Hawaiian Traditions | Page 40 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 7, 2022 by Peter T Young 5 Comments

Context

Sometimes, it is easy to overlook the context of events that took place in the past. We also sometimes judge them in today’s frame of reference. This stuff happened 200-years ago.

To set a foundation, we are reminded that in 1782 Kamehameha began a war of conquest, and, by 1795, he subdued all other chiefdoms, with the exception of Kauai. King Kamehameha I launched two invasion attempts on Kauai (1796 and 1804;) both failed.

In 1804, King Kamehameha I moved his capital from Lāhainā, Maui to Honolulu, O‘ahu.

In the face of the threat of a further invasion, in 1810, Kaumuali‘i decided to peacefully unite with Kamehameha and ceded Kauai and Ni‘ihau to Kamehameha and the Hawaiian Islands were unified under a single leader.

On May 8, 1819, King Kamehameha I died.

Following the death of Kamehameha I in 1819, his son, Liholiho (King Kamehameha II) declared an end to the kapu system. “An extraordinary event marked the period of Liholiho’s rule, in the breaking down of the ancient tabus, the doing away with the power of the kahunas to declare tabus and to offer sacrifices, and the abolition of the tabu which forbade eating with women (ʻai noa, or free eating.)” (Kamakau)

“The custom of the tabu upon free eating was kept up because in old days it was believed that the ruler who did not proclaim the tabu had not long to rule….”

“The tabu eating was a fixed law for chiefs and commoners, not because they would die by eating tabu things, but in order to keep a distinction between things permissible to all people and those dedicated to the gods”. (Kamakau)

Kekuaokalani, Liholiho’s cousin, opposed the abolition of the kapu system and assumed the responsibility of leading those who opposed its abolition.

Kekuaokalani (who was given Kūkaʻilimoku (the war god) before his death) demanded that Liholiho withdraw his edict on abolition of the kapu system. (If the kapu fell, the war god would lose its potency.) (Daws)

The two powerful cousins engaged at the battle of Kuamoʻo; Liholiho’s forces defeated Kekuaokalani.

In the discussion above, we reference traditional Hawaiian people, places and practices. What we tend to overlook is that these events happened 40-years after ‘Contact’ (1778) and took place with white and other foreigners living among the Hawaiians.

We shouldn’t overlook that Western ways were well underway, with aliʻi leading the changes. Let’s look.

At the time of Cook’s arrival (1778-1779,) the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lanai and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and at (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

In 1790 (at the same time that George Washington was serving as the first US president,) the island of Hawaiʻi was under multiple rule; Kamehameha (ruler of Kohala, Kona and Hāmākua regions) successfully invaded Maui, Lanai and Molokai.

In fact, western arms and fighting techniques helped put Kamehameha into his leadership role.

Because of their knowledge of European warfare, John Young and Isaac Davis trained Kamehameha and his men in the use of muskets and cannons. In addition, both Young and Davis fought alongside Kamehameha in his many battles.

In addition to arms, Kamehameha also had Western boats, replacing the traditional canoes. The first Western-style vessel built in the Islands was the Beretane (1793.)

Through the aid of Captain George Vancouver’s mechanics, after launching, it was used in the naval combat with Kahekili’s war canoes off the Kohala coast. (Thrum)

Encouraged by the success of this new type of vessel, doubtless others were built between this period and the opening of the present century. One was a schooner called Tamana (named after Kamehameha’s favorite wife, Kaʻahumanu.) (Thrum, 1886)

Several small decked vessels were built. (Case) According to Cleveland’s account, Kamehameha possessed at that time twenty small vessels of from twenty to forty tons burden, some even copper-bottomed. (Alexander)

Trade in Hawaiian sandalwood began as early as the 1790s; by 1805 it had become an important export item. In 1811, an agreement between Boston ship captains and Kamehameha I established a monopoly on sandalwood exports, with Kamehameha receiving 25% of the profits.

