Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Sewing Circles

Long before Western explorers and missionaries arrived in the Polynesian islands, many traditional crafts existed in Hawai‘i that set the stage for the development of its unique style of quilting.

Among other things, Hawaiians were skilled in the creation of kapa (tapa,) clothing or bedding made from the bark of the wauke (paper mulberry) plant.

It is thought that kapa technique – involving the pounding together of strips of bark to form sheets of different textures, which are then colorfully decorated by pen with various dyes – provided the foundation upon which Hawaiian quilting was eventually built.

The use of stitchery in Hawai‘i is documented as early as 1809. After contact, Western and Chinese cloth and silk became available as trade with the islands opened up. Cotton was grown on Maui and O‘ahu in the 19th century, but cotton gins for processing were quite rare.

When missionaries from New England arrived in 1820, the missionary women brought with them their quilts (mostly as keepsakes.) Missionary women helped Hawaiian women to learn to sew in the European style.

“One of the former queens had before requested that our wihenes would make her a gown like their own, was told that it was the Lord’s day, and that they would make it tomorrow.” (April 2, 1820, Thaddeus Journal)

The next day, the first Hawaiian sewing circle was held on the decks of the Thaddeus, “Kalakua brought a web of white cambric to have a dress made for herself in the fashion of our ladies, and was very particular in her wish to have it finished while sailing along the western side of the island, before reaching the king.”

“Monday morning April 3d (1820,) the first sewing circle was formed that the sun ever looked down upon in the Hawaiian realm. Kalakua was directress. She requested all the seven white ladies to take seats with them on mats, on the deck of the Thaddeus.”

“Mrs Holman and Mrs Ruggles were executive officers to ply the scissors and prepare the work … The four native women of distinction were furnished with calico patchwork to sew – a new employment for them.”

“The dress was made in the fashion of 1819. The length of the skirt accorded with Brigham Young’s rule to his Mormon damsels, – have it come down to the tops of the shoes. But in the queen’s case, where the shoes were wanting, the bare feet cropped out very prominently.” (Lucy Thurston, part of the Pioneer Company)

“These were made in the style then prevailing, a very deep yoke, with a short bodice, belted at the waist, and a full skirt. The chiefess was a huge woman, and a belt was found to be impracticable, so the ladles instead gathered the loose skirt on to the yoke.”

“The native women were so delighted with the now garb, so much more convenient than their own, that they at once gave It the name holoku, expressive of the fact that in it they had perfect freedom of motion.”

“The holoku is exactly like the ‘Mother Hubbard gown’ that had such a painful popularity in our country some years ago. It is, to-day, the regulation costume of the Hawaiian women.”

“They wear it at church and on shopping expeditions, in the park and on state occasions, and, this delightful climate permitting such scantiness of attire, it is not an uncommon thing to meet upon Fort street an old woman of the poorer class whose holoku is her sole garment.” (San Francisco Call, March 19, 1893)

“All the women wore the native dress, the sack or holoku, many of which were black, blue, green, or bright rose color, some were bright yellow, a few were pure white, and others were a mixture of orange and scarlet.” Isabella Bird 1894

“At first the holoku, which is only a full, yoke nightgown, is not attractive, but I admire it heartily now, and the sagacity of those who devised it.”

“It conceals awkwardness, and befits grace of movement; it is fit for the climate, is equally adapted for walking and riding, and has that general appropriateness which is desirable in costume.” (Isabella Bird, 1894)

Quilting in Hawai‘i back in 1820s was done in the patchwork style. The Hawaiian women tediously cut the material into the patchwork squares and sewed them back together as they were taught by the missionaries.

It is theorized that Hawaiian women gradually began incorporating elements of tapa design into patchwork quilts, and soon discarded the patchwork approach altogether in favor of the appliqué quilt.

A traditional Hawaiian quilt is a bed sized quilt that is completely an appliquéd design. The design is cut out of one square piece of fabric with a repeat of 8.

The appliqué fabric is folded in half, or three times and all 8 layers are cut out at the same time, then opened out, like a “snowflake”. Usually the designs are symbolic of the flowers, trees or places in Hawai‘i.

The designing of a quilt was a very personal thing. Women occasionally shared their designs with a special friend or relative, but copying a quilt without permission was very much frowned upon.

Many believed that the spirit of the person creating and stitching the quilt became an integral part of the finished work, giving it an added dimension – a sense of life.

Each quilt was given a name, often reflecting the inspiration behind the design. These intriguing quilts have survived as they were only used for special occasions and then passed on from generation to generation.

