Hawaiian Traditions | Page 29 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 13, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻUala

Many cultures in Hawaiʻi have their own names for sweet potato. Kamote is the Tagalog name, and in Aotearoa (New Zealand) they are widely farmed and are called kumara.

In Hawaiʻi, ʻuala is also called ʻuwala. The ʻuala is the second in importance to kalo (taro) as a staple starch food in old Hawaiʻi.

He ʻuala ka ʻai hoʻola koke i ka wi.
The sweet potato is the food that ends famine quickly
(ʻŌlelo Noʻeau from Pukui)

It is in the Morning Glory family and grows easy and it grows fast – within 4-5 months of planting (as opposed to nine to eighteen months for taro), ʻuala is cultivated for their enlarged primary roots called “tubers” (the primary food from the ʻuala,) while leaves can also be eaten.

Tubers were also used as bait for fishing; Vines were used to make an under cushion for lauhala mats in houses; and Fermented ʻuala “beer” (ʻuala ʻawaʻawa) brewed, but it is unclear if this is a pre-contact practice. (Bishop Museum)

It is said ʻUala, sweet potato, was a canoe crop (believed to be brought to Hawaiʻi by the Polynesians, who brought with them shoots, roots, cuttings and seeds of various plants for food, cordage, medicine, fabric, containers, all of life’s vital needs.)

Tracing the history of agricultural products is one way scientists track the migration of people during times when no written records were left behind to offer clues. (Yirda; PHYS)

On his voyages across the Pacific, Captain James Cook encountered geographically disparate Polynesian societies, including those living on Easter Island, Hawai‘i and the north island of New Zealand. These far-flung communities cultivated a common crop, sweet potato. (Denham; NCBI)

Researchers later sampled specimens brought back by early explorers (including Cook.) They found that the DNA evidence indicated that the sweet potato had migrated to Polynesia long before European explorers had made their way to that part of the world. (Yirda; PHYS)

Peruvians first domesticated the sweet potato around 8,000-years ago. And though the crop spread from there, the means by which it traveled have always remained contentious.

One possibility was that Polynesian sailors first brought it home from across the ocean: The oldest carbonized sweet potato evidence in the Pacific hails back to about 1,000 AD – 500-years before Columbus sailed to the Americas.

It is known as the 2nd staple for the Hawaiians. It is said to have been cultivated in Hawaiʻi since about AD 1000. The tubers are consumed after cooking primarily in an imu. Other plant parts were used as animal feed. (UH-KCC)

It’s been called a super food – the average sweet potato weighs 6.5 ounces (about 3/4 cup) and contains 180 calories. It supplies 14 percent of your daily carbohydrate requirement (good carbs) and 26 percent of your daily fiber needs. It is an excellent source of vitamins A and C, potassium, calcium and folate. (Miyasaka)

Purple-fleshed or orange-fleshed varieties are rich in beta carotene and have more anti-oxidants than blueberries. In addition, all sweet potatoes have a low glycemic index. This index is a measure of how quickly foods are broken down into sugars in the human body and converted to body fat. (Miyasaka)

The sweet potato plant grows in dry places. You can find it in low and high areas up to 5,000 feet in elevation. It can also be found in damp valleys although it doesn’t need a lot of water like taro does.

Farming of ʻuala on a large scale was involved the systematic cultivation of dryland crops in their appropriate vegetation zones as exemplified by the Field Systems in Kona, Kohala, Kaupō and Kalaupapa (Kaʻū reportedly also has a field system.)

Cultivation of the soil “was generally divided into small fields, about fifteen rods square fenced with low stone walls, built with fragments of lava gathered from the surface of the enclosures. These fields were planted with bananas, sweet potatoes, mountain taro, paper mulberry plants, melons, and sugar-cane, which flourished luxuriantly in every direction.” (Reverend William Ellis)

Farmers found, farmed and intensified production on lands that were between being too wet and too dry. Archaeological evidence of intensive cultivation of sweet potato and other dryland crops is extensive, including walls, terraces, mounds and other features.

In Kona, the field system was quite large, extending from Kailua to south of Honaunau. In lower elevations all the way to the shore, informal clearings, mounds and terraces were used to plant sweet potatoes; and on the forest fringe above the walled fields there were clearings, mounds and terraces. Sweet potatoes grew among the breadfruit.