As trade and shipping brought Hawaiʻi into contact with a wider world, it also enabled the acquisition of Western goods, including arms and ammunition.

Western clothes were catching on, as well. In 1809, Russian sailors noted that the Hawaiians had been bartering woolen cloth, blue and red thread and canvas in exchange for food stuffs from Kamehameha in exchange. They used the cloth to make malo and pāʻu. (Barratt)

In 1819, when Louis de Freycinet sailed in on the ship Uranie, Mde. Rose de Saulces de Freycinet, the captain’s wife, described Kalanimōkū (a High Chief who functioned similar to a Prime Minister) as “going on board dressed in loin cloth and a European shirt, more dirty than clean.” (Del Piano)

“It was not cloth as much as finished … clothing, however, that the Hawaiians valued. The aliʻi prized dress uniforms. Other Islanders took any sort of clothing. As time passed, Hawaiians built up larger wardrobes and no longer thought themselves well dressed if they were clad in one or two haole garments.”

“The higher a Hawaiian’s rank, the more likely it was that he or she would wear imported haole clothes on ceremonial occasions. Namahana, Kamāmalu and Kaʻahumanu, among other high-born women, had a number of volumimous velvet and satin dresses by the early-1820s.” (Barratt)

Western customs had also caught on.

When the Pioneer Company of Protestant missionaries first arrived at Kawaihae (March 30, 1820,) “Kalanimōkū was the first person of distinction that came. In dress and manner he appeared with the dignity of a man of culture.” Obviously familiar with western customs, the chief gallantly bowed and shook the hands of the ladies. (Del Piano)

In 1820, Hiram Bingham noted, “(Kalanimōkū’s) appearance was much more interesting than we expected. His dress was a neat dimity jacket, black silk vest, mankin pantaloons, white cotton stockings, and shoes, plaid cravat and a neat English hat. He sometimes however wears the native dress.” (Thaddeus Journal, April 1, 1820)

“Kalanimōku was distinguished from almost the whole nation, by being decently clad. His dress, put on for the occasion, consisted of a white dimity roundabout, a black silk vest, yellow Nankeen pants, shoes, and white cotton hose, plaid cravat, and fur hat.” (Hiram Bingham)

“We honored the king, but we loved the cultivated manhood of Kalanimōku. He was the only individual Hawaiian that appeared before us with a full civilized dress.” (Lucy Thurston)

By 1823, Queen Mother Keōpūolani (mother of Kamehameha II and III) began to accept many western ways. She wore western clothes, she introduced western furniture into her house and she took instruction in Christianity.

It’s interesting (at least to me) to consider the context of the actions in 1819 with the abolition of the kapu. When you look at it strictly from the Hawaiian people, places and practices, it’s one thing; however, when you look at what was also going on in the Islands at the same time, it puts a whole new perspective on it.

Captain Cook estimated the population at 400,000 in 1778. When Vancouver, who had been with Cook, returned in 1792, he was shocked at the evidences of depopulation, and when the missionaries arrived in 1820, the population did not exceed 150,000. (The Friend, December 1902)

The image shows Kamehameha I in Western wear in 1817; at the time, he was still enforcing the centuries-old kapu system. (Drawn by Choris)

‘King_Kamehameha_I_in_a_Red_Vest’_c._1820

May 24, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Chiefs in the 1820s

“The houses of the chiefs are generally large, for the kind of building, – from forty to sixty feet in length, twenty or twenty-five in breadth, and eighteen or twenty in height at the peak of the roof.”

“The sides and ends, as well as the roof, are of thatch, and the whole in one apartment. They are generally without windows, or any opening for light or air, except a wide door in the middle of a side or end.”

“In the back part of the house, the personal property and moveables, such as trunks, boxes, calabashes and dishes for water, food, &c. are deposited; while the mats for sitting, lounging, and sleeping are spread near the door.”

“Every chief has from thirty to fifty and an hundred personal attendants, friends and servants, attached to his establishment; who always live and move with him, and share in the provisions of his house.”