Four methods of constructing and designing a quilt, when combined, make the Hawaiian quilting process unique:

  • use of whole pieces of fabric for the appliqué and background;
  • the “snowflake” method of cutting the design all at one time;
  • the use of usually only two colors of fabric; and
  • the echo, or outline style of quilting which follows the contour of the applied design throughout the entire quilt

The image shows my mother with quilts she made for her grandchildren; they are made in the patchwork tradition her great-great grandmother (Sybil Bingham) and the other missionary wives used in 1820 when teaching sewing aboard the Thaddeus and later. (I also added to the album our recent addition, a quilt bed cover at our Colorado house.)

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Only The Stars Of The Heavens Know

Kamehameha I died May 8, 1819 at Kamakahonu at Kailua-Kona.

“His bones, in accordance with traditions afforded high kings, were separated from his flesh and placed in a kaʻai, a basket woven of sennet cordage.” (Bill Maiʻoho, Mauna Ala Kahu (caretaker,) Star-Bulletin)

“Mother of pearl was inlaid for the eyes and the king’s own teeth formed the mouth; his flesh was thrown far out to sea.” (Maiʻoho)

“Kamehameha was a planner, so he talked to Hoapili and Hoʻolulu about where his iwi should be hidden,” noting Kamehameha wanted his bones protected from desecration not only from rival chiefs, but from westerners who were sailing into the islands and sacking sacred sites. (Maiʻoho)

Hoapili (originally known as Ulumāheihei) (c. 1775–1840) and Hoʻolulu (1794–1865) were brothers. Both were trusted advisors to Kamehameha.

Their father, High Chief Kameʻeiamoku, was one of the “royal twins” who helped Kamehameha I come to power – the twins are on the Islands’ coat of arms – Kameʻeiamoku is on the right (bearing a kahili,) his brother, Kamanawa is on the left, holding a spear.

When the days of purification were ended and the platform for the body was covered with kapa and a girdle of leaves had been placed, then the high priest finished his ceremonies within the temple house where he had been praying that the spirit of the dead might be given life and welcomed to the company of the good spirits to dwell with Wākea. (Thrum)

When these ceremonies were finished, Hoapili and Hoʻolulu prepared to obey the command given them by Kamehameha to take care of his body and thoroughly secrete it. (Thrum)

The chief’s bones belonged by right to the family of Keawe-a-heulu and to the hidden burial places of its members from Kiolakaʻa and Waiʻōhinu in Kāʻu, but Kamehameha doubted whether this family could keep the place secret, for the place where the bones of their father, Keōua, were hidden was pointed out on the cliffs of Kaʻawaloa. (Kamakau)

Kamehameha had therefore entrusted his bones to Hoapili and Hoʻolulu, with instructions to put them in a place which would never be pointed out to anyone.

Different stories suggest different places where Kamehameha’s bones are located: to an undersea cave that could only be accessed at low tide; over the rough lava plains of Puʻuokaloa to Kaloko in Kekaha; within Kaloko fishpond and others. All stories note he was buried in secret under the cover of darkness.

The ceremonial burial of iwi kupuna (ancestral Native Hawaiian remains) and moepū (funerary objects) involves great secrecy in order to protect the burial site and ensure the peace and sanctity of ancestors who have passed away, as well as the spiritual, physical, and psychological well-being of their descendants. (He Ho‘olaha, OHA)

Kamehameha’s final resting place and his bones have never been found; a saying related to that site notes: ‘Only the stars of the heavens know the resting place of Kamehameha.’

For Hawaiians, burial locations were one of the most secretive traditions in a culture over a thousand years old, and proper handling of ancient burial remains uncovered today; continue to be a highly sensitive cultural concern. (Yardley)

State law (§6E) addresses dealing with burials; §6E-43 Prehistoric and historic burial sites – at any site, other than a known, maintained, actively used cemetery where human skeletal remains are discovered or are known to be buried and appear to be over fifty years old, the remains and their associated burial goods shall not be moved without the department’s approval.

§6E-43.5 Island burial councils; creation; appointment; composition; duties. (a) The department shall establish island burial councils for Hawaii, Maui/Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, and Kauai/Niihau, to implement section 6E-43.

The councils shall: Determine the preservation or relocation of previously identified native Hawaiian burial sites; Assist the department in the inventory and identification of native Hawaiian burial sites; Make recommendations regarding appropriate treatment and protection of native Hawaiian burial sites, and on any other matters relating to native Hawaiian burial sites.

Reportedly, upon the death of Ka‘ahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha, Kuakini, with the help of Hoapili and Ho‘olulu (who had previously hidden the bones of Kamehameha) took the bones of Ka‘ahumanu and put hers with his, so she would be with Kamehameha forever. (Mellen)

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Poi Prohibited

“The sale of poi is now officially prohibited.”

