Peter T Young

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)

The missionaries had to adapt to a new diet; for the most part, the missionaries had a very Hawaiian diet. Fish (i‘a), taro (kalo), poi, pigs (pua‘a), chickens (moa), bananas (mai‘a), sweet potatoes (‘uala) were regular parts of the missionary diet. (HMCS)

“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)

In addition, the missionary diet included: melons, squashes, cabbages, cucumbers, green corn, beans, fresh pork, goat, goat’s milk, bread, rice, mountain apples, bananas, pineapples, butter, wine, plus spices such as cinnamon and allspice, beef, and fish.

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)

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 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.)

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June 1, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Star of the Sea

Belgian Priest Father John Berchmans Velghe came to the Islands in 1899; he served in South Kona and built, and painted, what is known as the ‘Painted Church’ in Honaunau.

Father John’s health deteriorated and he had to return to Belgium in 1904, he was never able to finish the church. Even throughout his last years he continued to paint and teach.

While teaching at the Sacred Hearts’ Apostolic School at Aarschot, Belgium, in around 1924 or 1926, he met the young student Matthias Gielen, who was to become Father Evarist of Hawai‘i.

Father Evarist was born in Vlytingen, Belgium in 1897; was trained at the Sacred Hearts’ Scholasticate in Father John’s birthplace, Courtrai, and was ordained at Liege in 1925.

He next studied at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and consequently sent to Hawai‘i. From 1927 to 1941, he served in the Puna district of the Big Island. He built Catholic churches at Pahoa, Mountain View and Kalapana.

Father Damien Joseph DeVeuster (now Saint Damien) preceded Father John and Father Evarist to the Island of Hawai‘i (he came in 1857.) He is credited with building the first Catholic place of worship for the Puna district.

It was a small ‘house’ of bamboo poles coconut fronds and pili grass probably in Kapa‘ahu, about three miles southwest of Kalapana. Although Damien stayed only one year, it is believed he left behind a plan for the building of a more permanent church, a stone church at Kapa‘ahu called St. Joseph’s.

Sometime in the early 1900s, Father Ulrich Taube, abandoned the stone church and built a wooden church in Kalapana, closer to the villagers and Father Evarist replaced that church, close to the beach and villagers.

The church was blessed on April 19, 1931 and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Star of the Sea, the patroness of Catholic missions to sailors and seafarers. Stella Maris is a name for the “North Star,” Polaris, which provided navigational direction in antiquity.

The name was applied to Mary in the early centuries of the Christian Church as a sign of hope, a guiding star for Christians pointing toward her son Jesus. The Marian prayer, Ave Maris Stella, became a popular devotion during the Middle Ages. (Ohana1827)

Father Evarist painted stories of the Bible on the walls, columns and ceiling of the Star of the Sea Church; he painted to instruct his parishioners (many could not read.)

The architecture of Star of the Sea is typical of Catholic mission churches throughout the Islands, it’s a simple, rectangular building approximately 22 feet by 36 feet, clapboard sided with a steep corrugated metal gable roof, a small gable extension to the rear of the church, and a square tower to the right side capped by a hipped roof.

But, it is the relationship of the paintings to the building that enhance the architecture that makes Star of the Sea Painted Church an outstanding example.

The artwork expands the interior space, provides architectural detailing (through Corinthian columns and ribbed vaults) while also serving the crucial function of educating the congregation.

“All the windows are double and take the traditional form of the tablets of the Ten Commandments; this form is echoed, somewhat larger, by the six paintings on the barrel-vaulted ceiling.”

“The windows and the door of the confessional are framed with painted vine, leaf and jewel motifs in gold and brown over blue, and this painting likewise finds an echo in the leafy adornment of the broad, black, wooden ribs which divide the ceiling into three large sections.”

“Between each of the double windows stands a pair of Corinthian columns painted flat on the wall and seeming to support the thin moulding from which the barrel vault springs. Running the entire length of the wall is a red painted canopy from which hang five small scallops of drapery over each window and two large puffs behind the capital of each column.”

“Each of the three grand sections of the ceiling is subdivided by a pair of narrow painted ribs which start from their corners and proceed diagonally to cross at the apex of the barrel vault, leaving a large triangular area on each side; within these triangular areas appear the six large pictures”.

“All the pictures on the ceiling were painted on a light blue ground, which shows through the crackle and flake and has much to do with their generally cool tone.”

“Starting at the right near the door, these pictures are: ‘The Death of Ahab,’… ‘St. Cecilia,’… ‘The Mocking of Christ.’ Starting at the door on the left-hand side of the church, the pictures appear in the following order: ‘The Death of a Sinner,’ … ‘The Guardian Angel’… ‘Christ the King.’”