“All these, except the bosom friends, or punahele, have different offices and duties: – one is a pipe lighter, another a spittoon carrier, a third a kahile bearer, &c. Others with their families, prepare, cook, and serve the food, &c.”

“All the former, from the bosom friend, or punahele, to the pipe lighter, eat from the same dishes and calabashes with their master; and form, at their meals, a most uncouth and motley group.”

“In every respect indeed, as well as in that of eating, the household servants of the whole company of chiefs, from the king to the petty headman of a village, seem to enjoy a perpetual saturnalia.”

“The formation of this establishment takes place immediately on the birth of a chief, whether male or female. A kahu or nurse is appointed, who assumes all the care of the parent, and directs the affairs of the child, till he is old enough to exercise a will of his own.”

“Thus, often, very little intercourse takes place between the parents themselves, and the young chief; the former not unfrequently residing at a different district, or on a different island.”

“The present prince and princess, who are both children, have each separate houses, and a large train of attendants: and though their guardians of state reside near them, they are left very much to their own will, or to that of their kahus or nurses.”

“I have seen a young chief, apparently not three years old, walking the streets of Honoruru as naked as when born, (with the exception of a pair of green morocco shoes on his feet,) followed by ten or twelve stout men, and as many boys, carrying umbrellas, and kahiles, and spitboxes, and fans, and the various trappings of chieftainship.”

“The young noble was evidently under no controul but his own will, and enjoyed already the privileges of his birth, in choosing his own path, and doing whatever he pleased.”

“This portion of the inhabitants spend their lives principally in eating and drinking, lounging and sleeping; in the sports of the surf, and the various games of the country; at cards, which have long been introduced …”

“… in hearing the songs of the musicians, a kind of recitation accompanied by much action; and in witnessing the performances of the dancers.”

“They are not, however, wholly given to idleness and pleasure. It is customary for the male chiefs to superintend, in a degree, any work in which their own vassals, at the place where they are residing, are engaged, whether of agriculture or manufacture …”

“… and the female chiefs, also, overlook their women in their appropriate occupations, and not unfrequently assist them with their own hands.”

“A great change appears about to take place among the chiefs, in the general manner of employing time. The palapala and the pule, letters and religion, as presented by the Missionaries, are happily beginning deeply to interest their minds …”

“… and books and slates, I doubt not, will, as is the fact already, in individual cases, soon universally take the place of cards and games, and every amusement of dissipation.”

These general and desultory remarks will give you, my dear M-, some idea of the external character and state of the nobler part of the nation, for whose benefit H – and myself have sacrificed the innumerable enjoyments of home.”

“As to their qualities of heart and mind, they in general appear to be as mild and amiable in disposition, and as sprightly and active in intellect, as the inhabitants of our own country.”

“Ignorance, superstition, and sin, make all the difference we observe: and though that difference is at present fearful indeed, still we believe, that, with the removal of its causes, it will be entirely done away.”

“Notwithstanding the dreadful abominations daily taking place around us, drunkenness and adultery, gambling and theft, deceit, treachery, and death, all of which exist throughout the land to an almost incredible degree …”

“… such has already been the success attending the efforts at reformation, made in the very infancy of the Mission, that we are encouraged by every day’s observance, with fresh zeal to dedicate ourselves to the work of rescue and salvation.”

“No pagan nation on earth can be better prepared for the labour of the Christian Missionary; and no herald of the cross could desire a more privileged and delightful task …”

“… than to take this people by the outstretched and beckoning hand, and lead their bewildered feet into paths of light and life, of purity and peace …”

“… nor a greater happiness than to be the instrument of guiding, not only the generation now living, in the right way, but of rescuing from wretchedness and spiritual death, millions of the generations yet unborn, who are here to live, and here to die, before the angel ‘shall lift up his hand to heaven, and swear that there shall be time no longer!’” (The entire text, here, is from CS Stewart.)

