of his term, some business leaders offered McCarthy an attractive position as general manager of the Hawaiian Dredging Company, even as others fulminated against his policies. He accepted the position, and Wallace Rider Farrington, a Republican, was appointed to succeed him as governor in 1921.” (LRB)

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Waiakea Experiment

November 27, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Uakoko

E ui aku ana au iā ʻoe
Aia i hea ka wai a Kāne?
Aia i kai, i ka moana
I ke kualau, i ke ānuenue
I ka pūnohu, i ka ua koko
I ka ʻālewalewa
Aia i laila ka wai a Kāne

This question I ask of you:
Where, indeed, is the water of Kāne?
There, at sea, on the ocean
In the driving rain, in the heavenly rainbow
In the piled-up mist-wreath, in the blood-red rainfall
In the ghost-pale cloud form
There is the water of Kāne
(Kumukahi)

Uakoko – Lit., blood rain – A low-lying rainbow; A rain so heavy that it turns stream waters red-brown with the wash of the hillside; Reflection of rainbow colors in the clouds. (Ulukau)

“Usually the birth of a kupua, like the birth of a high chief, was attended with strange disturbances in the heavens, such as reverberating thunder, flashing lightning, and severe storms …”

“… which sent the abundant red soil of the islands down the mountain-sides in blood-red torrents known as ka-ua-koko (the blood rain). This name was also given to misty fine rain when shot through by the red waves of the sun.” (Westervelt)

“This was one of the signs of royalty. It was called red rain as also blood rain, whether on land or on the ocean. Whenever a red rain was seen on land or sea, then a priest would remark: ‘I wonder who will be the chief that will die, as foretold by this red rain?’”

“The interpretations of this sign, in relation to the chiefs were many, concerning the demise, or the birth of a chief, or, of the approach or departure of a chief.”

“These signs, such as the clappings of thunder, the fiashings of lightning, and the rain and wind on the ocean were all signs of royalty and pertained either to a dying chief, a traveling chief, or the birth of a chief. These signs do not appear every day, being only seen at their proper time for such revelation.” (Fornander)

“On Oct. 16, 1876, at the house on Emma Street, was born to Princess Miriam Likelike (Mrs AS Cleghorn – Liliʻuokalani’s sister) the child now known to the world as the Princess Kaʻiulani. She was at once recognized as the hope of the Hawaiian people, as the only direct heir by birth to the throne.” (Liliʻuokalani)

The following is one of six name songs written by Lili’uokalani for her niece and heir apparent, Kaʻiulani.

(Rainbows were symbols of royalty. Kauai is praised in the song because some of Kaʻiulan’’s relatives came from there. In the last stanza, Mano is short for Manokalanipō, a famous Kauai chief. Naue on Kauai is noted for pandanus, and Makana cliff in the Hanalei District, for its fragrant ferns.) (Ulukau)

He Inoa No Kaʻiulani

Lamalama i luna ka ‘ōnohi lā
Kāhiko ua koko ‘ula
Ka hō’ailona kapu o ke kama lā
He ēwe mai nā kūpuna

Ahāhā, ua nani ka wahine lā
Ahāhā, ka nohona i ka la’i
Ahāhā, ua hele a nohea lā
Pua ha’aheo o ke aupuni

Ki’ina ka wehi o ke kama lā
I ka mokupuni o Mano
Ka hala o Naue i ke kai lā
Laua’e ‘a’ala o Makana

Kāohi ‘ia iho ka mana’o lā
A ho’i mai ‘o Lilinoe
Ka wahine noho i ke anu lā
I ka piko o Maunakea

A Name Song for Kaʻiulani

The display of a rainbow illuminates above
An adornment with the blood red rain
This is the sacred sign of the princess
The lineage passed down from the ancestors

Well, now, the lady is so pretty
Here now, dwelling in tranquility
My, how she has become so beautiful
A flower that her nation embraces with pride

Fetch the adornment for the princess
On the island of Mano
The hala of Naue in the sea
And the fragrant laua’e of Makana

Any further thoughts should be repressed
Until Lilinoe returns
The woman who dwells in the chilly cold
At the summit of Mauna Kea
(The Liliu Project – Ulukau)

Performance by Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus (HYOC:)

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RedRain-Jordan