“On the arch over the recess containing the altar are four very lively angels bearing a ribbon inscribed ‘Maria ka koku O ke kai epale oe makou.’ This is translated into English along the lower edge of the arch: ‘Star of the Sea, pray for us.’”

“At the apex of the arch stands Mary holding the infant Jesus,… A large gold star appears behind this figure, and behind that is blue sea…”

“The barrel-vaulted ceiling over the altar is painted with crossed ribs and graceful leaf forms like those used elsewhere in the church, and in its free spaces appear four angels whose large wings, flowing drapery and extended gestures are the very essence of wind-whipped flight.” (Frankenstein)

Father Evarist eventually retired to Maui, and over time other artists contributed to the artwork. In 1964, at the invitation of then pastor Father Joseph McGinn, a hitchhiker artist from Athens, Georgia named George Heidler added koa wood Stations of the Cross and brightly colored paintings to the lower walls of the church.

However, in 1975, when parishioners invited the retired Father Evarist to visit in celebration of his 50th priestly anniversary, the historian Father Louis Yim relates that …

“A shocking incident took place. Without a word to anyone, the old priest went into the church with a can of light blue paint and covered over Heidler’s painted scenes on the church walls.” Father Evarist spent three months repainting and restoring his 45 year-old murals.

In 1978-79, Father Joseph E. Avery commissioned the Hilo artist George Lorch to paint a series of miniaturist murals over Gielen’s light blue paint and blank spaces.

Lorch’s work portrays figures and events of Catholic history and devotion including: Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary in the Hawaiian language, the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, and two priests of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts. (Ohana1827)

On January 3, 1983 the Pu‘u ‘O‘o eruption on the east rift zone of Kilauea Volcano began. It has the distinction of being the longest-lived historical rift zone eruption at Kilauea.

In 1990, the eruption entered its most destructive phase when flows flooded the village of Kalapana. Over 100 homes were destroyed in a 9-month period. Eventually, new lava tubes formed, diverting lava away from Kalapana early in 1991. (SOEST)

Almost lost was Star of the Sea. As the lava approached, church parishioners decided to move the building to safety. The wooden Roman Catholic Church slowly made its way on a trailer down Beach Road, which crews had cleared of utility poles and overhanging tree branches. It was trucked about a mile out of town. (LA Times)

It is now situated on higher ground outside of Kalapana. Star of the Sea is owned today by the Kalapana ʻOhana Association. It was “decommissioned” by the diocese. (Hawai‘i Catholic Herald) It is now typically open to the public during the day.

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May 31, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ali‘i Letters – Nahienaena to Stewart (1828)

Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives (Mission Houses) collaborated with Awaiaulu Foundation to digitize, transcribe, translate and annotate over 200-letters written by 33-Chiefs.

The letters, written between 1823 and 1887, are assembled from three different collections: the ABCFM Collection held by Harvard’s Houghton Library, the HEA Collection of the Hawaii Conference-United Church of Christ and the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society.

These letters provide insight into what the Ali‘i (Chiefs) were doing and thinking at the time, as well as demonstrate the close working relationship and collaboration between the aliʻi and the missionaries.

In this letter, Harriet Nahi‘ena‘ena, who briefly describes her devotion to the word of God and updates Stewart about the passing of Henrietta Haletii and Kekauōnohi’s marriage to Keali‘iahonui.

Nāhiʻenaʻena was the child of Kamehameha I and his most sacred wife, Keōpūolani, and was the younger sister of Liholiho and Kauikeaouli.

Charles and Harriet Stewart were teachers sent to Hawaiʻi by the ABCFM with the second company of missionaries.

“Lahaina May 31 1828”

“Very great love to you Mr. & Mrs. Stewart,”

“I have a thought to communicate to you – In former times when you dwelt in the midst of us, the word of God had not taken deep root in this land.”

“But now the reality of the wonderful power of God here, is distinctly to be seen. I greatly exalt in the witness of the blessings received by my own soul. On this point I cannot write more fully at present.”

“I have to make known to you the death of your former pupil Henrietta Haletii. She was fully prepared for the house common to us all – the grave.”

“I have also to say that Kekauonohi is married to Keariiahonui.”