Alphonse_Pellion,_Îles_Sandwich;_Maisons_de_Kraïmokou,_Premier_Ministre_du_Roi;_Fabrication_des_Étoffes_(c._1819)

May 19, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawaiian Woods – Hawaiian Royal Residences

Most houses at the time of Cook’s contact consisted of a framework of posts, poles and slender rods – often set on a paving or low platform foundation – lashed together with a coarse twine made of beaten and twisted bark, vines, or grassy fibers. This was then covered with ti, pandanus or sugarcane leaves, or a thatch of pili grass or other appropriate material.

When covered with small bundles of grass laid side by side in overlapping tiers, these structures were described as resembling haystacks. One door and frequently an additional small “air hole” provided ventilation and light, while air also passed through the thatching. Grass or palm leaves covered the raised earth floors of these houses.

When a chief needed a house, his retainers assembled the materials and erected the structure under the direction of an individual (kahuna) expert in the art of erecting a framework and applying thatch.

Many of these more modern royal residences were named – some were named after the material they were made from. Here are three such royal residences.

Hale Kauila (Downtown Honolulu – Queen Kīna‘u)

Hale Kauila (house built of kauila wood) once stood on the street in downtown Honolulu that still bears the name of this large council chamber or reception room (some refer to it as Kina‘u’s house.)

While the thatch is attached in the usual way, the posts are much higher than usual and have squared timber; but the most foreign touch, apart from the windows, are the cross braces at the top and between the posts and the plate (they were never used in genuine native work.)

The description by Captain du Petit-Thouars of this house (which he calls the house of the Queen Kīna‘u:) “This house, built in wood and covered with dry grasses, is placed in the middle of a fortification closed with a fence.”

“The platform on which it rests is high above the ground in the yard about 30 centimeters and it is surrounded, externally, a covered gallery which makes it more pleasant.”

“Its shape inside, is that of a rectangle lengthens; in one end, there is a flat shape by a wooden partition which does not rise to the roof.”

“This piece serves as a bedroom, in the remaining of the area, box, and at the other end, there is a portion of the high ground from 28 to 30 centimeters, which is covered with several mats: it is this kind of big couch that was placed the ladies and they are held lying on one side or stomach, or they stand to receive and to make room.”

Hale Lama (Waikīkī – King Kamehameha V)

King Kamehameha V’s Waikīkī home was built in 1866. It was called Hale Lama. As described by George Kanahele, the residence “was quite modest with only one bedroom, but was notable for its neo-Hawaiian architecture – a low, rectangular-shaped structure, with a high-pitched, hipped roof that was thatched and descended to the poles of the lanai that sounded three of the four exterior walls.”

“The design suited Waikiki’s climate perfectly. The high pitched roof allowed for the upward expansion of warm air, thus cooling the inside of the house, and the wide overhanging eaves kept out both sun and rain, while inviting the serenity and beauty of the natural setting.”

“It has been mentioned that the lama wood was especially used for building houses of the gods, that is, the thatched houses within the enclosures of the heiau or luakini, and its use in building the house for King lot, Kamehameha V, gave an excuse for its reported use by an old kahuna in the King’s establishment, for a house of prayer, and I am assured by an old resident that prayers to the gods were frequently offered therein”.

After the Kamehameha V’s death in 1872, the house and property went to went to Princess Ruth who bequeathed the property to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The Princess and her husband Charles Bishop renovated and enlarged the house with servant quarters.

Hale Kamani (Lāhainā – Princess Nahiʻenaʻena)

When Keōpūolani returned to Maui to live her final years, she had a house on the beach in Lāhainā; her daughter, Nahiʻenaʻena, lived in her own home next door – Nahiʻenaʻena called her house Hale Kamani.

It had an early and convenient addition to the common grass house in a land where the people lived so generally in the open air, was the lanai, with extensions of the rafters at the same or a slightly reduced slope.

This verandah was, generally speaking, the most comfortable part of the house. This lanai was often detached as in the Hale Kamani and was sometimes large with walls of coconut leaves intertwined, and a nearly flat roof of similar substance which was intended to furnish shade rather than shelter from heavy rain.