In Kohala, the fields were oriented parallel to the elevation contours and the walls (and perhaps kō (sugar cane) planted on them) would have functioned as windbreaks from the trade winds which sweep down the slopes of the Kohala mountains.

Configured in this way, the walls would also have reduced evapotranspiration and – with heavy mulching – retained essential moisture for the crops. This alignment of fields also conserved water by retaining and dispersing surface run-off and inhibited wind erosion and soil creep.

Based on experimental plantings, if only half of the Kohala Field System was in production in one year, it could be producing between 20,000 to 120,000-tons of sweet potato in one crop.

At Kaupō, on the slopes of Haleakalā, the field system is associated in Hawaiian oral traditions with Kekaulike, a famous Maui king (ali‘i nui) who on genealogical estimates is dated to approximately the early eighteenth century.

Kekaulike made Kaupō his residential seat, and assembled his army at Mokulau, preparing for a war of conquest against his rivals on Hawai‘i Island.

Given its use as a Royal Center for Island Ali‘i, there was a definite need for sufficient crop production. Fortunately, the area has an ideal combination of soils, elevation and rainfall making it also a predictable environment for an intensive dryland field system to feed the people.

Historic records note that this region was identified as “the greatest continuous dry planting area in the Hawaiian islands,” both in ancient times and well into the 1930s.

The field system a closely spaced grid of east-west embankments and small field plots bisected at right angles by longer north-south trending walls; it covered an area of 3,000 to nearly 4,000-acres and could have supported a population of 8,000-10,000 people.

At Kalaupapa peninsula, archaeological and carbon-dating evidence indicate that the initial settlement and presence of people on the Kalaupapa (“the flat plain”) peninsula on the Island of Molokaʻi was before 1200.

There is a grid of rain-fed plots, defined by low stone field walls built, in part, to shelter sweet potatoes and other crops from trade winds, that cover the Kalaupapa Peninsula. It appears that the field system was a secondary area of settlement and agricultural development, with the wetter valley and sediment soil being the preferred areas.

Instead of enclosed fields associated with the more recent historic era, archaeologists found dense rows of unenclosed alignments and substantial house sites quite unlike the temporary shelters found in other Hawaiian field systems.

At Kōloa, Kauai, another unique feature was found; the early Hawaiians constructed sophisticated irrigation systems tapping off of Waikomo Stream for growing their crops.

Beginning possibly as early as 1450, the Kōloa Field System was planned and built on the shallow lava soils to the east and west of Waikomo Stream. It is characterized as a network of fields of both irrigated and dryland crops, built mainly upon one stream system. Waikomo Stream was adapted into an inverted tree model with smaller branches leading off larger branches.

This agricultural system which at its peak covered over 1,000 acres extends from the present Kōloa town to the shoreline and includes a complex of wet and dryland agricultural fields and associated habitation sites.

Commercial sweet potato cultivation in the islands began in 1849. In 1919, sweet potato was considered tenth in value among agricultural crops in Hawai’i when grown as an emergency crop during the war years. (Lots of information from Vitousek, Kirch, McCoy and Hammatt)

September 29, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Maui No Ka Oi

Several have asked about historical information on Lahaina and West Maui. Here is a repeat of something I posted a while ago – its focus is on West Maui.

West Maui was considered a ‘window to the world’ because this area has seen the comings and goings of rival chiefs, kings, missionaries, whalers, government officials, the military, sugar and pineapple plantation owners, early labor immigrants, celebrities and travelers for centuries.

This ‘window’ is a metaphor. As a ‘window to the world,’ the stories of West Maui give a bigger perspective of the world, than we would otherwise have, and helps us to expand our view and broaden our understanding of the world.

History tells us much about a community – what it is and where it has come from. West Maui has a rich history dating back to the times of: Pre-contact Hawaiʻi; Hawaiian Monarchy; American Protestant Missionaries; Whaling industry; Sugar and Pineapple Plantations; and Evolution of the West Maui Community.

Each successive passage of an era has added to the cultural richness of the community. And through the tireless efforts of numerous organizations and individuals in the community, much has been done to preserve the historic character of West Maui town and to restore historic sites.