“Most affectionate are my salutations to you two Mr. & Mrs. Stewart, & to all the people of God, both male & female”

“Harriet Nahienaena”

Here’s a link to the original letter, its transcription, translation and annotation:
https://hmha.missionhouses.org/files/original/210d4e43c9bab7b98ecddd3a04eeaa46.pdf

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.) They arrived in the Islands and anchored at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

One of the earliest efforts of the missionaries, who arrived in 1820, was the identification and selection of important communities (generally near ports and aliʻi residences) as “stations” for the regional church and school centers across the Hawaiian Islands.

Hawaiian Mission Houses’ Strategic Plan themes note that the collaboration between Native Hawaiians and American Protestant missionaries resulted in the

The introduction of Christianity;
The development of a written Hawaiian language and establishment of schools that resulted in widespread literacy;
The promulgation of the concept of constitutional government;
The combination of Hawaiian with Western medicine, and
The evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition (with harmony and choral singing).

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Nahienaena – Stewart May 31, 1828

May 30, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Fire Consumes the First Kawaiahaʻo Church

“(T)he chapel in which we worshipped was the first ever erected on the ruins of idolatry in this land; and though of the simplest and rudest construction, being entirely in the native style, it was on this account beautiful and lovely in our eyes.”

“We had completed a long voyage, and were permitted to tread the shores of our destination under circumstances of peculiar mercy; and now had the privilege of paying our vows of gratitude to God from one of his peaceful temples, though in the humblest form.”

“I can never forget the excitement with which I entered its lowly roof, trod the matted ground, its only floor, and looked at its unbarked posts and rafters, and coarse thatch of grass: primitive as every thing appeared, I felt that it was a house of God, and one of the happy gates of heaven.” (Stewart)

Then, disaster struck …

“Sabbath evening, (May) 30, (1824) nine o’clock. About an hour since, we were alarmed by the ringing of the chapel bell, and on reaching the door, discovered the south end of the building in one entire blaze.”

“Being entirely of grass, in five minutes the whole was on fire, but not until, by the prompt exertions of a few foreigners and natives, every article of any value, such as the bible, lamps, pulpit – which was moveable – window and door frames, and seats, were removed.”

“The loss was trifling, as to real value; the house was very old and shabby, and, to be used at all much longer, would have required rebuilding.”

“The chiefs have determined to build a stone chapel, as soon as Kalaimoku’s house is finished; but to have a house of the kind destroyed by an incendiary, is painful.”

“Suspicion, as to the perpetrator of the deed, has fallen on a drunken man, who was reproved for improper behaviour during the service this afternoon, and who was heard to threaten to burn the ‘hale pule,’ house of prayer.”

“Others say it has been destroyed by way of retaliation for the death of Kaumuali‘i, who they think was the victim of our prayers.”

“Whichever may have been the cause, it originated only with the father of evil. We could not see it sink into ruins without an emotion of sadness, especially as it fell by the hands of baseness.”

“Many of the natives wept aloud, I doubt not with most unfeigned sorrow, and the air was filled with the exclamations, ‘Aloha ino! aloha ka hale pule – ka hale O ke Akua! auwe! Auwe!’ ‘great is my sorrow, great my love for the house of prayer, for the house of God! alas! alas!’ uttered in most piteous tones.”

“The class of native teachers who are at present under my instruction, were most of them quickly on the ground, and earned all the articles rescued from the fire, within the walls of the mission yard; they manifested much indignation at the wickedness of the ‘kanaka naau po’ – ‘dark-hearted fellow’ – who had done the deed.”

“Monday, 31. Namahana, her husband La‘anui, and several of the chiefs, were at the mission house before sunrise this morning, to sympathise with us for the loss of the chapel.” (Stewart)

This was the first of several earlier buildings that served as a Honolulu church/meeting house, until the present “Stone Church” (Kawaiahaʻo) was completed in 1842.

On December 31, 1820, Levi Sartwell Loomis, son of Elisha and Maria Loomis (the first white child born in the Hawaiian Islands) and Sophia Moseley Bingham, daughter of Hiram and Sybil Bingham (the first white girl born on Oʻahu) were baptized.

This first church building was built of thatch and lined with mats; however, it had glass windows, doors, a wooden pulpit and 2-rows of seats, separated by an aisle. In August of that year, Captain Templeton presented a bell from his ship to be used at the church.

Within a year, Hiram Bingham began to preach in the Hawaiian language. 4-services a week were conducted (3 in Hawaiian and 1 in English.) Congregations ranged from 100 – 400; by the end of the year, the church was expanded.