At least one other Royal Residence was named after a native wood ‘Āinahau (Princess Kapi‘olani’s home in Waikīkī;) however, it was named such because it was situated in a hau grove, not that its wood was used in the structure.

May 18, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“People think of the islands as a white place”

“Time erases stories that don’t fit the preferred narrative.” (BC historian Jean Barman to BBC writer Diane Selkirk)

This summary is inspired by a random e-mail I received that included just a link – the link was to a BBC story about Hawaiians in British Columbia’s Gulf Islands.

Captain Vancouver claimed the islands for the British Crown, and referred to them as being located in a “gulf.” While the Gulf Islands are clearly not in a gulf, the name stuck.

In the same year, Spanish and British cartographic expeditions also explored the area, intent on finding a passage to the northwest Atlantic. (Gulf Islands Tourism)

Canada’s Gulf Islands are scattered across the Salish Sea between Vancouver and Southern Vancouver. The area is now home to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve—an ecological paradise of land pockets on 15 islands, plus numerous small islets and reef areas. The forested Gulf Islands include Mayne, Galiano, Hornby, and Gabriola. The largest is Salt Spring. (Destination BC)

“The Gulf Islands are comprised of dozens of islands scattered between Vancouver and Southern Vancouver Island. With a mild climate and bucolic landscapes, it’s been the continuous unceded territory of Coast Salish Nations for at least 7,000 years.”

“The Spanish visited in 1791 and then Captain George Vancouver showed up, claiming the Gulf Islands for the British Crown. Not long after, settlers began arriving from all parts of the world. Many of them were Hawaiian, while black Americans, Portuguese, Japanese and Eastern Europeans also settled on the islands.”

“(I)n the late 1700s, during a period of strife when Indigenous Hawaiians (including royalty) were losing their rights and autonomy at home, many of the men joined the maritime fur trade.”

“A large number of Hawaiians settled on the western shore of Salt Spring Island where they could continue their traditions of fishing and farming “

“Employed by the Hudson Bay Company, hundreds, if not thousands, of Hawaiians found their way to Canada’s west coast. By 1851, some estimates say half the settler population of the Gulf Islands was Hawaiian.”

“Then in the late 1850s, as the border between the US and present-day Canada solidified, many Hawaiians who had been living south moved north, where they were afforded the rights of British citizenship.”

“Once in BC they became landowners, farmers and fishermen. Gradually, they intermarried with local First Nations or other immigrant groups and their Hawaiian identity was almost lost. But during the years when the land containing the orchards was researched and studied, their story was revived, and Hawaiian Canadians began reclaiming their heritage.”

“British Columbia’s Gulf Islands are testament of an era when, during a period of internal strife, Hawaiian royalty left their tropical home for distant islands.”

“Maria Mahoi, a woman born on Vancouver Island in about 1855 to a Hawaiian man and a local Indigenous woman … spent her young adulthood sailing a 40ft whaling schooner with her first husband, American sea captain Abel Douglas.”

“As they had children and their family grew, they settled on Salt Spring Island. Here a large number of Hawaiian families had formed a community on the western shore extending south from Fulford Harbour to Isabella Point, overlooking the islands of Russell, Portland and Cole.”

“Mahoi’s first marriage ended, leaving her a single mother with seven children. She then married a man named George Fisher, the son of a wealthy Englishman called Edward Fisher and an Indigenous Cowichan woman named Sara. The two had an additional six children and made their home in a log cabin on 139 acres near Fulford Harbour.”

“The restoration of Mahoi’s story ended up helping to shape part of a national park.”

“Much of what we think of as Hawaiian culture – hula dance, lei making and traditional food – are the customary domain of women. So those parts of the Hawaiian culture didn’t come to the Gulf Islands with the first male arrivals. But the Hawaiians left their mark in other ways.”