Thus was the March 2, 1911 directive of Food Commissioner Blanchard (as noted in an announcement on the front page of the Hawaiian Gazette, March 3, 1911.)  (While not being sold, there was still plenty of poi available to consumption.)

“Over seventy-five hundred pounds of poi is being distributed free every day to Hawaiians in this city by the board of health under a resolution by the legislature appropriating $2000 out of the contingent fund for the expense subject to the approval of the Governor.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, March 10, 1911)

“About one ton of poi a day is given out at each of the four stations Kalihi, Palama, Mōʻiliʻili and Kawaiahaʻo Church.  At each place there is a health inspector representing the board of health who is in charge of the operation assisted by deputies of Mr Rath superintendent of the Palama settlement work, who is superintending the poi distribution.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, March 10, 1911)

“At first the distribution was in the shape of sacks of poi of about ten pounds each put up at the Kalihi factory but such a great demand was immediately developed that the factory had no time to sack the poi and now it is being sent to the distributing points in barrels.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, March 10, 1911)

“A number of bacteriological tests made with poi have convinced the health officers of the territorial and federal government that that staple can transmit and impart the germs of cholera and probably all other disease of similar nature.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, March 17, 1911)

“With but two exceptions every case of cholera in the two outbreaks during the past two months has been traced to one source of infection – the Manoa valley taro patches and the poi manufactured from this taro.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, April 18, 1911)

“In Manoa valley is a Chinese named Hong Fong who had a taro patch. He carried taro to a shop on Fort street near School. This was made into poi and each day he carried poi from this shop up to Manoa and delivered it to Manana and Mrs Gonsalves who were the first of the Manoa cases.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, April 18, 1911)

“Then comes the Perry family cases in Manoa where cholera wiped out almost an entire family. There were four cases of cholera.  They lived on the bank near this taro field.  They raised their own taro but sometimes bought poi from Hong Fong.”

“They filled their water barrels for drinking purposes from this stream which had been contaminated by Manana when he became sick.” (Hawaiian Gazette, April 18, 1911)

“In this stream Manana’s contaminated clothing was washed by members of his family and water from this polluted stream was used to mix with poi.  A Japanese dairyman nearby used this water to dilute the milk product and the children in the Perry family drank milk so diluted and contaminated.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, April 18, 1911)

“From February 25, when the first case was reported, to March 14, 1911, the date of the last case, there had been reported a total of 31-cases with 22 deaths.  Twenty four days having elapsed since the occurrence of the last case, Honolulu may properly be considered to no longer harbor the disease.”  (Public Health Reports)

The medical conditions led the territorial legislature to enact regulations on the processing of poi.  The “Poi Bill” gave the board of health the authority to close any poi shop which is found to be making poi under filthy and disease-breeding conditions (the first law to regulate poi factories.)

This is not the Islands’ last legislative fight over processing poi.

A hundred years later, in 2011, another “Poi Bill” (SB101) was enacted after it made its way through the legislature and onto the Governor’s desk.

It exempted paʻi ʻai (traditional “hand-pounded poi”) from certain food-processing requirements/permits under certain conditions.  (Up to that passage, the Department of Health deemed paʻi ʻai unsafe.)

(Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused by the bacteria; the main symptoms are watery diarrhea and vomiting.  It is typically transmitted by either contaminated food or water.   Worldwide, there have been several cholera pandemics, killing millions of people.)

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Not Your Average Cup of Ti

Kī, the Ti plant, is a canoe crop, brought to the Islands by the early Polynesians. Kī was considered sacred to the Hawaiian god, Lono, and to the goddess of the hula, Laka. (ksbe)

It was also an emblem of high rank and divine power. The kahili, in its early form, was a kī stalk with its clustered foliage of glossy, green leaves at the top. The kahuna priests in their ancient religious ceremonial rituals used the leaves as protection. Ki planted around dwellings is thought to ward off evil. (ksbe)

Foreigners first fermented, and then distilled, the Kī root into an alcoholic beverage – due to the early means of making the drink, it took on the name ʻōkolehao (lit. iron bottom.)

“If people will drink, let us at least see, if possible, that they drink a fair article of poison. I hold that no man ever killed his wife when under the influence of good, generous liquor. It is the “tarantula juice,” the ʻōkolehao, that does most of the mischief.” (The Friend, October 1, 1879)

It is said to have started when Captain Nathaniel Portlock, part Captain Cook’s crew in 1779, baked roots in an imu (earthen oven) to convert its starches to sugars, added water and let it ferment with wild yeast into a mild beer.