The island of Maui is divided into twelve moku; Kāʻanapali, Lāhainā, Wailuku, Hāmākuapoko, Hāmākualoa, Koʻolau, Hāna, Kīpahulu, Kaupō, Kahikinui, Honuaʻula and Kula. Two of these, Kāʻanapali and Lāhainā make up West Maui.

Probably there is no portion of our Valley Isle, around which gathers so much historic value as West Maui. It was the former capital and favorite residence of kings and chiefs.

After serving for centuries as Royal Center to ruling chiefs, West Maui was selected by Kamehameha III and his chiefs to be the seat of government; here the first Hawaiian constitution was drafted and the first legislature was convened.

Hawai‘i’s whaling era began in 1819 when two New England ships became the first whaling ships to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands. Over the next two decades, the Pacific whaling fleet nearly quadrupled in size and in the record year of 1846, 736-whaling ships arrived in Hawai’i.

Although Honolulu was originally the port most favored by the whalers, West Maui often surpassed it in the number of recorded visits, particularly from about 1840 to 1855.

Lāhainā Roads, also called the Lāhainā Roadstead is a channel between the islands of Maui and Lānai (and to a lesser extent, Molokai and Kahoʻolawe) making it a sheltered anchorage.

The central location of the Hawaiian Islands between the continent and Japan whaling grounds brought many whaling ships to the Islands. Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile lands.

Between the 1820s and the 1860s, the Lāhainā Roadstead was the principal anchorage of the American Pacific whaling fleet. One reason why so many whalers preferred West Maui to other ports was that by anchoring in a roadstead from half a mile to a mile from shore they could control their crews better than when in a harbor.

Another factor to affect the change, growth and social structure of West Maui was the arrival of the first missionaries in the islands during 1820.

The first missionaries to be established at Lāhainā, the Rev. CS Stewart and the Rev. William Richards, arrived in 1823. They came at the request of Queen Mother Keōpūolani, who moved to live in Lāhainā that year.

The great event of 1823 was the death of Keōpūolani at Lāhainā. Within an hour before “joining the Great Majority” she had been baptized as a Christian, an occurrence which proved a great stimulus to increasing the influence of the missionaries. King Kaumuali’i of Kauai, at his special request, was buried beside Keōpūolani in 1824. (NPS)

In 1831, classes at the new Mission Seminary at Lahainaluna (later known as Lahainaluna (Upper Lahaina)) began. The school was established by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions “to instruct young men of piety and promising talents” (training preachers and teachers.) It is the oldest high school west of the Mississippi River.

Per the requests of the chiefs, the American Protestant missionaries began teaching the makaʻāinana (commoners.) Literacy levels exploded.

From 1820 to 1832, in which Hawaiian literacy grew by 91 percent, the literacy rate on the US continent grew by only 6 percent and did not exceed the 90 percent level until 1902 – three hundred years after the first settlers landed in Jamestown – overall European literacy rates in 1850 had not been much above 50 percent.

Centuries ago, the early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully.

It was not until 1823 that several members of the West Maui Mission Station began to process sugar from native sugarcanes for their tables. By the 1840s, efforts were underway in West Maui to develop a means for making sugar as a commodity.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for a contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

It is not likely anyone then foresaw the impact this would have on the cultural and social structure of the islands. The sugar industry is at the center of Hawaiʻi’s modern diversity of races and ethnic cultures. Of the nearly 385,000-workers that came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix. Hawai‘i continues to be one of the most culturally-diverse and racially-integrated places.

Pioneer Mill Company was one of the earliest plantations to use a steam tramway for transporting harvested cane from the fields to the mill. Cane from about 1000‐acres was flumed directly to the mill cane carrier with the rest coming to the mill by rail. (The Sugar Cane Train is a remnant of that system.)

In 1859, an oil well was discovered and developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania; within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses – spelling the end of the whaling industry.

By 1862, the whaling industry was in a definite and permanent decline. The effect of West Maui was striking. Prosperity ended, prices fell, cattle and crops were a drag on the market, and ship chandleries and retail stores began to wither.

Historically Maui’s second largest industry, pineapple cultivation has also played a large role in forming Maui’s modern day landscape. The pineapple industry began on Maui in 1890 with Dwight D. Baldwin’s Haiku Fruit and Packing Company on the northeast side of the island.

West Maui’s roots in the historic pineapple industry began in 1912, when of Honolua Ranch manager, David Fleming began growing pineapple there; almost overnight the pineapple industry boomed.