“The community provided both the land and the volunteer builders for the St Paul’s Catholic Church at Fulford Harbour; and Chinook Jargon, the local trade language of the time, included many Hawaiian words. The culture also showed in where the Hawaiians chose to live: most settled in the islands where they were able to continue their practices of fishing and farming.”

“Visitors can enter Maria Mahoi’s house on Russell Island and hear stories about her life on the island .“

“In Mahoi’s case, she also left behind the family home. The small house – with doorways that were just 5’6” – reflects the small stature of the original inhabitants, something that intrigued later owners.”

“Over time, as more of Russell Island’s unique history became clear, it was acquired by the Pacific Marine Heritage Legacy in 1997 and then deemed culturally distinct enough to become part of GINPR in 2003.”

“In 2003, Portland Island, with its winding trails, sandstone cliffs and shell-midden beaches, had become part of the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve (GINPR), a sprawling national park made up of protected lands scattered across 15 islands and numerous islets and reefs in the Salish Sea.”

“Over the next 15 years, 17 abandoned orchards, on eight of the islands, were studied by Parks Canada archaeologists and cultural workers in order to gain a glimpse into the lives of early settlers in the region.”

“On Portland Island, a new park sign told me, the heritage apples including Lemon Pippin, Northwest Greening, Winter Banana and Yellow Bellflower had been planted by a man called John Palau, one of the hundreds of Hawaiians who were among the earliest settlers in the region.”

The article notes, “History, though, can become obscured. And the story of the Gulf Islands became an English one. ‘People think of the islands as a white place,’ BC historian Jean Barman told [the author]. ‘Time erases stories that don’t fit the preferred narrative.’”

The “island history had faded from general knowledge”. “ Part of the problem is the fact that the records of Hawaiians who came to the west coast are particularly challenging.”

“Newly arrived Hawaiians often went by a single name or just a nickname. Even when a first and last name was recorded, a name’s spelling often changed over time. So it became difficult to track a specific Hawaiian royal through his or her lifetime.”

“The legacy of the early Hawaiian settlers was virtually erased from history, but now Hawaiian Canadians have begun reclaiming their heritage.”

“‘When people share the stories of who they are, they’re partial stories. What gets repeated is based on how ambivalent or how proud you are,’ Barman said, explaining this is why many British Columbians of Hawaiian decedent she’s spoken to claim royal heritage. It was a story they were proud of.”

May 3, 2022 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

1819

The Era of Good Feelings began with a burst of nationalistic fervor. The economic program adopted by Congress, including a national bank and a protective tariff, reflected the growing feeling of national unity.

The Supreme Court promoted the spirit of nationalism by establishing the principle of federal supremacy. Industrialization and improvements in transportation also added to the sense of national unity by contributing to the nation’s economic strength and independence and by linking the West and the East together.

But this same period also witnessed the emergence of growing factional divisions in politics, including a deepening sectional split between the North and South.

A severe economic depression between 1819 and 1822 provoked bitter division over questions of banking and tariffs. Geographic expansion exposed latent tensions over the morality of slavery and the balance of economic power. (University of Houston, Digital History)

The Panic of 1819 and the accompanying Banking Crisis of 1819 were economic crises in the US that some historians refer to it as the first Great Depression.

The growth in trade that followed the War of 1812 came to an abrupt halt. Unemployment mounted, banks failed, mortgages were foreclosed, and agricultural prices fell by half. Investment in western lands collapsed.

The panic was frightening in its scope and impact. In New York State, property values fell from $315 million in 1818 to $256 million in 1820. In Richmond, Virginia, property values fell by half. In Pennsylvania, land values plunged from $150 an acre in 1815 to $35 in 1819. In Philadelphia, 1,808 individuals were committed to debtors’ prison. In Boston, the figure was 3,500.

For the first time in American history, the problem of urban poverty commanded public attention. In New York in 1819, the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism counted 8,000 paupers out of a population of 120,000.

Fifty thousand people were unemployed or irregularly employed in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one foreign observer estimated that half a million people were jobless nationwide.