Later, William Stevenson, an escaped convict from Australia, is credited to have taught the native Hawaiians how to distill the beer beverage into a higher alcoholic concoction. (Kepler)

Archibald Campbell, in Hawaiʻi in 1809-1810, traced the evolution of ʻōkolehao from root to toot: “(the root) is put into a pit, amongst heated stones, and covered with plantain and taro leaves; through these a small hole is made, and water poured in …”

“… after which the whole is closed up again, and allowed to remain twenty-four hours. When the root has undergone this process, the juice tastes as sweet as molasses. It is then taken out, bruised, and put into a canoe to ferment; and in five or six days is ready for distillation.”

“Their stills are formed out of iron pots, which they procure from American ships, and which they enlarge to any size, by fixing several tier of calabashes above them, with their bottoms sawed off, and the joints well luted.”

“From the uppermost, a wooden tube connects with a copper cone, round the inside of which is a ring with a pipe to carry off the spirit. The cone is fixed into a hole in the bottom of a tub filled with water, which serves as a condenser.”

“By this simple apparatus a spirit is produced, called lumi, or rum, and which is by no means harsh or unpalatable. Both whites and natives are unfortunately too much addicted to it. Almost every one of the chiefs has his own still.” (Greer)

“ʻŌkolehao still caresses island palates after nearly two hundred years of open or clandestine production.” (Greer)

ʻŌkolehao is a drink that has long been made illegally all over the islands. At frequent intervals Collector Chamberlain or deputies raid stills in mountain fastnesses, and usually the stuff they are found to be making is a kind of ʻōkolehao. (Hawaiian Star, September 12, 1906)

The secluded recesses of the mountain valleys furnish ti root in abundance, water and wood for distillation, and more important still, that immunity from arrest which assures the safety of the business. The manufacture is almost entirely in the hands of the Japanese, who find a ready market among the Hawaiians. (The Friend, October 1, 1903)

“Old-timers praise ʻōkolehao as smooth and seemingly mild – the kind of drink that sneaks up behind one with a sledgehammer. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, who in 1822 described in detail a big ʻōkolehao distillery, denounced the product as “a bad but very potent spirit, something like rum in flavor.’” (Greer)

“Since the perverted ingenuity of some early beachcomber first adjusted a twisted gun barrel to an iron pot, and distilled from the root of the ti this liquor to which the French Republic through the Paris Exposition of 1899 gave a blue ribbon. … ʻŌkolehao has been recognized as something in which Hawaiʻi might well have a proprietary pride, because of its surpassing excellence in its class.” (Hawaiian Star, September 20, 1906)

“So strong was this appeal to Hawaiian loyalty, that even the Provisional Government in 1893, and its successor the Republic of Hawaii, in 1899 winked at the violation of law necessary to make worthy and appropriate quantities of it for exhibition at the Expositions in Chicago and in Paris, and when it was triumphant in both places there was a thrill of Hawaiian pride even in the Missionary breast.” (Hawaiian Star, September 20, 1906)

The first ʻōkolehao ever made under legal authority and by scientific methods is being experimented with by Collector Chamberlain and others, for the purpose of ascertaining the value of the ti root as a producer of distilled liquors.

It is thought by some that the plant is a valuable one and, that there is money to be made in the distillation of liquor from it, though under the present laws of the Territory nothing can be done with it. (Hawaiian Star, May 16, 1903)

“ʻŌkolehao which is as Hawaiian as Vodka is Russian, as pulque is Mexican, as Bourbon is Kentuckian, and which is said by connoisseurs to excel them all in those fine points which go to make up a spirituous liquor, and to be freer from deleterious qualities than any other …”

“… is soon to be manufactured in full compliance with the law, to be put on the market on its merits, to be relieved of the stigma of … contraband, and to have its good qualities proclaimed. The still has already arrived; the “process of manufacture will shortly begin.” (Hawaiian Star, September 20, 1906)

The stuff was the Hawaiian version of bootleg moonshine. Today, DLNR’s Na Ala Hele program includes the ʻŌkolehao Trail on Kauai in its trail system. It follows a ridge top route established in the days of prohibition, when ʻŌkolehao was made from the Kī plants from the area, some of which still remain alongside the trail route.