The ranch was soon renamed Baldwin Packers; at one time they were the largest producer of private label pineapple and pineapple juice in the nation.

One of the first hotels in West Maui was the Pioneer Hotel – founded in 1901. George Freeland arrived in the Lāhainā roadstead on a ship that had just come from a long voyage through the south seas; he noted a need for a hotel.

It remained the only place for visitors to stay on Maui’s west side until the early-1960s. Tourism exploded; West Maui is a full-fledged tourist destination second only to Waikīkī.

Lāhainā’s Front Street, offering an incredible oceanfront setting, people of diverse cultures, architecture and incredible stories of Hawaiʻi’s past, was recognized as one of the American Planning Association’s 2011 “Great Streets in America.”

The following link is to a larger discussion on West Maui – it was prepared a few years ago, before the fires.

Click HERE to view/download for more information on West Maui’s place in the Islands and world.

To see and read about the many structures that were lost in the Lahaina fire, I encourage you to download an App developed by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation that was put together as a ‘Walking Tour’ through Lahaina (you will see images and information on the pre-fire structures):

https://lahainarestoration.org/lahaina-historic-trail/

The tragic fire in Lahaina destroyed many of the physical structures of the community. Some of the historic buildings may be rebuilt; something else will take the place of others.

But the fires did not take away the memory we share of this area. Do what you can to help those that have been impacted and share your memories of West Maui and Lahaina. Maui No Ka Oi (Maui is the best).

Humpback_Whale-Maui-(Stan_Butler-NOAA)-WC

Olowalu-Petroglyphs

Bathing scene, Lahaina, Maui, watercolor, by James Gay Sawkins-1855

Port-of-Lahaina-Maui-1848

Whale-ships at Lahaina-(vintagehawaii)-1848

Edward_T._Perkins,_Rear_View_of_Lahaina,_1854

Whales from McGregor Point-(cphamrah)

Pioneer Mill

McGregor_Point-Norwegian-Monument

Lahaina_from_offshore_in-1885

Lahaina_Boat_Landing

Lahaina,_West_Maui,_Sandwich_Islands2,_watercolor_and_pencil,_by_James_Gay_Sawkins-1855

Lahaina,_Maui,_c._1831

Lahaina, Front Street 1942

Lahaina Tunnel Dedication (1951)

Lahaina Roads

Lahaina Harbor before harbor perimeter retaining wall built-ca 1940

Lahaina Courthouse-fronting beach-(now Lahaina Small Boat Harbor)

Banyan Tree located in courthouse square in the center of Lahaina

Baldwin Packers Cannery (kapalua)

1837 Map of the Islands; made by students at Lahainaluna School (Mission Houses)

September 27, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Name’s the Same

A toponym is a place name derived from topographical features. I recently read an article by Andrew Crowe who notes that there are several place names in New Zealand (NZ) that are shared in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The following is from that article.

Crowe states that the origin, or origins, of New Zealand Māori are currently thought to lie in the ‘central East Polynesian interaction sphere’ – primarily in the Society and Southern Cook Islands.

This conclusion is supported by studies of the mtDNA variation in local populations of the humanly-transported Pacific rat, and by affinities in language and archaeology.

A survey of place names shared between New Zealand and East Polynesia found by far the majority in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Given that the immediate origin of Māori is generally thought to lie in the ‘central East Polynesian interaction sphere.’

Crowe notes that a substantial number of place names shared between New Zealand and Hawai‘i are not shared with the Society Islands. This suggests a possibility that the high number of names shared between these two regions reflects a degree of contact between them.

Polynesian toponyms – like those worldwide – are either descriptive or commemorative of people, events or other places. To evaluate them in terms of geographical links, we should ideally know why each name was conferred.

Descriptive names, such as ‘one loa’ = ‘one roa’ (‘long beach’), may be independently coined in different places for similar topographic features, but this does not preclude other associations. For example, when the name ‘Long Beach’ is subsequently conferred on a long beach outside California, one may still be able to infer who might have named it.

Here’s another example of the names being the same – Hawai‘i Island – Hawaiki (ancestral homeland of NZ Māori). Or, a place on that island, Hilo – Whiro (NI) & Te Whiro (NI). Or, another place on the other side (also found in other places throughout Hawai‘i), Kailua – Tairua (NI & SI).