The church conducted its first funeral in January 1823 for Levi Parson Bingham, infant (16-days) son on Hiram and Sybil Bingham. Three days later, a Hawaiian chief requested similar services on the death of a royal child. (Damon)

Within a couple of days after the fire and destruction of the first church, Kalanimōkū ordered a new church to be built at public expense. A new thatched building (25 by 70 feet) was placed a short distance from the old; it was dedicated July 18, 1824.

1825 saw another sad funeral when the bodies of Liholiho (King Kamehameha II) and his wife Queen Kamāmalu were brought home from England. The church was draped in black.

Interest in the mission’s message outgrew the church and services were held outside with 3,000 in attendance; efforts were underway to build a larger facility to accommodate 4,000.

Kalanimōkū marked out the ground for the new meeting house “on the North side of the road, directly opposite the present house, whither they have commenced bringing coral rock formed on the shore and cut up in pieces of convenient size.” (Chamberlain – Damon) Timber frame and thatching completed the building.

In December, 1825, the third Meeting House building was opened for worship; however, shortly afterward a violent rain storm collapsed the structure.

In 1827 (after Kalanimōkū’s death,) Kaʻahumanu stepped forward and “caused a temporary house to be erected which is 86 feet by 30, with 2 wings each 12 feet wide extending the whole length of the building. … It is not large enough to accommodate all who attend the service on Sabbath mornings, many are obliged to sit without.” (Mission Journal – Damon)

Since that building was considered temporary, the next year, on July 1, 1828, “the natives commenced the erection of the new meeting house which will soon be built.” They were called to bring stones to set around the posts.

The last of the thatched churches served for 12-years. It measured 63 by 196 feet (larger than the present Kawaiahaʻo Church) – 4,500 people could assemble within it.

Then, between 1836 and 1842, Kawaiahaʻo Church was constructed. Revered as the Protestant “mother church” and often called “the Westminster Abbey of Hawai‘i” this structure is an outgrowth of the original Mission Church founded in Boston and is the first foreign church on O‘ahu (1820.)

The “Stone Church,” as it came to be known, is in fact not built of stone, but of giant slabs of coral hewn from ocean reefs. These slabs had to be quarried from under water; each weighed more than 1,000 pounds. Natives dove 10 to 20 feet to hand-chisel these pieces from the reef, then raised them to the surface, loaded some 14,000 of the slabs into canoes and ferried them to shore.

Following five years of construction, The Stone Church was ready for dedication ceremonies on July 21, 1842. The grounds of Kawaiahaʻo overflowed with 4,000 to 5,000 faithful worshippers. King Kamehameha III, who contributed generously to the fund to build the church, attended the service.

Kawaiaha‘o Church was designed and founded by its first pastor, Hiram Bingham. Hiram left the islands on August 3, 1840 and never saw the completed church. Kawaiahaʻo Church is listed on the state and national registers of historic sites.

Kawaiaha‘o Church continues to serve as a center of worship for Hawai‘i’s people, with services conducted every Sunday in Hawaiian and English. Approximately 85% of the services are in English; at least one song and the Lord’s Prayer (as a congregation) are in Hawaiian.

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First Kawaiahao Church Building-TheFriend-Oct 1925

May 28, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Margaret Aiu’s Hula Studio

She was born Margaret Maiki Souza on May 28, 1925 in Honolulu, the daughter of Peter Charles Souza and Cecilia Pai‘ohe Gilman Souza.

Hānai (adopted) to her maternal grandaunt Cecilia Rose Mahoe and John William Kealoha, she grew up in Palolo Valley (she considered them her grandparents.) (Chun; Carnes)

She was educated at St Francis Convent School and lived with the sisters. She later lived with another grandaunt, Helen Pamaieulu Ha‘o Correa (her Tutu,) in Pauoa Valley.

She turned to hula at about the age of 14 or 15.

“Hula of the day of the kings was just a memory to some of the old timers. The old hula lived only in the talent of a few masters. Fortunately, these were training a small number in spite of the odds against their every putting their learning to good use.” (Lake; Advertiser; Chun; Carnes)

She was trained in a full range of the ancient and traditional hula. In 1943, at the age of 18, she graduated (‘uniki) as an ‘olapa (dancer.)

For 8-years she entertained at the Club Pago Pago (now the site of the Japanese Cultural Center on Beretania) – and continued to study, learn dances and seek mentorship for several hula masters. She later married Boniface Aiu.

A devout Christian, she encountered difficulty on practicing traditional rituals and prayers to Laka, the goddess of hula. Her Tutu helped her reconcile the Christian and Hawaiian beliefs and practices and was able to find peace with ancient practices and her own Christianity. Weeks)

She was also studying to become a nurse. But with the encouragement from others, she began to teach hula to the Hawaiian Society at Blessed Sacrament Church. They gave performances at the church and elsewhere.