Under the old laws of Hawaiʻi, mere possession of the stuff was an offense, and until recently the Territorial laws absolutely prohibited any distilling of intoxicating liquors on the islands at all. The passage of a law to license distilling was immediately followed by plans for starting stills of various kinds, and the ʻōkolehao still is the first. (Hawaiian Star, September 12, 1906)

The first distillery legally brought here under federal regulations has arrived and Internal Revenue Collector Chamberlain has received formal notice of its importation, In accordance with the requirements of the statutes, the still is now on the navy wharf, having been landed from the steamer Korea. (Hawaiian Star, September 12, 1906)

The still is to make ʻōkolehao. The beginning of its operations will be the first legal making of that drink. EH Edwards, of Kona, is the owner of the machinery, and intends to start a distillery as soon as possible, to make the genuine ʻōkolehao, from ti root, of which there is a great quantity ion Kona. (Hawaiian Star, September 12, 1906)

Later, Hilo Hattie, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters sang about the cockeyed mayor of Kaunakakai, who “drank a gallon of oke to make life worthwhile.”

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Kīkīaola

Kīkīaola (“sprouting springs of Ola) is a ditch that was built prehistorically to irrigate the taro patches in lower Waimea Valley.

Legends and chants tell of Ola, King of Waimea, who, through Pi, his kahuna (priest), ordered Menehune to build a watercourse here; each brought a stone, and the ditch was finished in a single night.

The ditch runs for a length of 7,000-feet. It is estimated that 75-acres of farmland below the tunnel and 35-40-acres above the tunnel can be irrigated by the ditch. In places, the ditch is over 20-feet high.

There is only a 100-foot length of intact ditch wall visible which is located just above (north) the tunnel. The road construction built up a roadbed of dirt on the riverside of the ditch wall that left only the upper 2-feet of the ditch wall exposed.

This remnant is marked by a bronze plaque that was set into the pali face in 1928 by the Territory of Hawaiʻi to mark the historical significance of the site. The dirt bermed ditch contiguous with the walled portion appears to be an intact portion of the original ditch but lacks the exposed stonework.

The earliest written account of the ditch is by Captain George Vancouver in 1792 when he visited Waimea Valley. Vancouver recorded the site at this time as follows:

“As we proceeded our attention was arrested by an object that greatly excited our admiration, and at once put an end to all conjecture on the means to which the natives resorted for the watering of their plantations.”

“A lofty perpendicular cliff now presented itself, which, by rising immediately from the river, would effectually have stopped our further progress into the country, had it not been for an exceedingly well constructed wall of stones and clay about twenty-four feet high …”

“… raised from the bottom by the side of the cliff, which not only served as a pass into the country, but also as an aqueduct, to convey the water brought thither by great labour from a considerable distance; the place where the river descends from the mountains affording the planters an abundant stream, for the purpose to which it is so advantageously applied.”

“This wall, did not less credit to the mind of the projector than to the skill of the builder, terminated the extent of our walk.” (Vancouver)

Kīkīaola represents a prehistoric irrigation feature (aqueduct) used to transport water to the taro fields on the western side of Waimea River in lower Waimea Valley. The water was being used to irrigate cultivated lands located considerably above the level of the river.

An added engineering challenge “was that of carrying the water, at a high level, around the corner of a jutting cliff. An added difficulty was the necessity of placing the base of the causeway in the river itself where it was constantly in danger of being washed away by a freshet.” (Archaeologist Wendell C. Bennett)

Kīkīaola is said to be the only example of jointed stonework and offers a unique example of this type of causeway construction. Additionally, there are three types of joints represented, including double joint, square joint and notched joint.

Bennett made the following description of the courses of stacked cut stone just above the tunnel, “The stones of this ditch are squared off on all sides but the inside. Some of the blocks are squared all around.”

“The object was to have the stones fit closely together and present a smooth, flat surface on the river side. On the inside, where the fill was of dirt or stone or both, the roughness was perhaps beneficial.”

The presence of the dressed stone in the Menehune ditch is unique for Hawaii and for Polynesia. There is, to be sure, other dressed stonework, but none used for aqueducts, and none with the joints in the blocks.

The extent of this one undertaking is unusual for the Hawaiian Islands where dressed stonework is rare. In most other structures slabs are used instead of blocks.

“The Menehune Ditch is the finest example of such rare stone dressing in the Hawaiian Islands. Today the site consists of about 120 carefully cut-and-dressed stones, closely fitted along a distance of some 200 feet, and forming the outer face of the irrigation canal.”

“This canal, which still carries water to taro fields at the mouth of Waimea Valley, Runs immediately adjacent to the narrow road winding between the cliff and Waimea River.” (Archaeologist Patrick V. Kirch)

Historical modifications to the original structure took place around 1920 when the road was built (as well as when a horse path ran parallel to the ditch, before the road was constructed.)

Likewise, top stones of the wall in sections were removed by valley residents for personal use, by the construction crew to build up the retaining wall for the road and other stones were used to construct the realignment of the ditch.

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