Here are some similarly-named Hawai‘i streams: Wailoa – Wairoa; Wailua – Wairua; Waimanu – Waimanu; Waimea – Waimea; Waipi‘o – Waipiko.

Heading to O‘ahu, we find Honolulu (Whangaruru is a harbor on the NZ North Island). On O‘ahu’s windward side has Kailua, He‘eia and Kahana (New Zealand has Te Rua (SI), Hekia (SI) and Tahanga (NI).

O‘ahu’s north shore has Waimea (NZ has Waimea), Laniākea (in NZ there is Rangiātea) and Kawela (Te Wera is a place in NZ). Wai‘anae is across the way, Waikanae is in NZ.

On Maui you will find Mākena (there’s a Mātenga in NZ), Nāpili (Ngāpiri is on NI), Wai‘ānapanapa (NZ has Waikanapanapa), Waiehu and Waine‘e (NZ has Waiehu and Waiheke).

Crowe’s article notes 518 Hawaiian place names that are similar to New Zealand. For the most part, the lists comprise only those landscape features and locations that were of general interest: harbors, channels, reefs, cliffs, beaches, bays, points, islets, caves, peaks, hills, craters, ranges, valleys, plains, rivers, streams, springs, falls, swamps, lakes, districts, villages and marae/heiau.

The islands of Hawai‘i and O‘ahu stand out with higher numbers of similarly-named Māori place names; when compared by land area, the density of shared names on Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Ni‘ihau was found to be comparable with that on the island of Tahiti.

Crowe concludes, for this and other reasons, Hawai‘i deserves to be considered as a potential source of (or to otherwise have been in contact with) New Zealand Māori – despite its immense distance from New Zealand and isolation at European contact.

September 26, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ho‘oipoikamalanai

The Puna district of Kauai is well known for two legendary chiefs, Kawelo and Mō‘īkeha. Kawelo is more closely associated with Wailua and Hanamā‘ulu and Mō‘īkeha is linked to Kapa‘a. Mō‘īkeha is understood to be the grandchild of Maweke, one of the principal genealogical lines from which Hawaiians today trace their ancestry.

Sometime between the eleventh and twelfth centuries marks the arrival of Maweke to the Hawaiian Islands. Mō‘īkeha succeeds his older brother Kumuhonua as ruling chief during the time of Mailikūkahi. Kapa‘a is mentioned in traditions concerning Kawelo (Kaweloleimākua), the mo‘o Kalamainu‘u and the origins of the hīna‘i hīnālea fish, and the story of Lonoikamakahiki.

Mō‘īkeha Kapa‘a was the final home of the legendary chief Mō‘īkeha. Born at Waipi‘o on the island of Hawai‘i, Moʻikeha sailed to Kahiki (Tahiti), the home of his grandfather Maweke, after a disastrous flood. (Cultural Surveys)

Moʻikeha was an aliʻi nui (high chief) from Moa‘ulanuiakea, Tahiti, where he lived with his wife Kapo. They had a child named Laʻamaikahiki. Moʻikeha became infatuated with Luʻukia, the wife of ‘Olopana, but she created some domestic difficulties.

Moʻikeha sailed back to Hawaiʻi with his sisters, Makapuʻu and Makaʻaoa, his two younger brothers, Kumukahi and Haʻehaʻe, his priest Moʻokini, and his prominent men (na kanaka koikoi) – navigators (ho‘okele), favorite priests (kahuna punahele) and his lookouts (kiu nana,) who would spy out land.

After sailing the Island chain, Moʻikeha sailed to Kauai, landing at Wailua. The canoe was brought ashore, and the travelers got off. Meanwhile the locals were gathering in a crowd to go surf-riding at Ka-makaiwa. Among them were the two daughters of the ali‘i nui of Kauai, Ho‘oipoikamalanai and Hinauʻu.

Orders were issued that Mo‘ikeha be brought to the house of the two ali‘i women. Mo‘ikeha and his company were sent for and brought in the presence of the king.

The love of these young people being mutual, Ho‘oipoikamalanai and Hinauu took Mo‘ikeha to be their husband. Mo‘ikeha became ali‘i nui of Kauai after the death of his father-in-law.