She formed Margaret Aiu’s Hula Studio. Her students learned Hawaiian genealogies, culture, mannerisms, legends, poetry and the ‘beauties of our own Hawai‘i.’ (Ariyoshi; Chun: Carnes)

The demand for instruction increased. She employed a new teaching style that departed from traditional recital and memorization and incorporated written references, with a blackboard in the studio and student testing.

“She was a successful teacher and many of her graduates went on the become noted kumu hula. She coined the phrase ‘hula is life,’ the concept of ‘hula brothers and sisters,’ and the practice of keeping hula books: writing down motions, lyrics and notes on each hula. … She was as innovative as she was traditional.” (Weeks)

“She really brought back the love and respect for hula and the interest in learning, lei making, costuming, research, history, language and methodology. She was acknowledged by many people as a hula academic responsible for the modern renaissance of hula.” (Daughter Coline Aiu; Chun: Carnes)

In 1952, she received permission from her teachers to change the name of her dance studio to Hālau Hula O Maiki. (However a sign painter reversed some of the wording to read ‘Hula Hālau O Maiki.’)

She later married Haywood Kahauanu Lake, a noted singer, arranger and song-writer, with whom she performed.

She kept it, however in 1974 the studio moved and the sign was corrected. During that year, she was employed by Paradise Park in Mānoa Valley to supervise all their Hawaiian cultural activities.

She held regular, ongoing classes for dancers at all levels, from young to old and from beginner to advanced, with hundreds of students enrolled at any time in different classes.

She welcomed any who were interested in the dance, regardless of age, race, background, or ability, encouraging each student to experience “the art of Hawaiian dance, expressing all that we see, hear, smell, touch, taste and feel.” (Nogelmeier)

After twenty years of teaching in her hālau, Maiki advertised a special class for kumu hula in 1972, apparently the first time such an opportunity had been offered publicly.

Some were critical about the appropriateness of such an open invitation, but the kumu class attracted a large group of high-caliber students, intensely dedicated to the hula and motivated to undergo the rigors of traditional training.

The Papa Lehua, with a graduating class of twenty-six, was the first of many groups of kumu to eventually emerge from Maiki’s “hula university,” as some called it. (Nogelmeier)

Every subsequent kumu class, each named for one of the plant forms in the hula, produced more new kumu hula, all having been trained in the art of the dance and in Maiki’s particular style of instruction. (Nogelmeier)

Recognized as the ‘Mother of Hawaiian Renaissance,’ she graduated 42 first-generation kumu hula, who in turn have graduated 34 second-generation ‘grandchildren.’ (Cazimero)

The list of graduates of Hālau Hula O Maiki includes may of Hawai‘i’s prominent entertainers and kumu hula.

Maiki could be a tough teacher, scolding, cajoling, explaining. “She was all those things, depending on what she had to be. When you were her student, you were also her child; she was your mother.” (Chang; Enomoto, Star Bulletin)

“When we had problems, many went to her before their own parents; that’s how tight the bond was. If she felt we needed to be scolded, she scolded us unmercifully. And it wasn’t privately like a counselor; it was in front of the family. Boom! Right between eyes.”

“Sometimes I left class drained physically, sometimes absolutely drained emotionally; that’s what Maiki did. And, like in any Hawaiian family, she had her favorites, her punahele.” (Chang; Enomoto, Star Bulletin)

The three symbolic virtues of faith, hope and love were the guiding principles of Lake’s life. “Embracing these values, the devoted kumu hula overcame personal and professional challenges to establish her dream, a dance academy built on classic Hawaiian traditions and practice.

Lake not only was a forerunner, she also was a conduit through which the mastery of ‘Iolani Luahine, Mary Kawena Pukui and Lokalia Montgomery was passed on. (Sunderland; Midweek)

Margaret Maiki Aiu Souza Lake died on June 19, 1984 at the age of 59. “Maiki left a legacy of the place of the hālau in the imparting of the whole art and tradition of learning the hula.”

“The place of beginning to learn is not on the dance floor but before the altar, where the offerings are put in place, and where the student comes into the presence of spiritual love and power.” (Ariyoshi)

“Through the Hula we are endowed with great Heritage.” (Aiu) We “are reminded of how special her legacy has become to all who know and learn to dance the hula. This is why hula is life.” (Ariyoshi)

Here is more on Maiki:

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Maiki Aiu performs during her 1948 uniki ceremony-Ariyoshi