Mo‘ikeha had five children with Ho‘oipoikamalanai and Hinauu, all boys. Ho‘oipoikamalanai’s children were Umalehu, Kaialea, Kila; Hinauu’s children were Kekaihawewe and Laukapalala.

Mo‘ikeha worked to make his two wives and five children happy, giving his undivided attention to the bringing up of his boys. He thought no more of Lu‘ukia, but after a while, he began to feel a yearning desire to see his son La‘amaikahiki, his child by his first wife Kapo.

So he called his five sons together and said to them: “I‘m thinking of sending one of you boys to bring your elder brother to Hawai‘i.” His boys became greatly excited, each one shouting: “Let me go! Let me go!!”

When Mo‘ikeha saw there would be much contention among his sons, he devised a test to determine who should be chosen to go to Tahiti. (Kawaharada)

Kila, Moʻikeha’s favorite of three sons by the Kauai chiefess Ho‘oipoikamalanai, was born at Kapaʻa and was said to be the most handsome man on the island. It was Kila who was sent by his father back to Kahiki to slay his old enemies and retrieve a foster son, the high chief La‘amaikahiki. (Kawaharada)

In another legend, Mō‘īkeha sends his son to Tahiti to slay his enemies. Upon reaching Tahiti, Kila meets his father’s aunt, Kanepohihi, in the form of a blind, supernatural rat. He introduces himself, sending his father Mō‘īkeha’s greetings. Kanepohihi asks of Mō‘īkeha, and Kila responds:

I walea ia Kauai
I ka lā hiki ae a pō iho
I ke kee a ka nalu o Makaiwa
I ka hiki mai a ka la maluna
O ke kalukalu o Kewa
O ka wai halau o Wailua
O ka lealea o ka mai o kuu makuahine
O Ho‘oipoikamalanai
O kahi noho no o Kauai a make

He is indulging in ease in Kauai
Where the sun rises and sets again,
Where the surf of Makaiwa curves and bends,
Where the sun comes up over
The kalukalu of Kewa;
The stretched out waters of Wailua,
And the entrancing favors of my mother
Ho‘oipoikamalanai
He will live and die in Kauai
(Fornander IV)

Kamakau’s Version of Mo‘ikeha’s Marriage: Mo‘ikeha married one woman whose name was both Ho‘oipoikamalanai and Hina-‘au-lua. Mo‘ikeha’s three children were Ho‘omali‘i, named for the skin of ‘Olopana; Haulani-nui-ai-akea for the eyes of ‘Olopana; and Kila, for Lu‘ukia, the wife of ‘Olopana. (Kamakau; Kawaharada)

Kalakaua’s Version of Mo‘ikeha’s Marriage: Mo‘ikeha married Ho‘oipo after winning the right to do so in a canoe race devised by Puna, the ali‘i of Wailua and the father of Ho‘oipo.

Puna sent a servant with a palaoa (a carved and consecrated whale-tooth) to the island of Ka‘ula (SW of Kauai). Nine suitors raced to the island to be the first to bring the whale-tooth back.

Mo‘ikeha won the race by sailing to Ka‘ula with the help of La‘amaomao, his director of winds, who had a calabash that contained all the winds of Hawai‘i, which he could call forth by chanting their names.

Moʻikeha settled at Kapaʻa Kauai as ruling chief of the island. Mō‘īkeha’s love for Kapa‘a is recalled in the ‘ōlelo no‘eau: Ka lulu o Mō‘īkeha i ka laulā o Kapa‘a “The calm of Mō‘īkeha in the breadth of Kapa‘a ” (Pukui 1983: 157).

The place “Lulu-o-Mō‘īkeha” is described as being situated “near the landing and the school of Waimahanalua”. The landing in Kapa‘a was known as the Makee Landing and was probably constructed in the late 1870s, along with the Makee sugar mill.

Today, in place of the old Makee Landing is part of a breakwater located on the north side of Moikeha Canal, near the present day Coral Reef Hotel. (Cultural Surveys)

Upon his death, Kila, his son, became ruling chief of Kauai. (McGregor) After Moʻikeha’s death, his corpse was taken to the cliffs of Haʻena where it was deposited.

September 24, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

4,000 … 40,000 … 400,000 …

When Hawaiians prayed, in order to include all aspects of God (not to omit or offend any of the akua,) they added to the prayer the words, “E Hoʻoulu ana I kini o ke akua, ka lehu o ke akaua, na mano o ke akua” (Invoke we now the 40,000 gods, the 400,000 gods, the 4,000 gods.) (Beckwith)

In Hawaiian culture, natural and cultural resources are one and the same. Native traditions describe the formation (literally the birth) of the Hawaiian Islands and the presence of life on, and around them, in the context of genealogical accounts.

All forms of the natural environment, from the skies and mountain peaks, to the watered valleys and lava plains, and to the shore line and ocean depths are believed to be bodily manifestations of Hawaiian gods and deities.

It was the nature of place that shaped the cultural and spiritual view of the Hawaiian people. “Cultural Attachment” embodies the tangible and intangible values of a culture – how a people identify with, and personify the environment around them.

It is the intimate relationship (developed over generations of experiences) that people of a particular culture feel for the sites, features, phenomena and natural resources etc., that surround them – their sense of place. This attachment is deeply rooted in the beliefs, practices, cultural evolution and identity of a people. (Kent)

The Hawaiian Kumulipo is a genealogical prayer chant linking the royal family to which it belonged not only to primary gods belonging to the whole people and worshiped in common with allied Polynesian groups, not only to deified chiefs born into the living world within the family line, but to the stars in the heavens and the plants and animals useful to life on earth, who must also be named within the chain of birth and their representatives in the spirit world thus be brought into the service of their children who live to carry on the line in the world of mankind. (Beckwith)

Hawaiians honored a kind of diffused hierarchy of gods, headed by Kanaloa, Kāne, Kū and Lono. Each has his areas of responsibility or “departments.” (Kanahele)

Kāne heads the areas of procreation, fresh water, forests, certain plants and animals. Kū oversees war, politics, certain fish and shrubs, and trees.

Lono is in charge of the peace, agriculture, the weather and healing. Kanaloa’s responsibilities suggest an important role of the oceans, voyaging and fishing.

In addition to these patron gods, many lesser deities were recognized who had their own responsibilities. Certain akua watched over certain professions (healers, dancers, canoe makers, tapa makers, astrologers, etc.)

There were also family gods, and gods for individuals. Each family had its own ʻaumakua (personal god) that watched over and protected them. For some it was the shark, others the pig, and so on.

It was thought that spirits could communicate to the living through dreams and often appeared in the form of the family’s ʻaumakua.

Likewise, a vast number of demigods (kupua) that took life forms and represented as part human and part god and often tell of historic and heroic struggles between different kupua.

Kupua stories tend to follow a regular pattern. The kupua is born in some non-human form, but detected and saved by his grandparents (generally the mother’s side,) who discern the divine nature. He is won over by some chief and sent to do battle with his rival. (Beckwith)

Within these various major natural forms, gods, lesser gods, ʻaumakua, kupua and even humans was ‘mana’ – a spiritual energy. It is therefore an external and internal force within and around us.

“The missionaries found that the conflict between the light of Christianity and the darkness of heathenism was no momentary struggle.” (Bingham) The Hawaiians were criticized for believing in a great many spirits, worshipping ‘false gods’ and setting up alters in their honor.

This polytheism (worship or belief in multiple deities) was not and is not unique (although modern Christians may reference it differently.) This is not to suggest the faiths are the same; there are, however, signs of similarity that should not be ignored.

A discussion on cultural beliefs helped me see that even in today’s Christian faith, while one God is ever present – Christian worshippers look to and seek guidance and assistance from others within the religion, beyond God.

Take, for example, the Catholic religion and beatification of two saints with Hawaiʻi ties, Saint Damien and Saint Marianne.

Roman Catholic canonization requires evidence of miracles attributed to that person’s intercession. People pray to the religious members for help; multiple miracles may move that member to saintly status.

Catholics pray to God; but within the religion are numerous Saints and Angels who are also looked upon and prayed to; as well as others (as former Father Damien and Mother Marianne, before their elevation to Sainthood.)

During Pope Benedict XVI’s term as Pope (2005-2013) at least 45 new saints were added to the Catholic roles; so, the list of saints continues to grow.

Likewise, look at the monumental edifices erected for worship by other religions, including Christianity. Houses of worship are not simple structures and each has an alter and other religious representations.

Again, I am not saying they are the same; however, it looks like we may all be more similar than we sometimes think.