The downswing spread like a plague across the country. In Cincinnati, bankruptcy sales occurred almost daily. In Lexington, Kentucky, factories worth half a million dollars were idle. Matthew Carey, a Philadelphia economist, estimated that 3 million people, one-third of the nation’s population, were adversely affected by the panic.

In 1820, John C. Calhoun (later to become US Vice President) commented: “There has been within these two years an immense revolution of fortunes in every part of the Union; enormous numbers of persons utterly ruined; multitudes in deep distress.”

The Panic of 1819 and the Banking Crisis left many people destitute. People lost their land due to their inability to pay off their mortgages. United States factory owners also had a difficult time competing with earlier established factories in Europe.

The United States did not fully recover from the Banking Crisis and the Panic of 1819 until the mid-1820s. These economic problems contributed immensely to the rise of Andrew Jackson. (Ohio History Central)

In the Islands …

The ʻaikapu is a belief in which males and females are separated in the act of eating; males being laʻa or ‘sacred,’ and females haumia or ‘defiling’ (by virtue of menstruation.)

Since, in this context, eating is for men a sacrifice to the male akua (god) Lono, it must be done apart from anything defiling, especially women. Thus, men prepared the food in separate ovens, one for the men and another for the women, and built separate eating houses for each.

The kahuna suggested that the new ʻaikapu religion should also require that four nights of each lunar month be set aside for special worship of the four major male akua, Ku, Lono, Kane and Kanaloa. On these nights it was kapu for men to sleep with their wahine. Moreover, they should be at the heiau (temple) services on these nights.

Under ʻaikapu, certain foods, because of their male symbolism, also are forbidden to women, including pig, coconuts, bananas, and some red fish. (Kameʻeleihiwa)

“The custom of the tabu upon free eating was kept up because in old days it was believed that the ruler who did not proclaim the tabu had not long to rule. If he attempted to continue the practice of free eating he was quickly disinherited.”

“The tabu of the chief and the eating tabu were different in character. The eating tabu belonged to the tabus of the gods; it was forbidden by the god and held sacred by all. It was this tabu that gave the chiefs their high station.” (Kamakau)

If a woman was clearly detected in the act of eating any of these things, as well as a number of other articles that were tabu, which I have not enumerated, she was put to death. (Malo) (Sometimes surrogates paid the penalty.)

But there were times ʻaikapu prohibitions were not invoked and women were free to eat with men, as well as enjoy the forbidden food – ʻainoa (to eat freely, without regarding the kapu.)

“In old days the period of mourning at the death of a ruling chief who had been greatly beloved was a time of license. The women were allowed to enter the heiau, to eat bananas, coconuts and pork, and to climb over the sacred places.” (Kamakau)

“Free eating followed the death of the ruling chief; after the period of mourning was over the new ruler placed the land under a new tabu following old lines. (Kamakau)

Following the death of Kamehameha I in 1819, Liholiho assented and became ruling chief with the title Kamehameha II and Kaʻahumanu, co-ruler with the title kuhina nui.

Kaʻahumanu, made a plea for religious tolerance, saying: “If you wish to continue to observe (Kamehameha’s) laws, it is well and we will not molest you. But as for me and my people we intend to be free from the tabus.”

“We intend that the husband’s food and the wife’s food shall be cooked in the same oven and that they shall be permitted to eat out of the same calabash. We intend to eat pork and bananas and coconuts. If you think differently you are at liberty to do so; but for me and my people we are resolved to be free. Let us henceforth disregard tabu.”

Keōpūolani, another of Kamehameha I’s wives, was the highest ranking chief of the ruling family in the kingdom during her lifetime. She was a niʻaupiʻo chief, and looked upon as divine; her kapu, equal to those of the gods. (Mookini) Giving up the ʻaikapu (and with it the kapu system) meant her traditional power and rank would be lost.

Never-the-less, symbolically to her son, Liholiho, the new King of the Islands, she put her hand to her mouth as a sign for free eating. Then she ate with Kauikeaouli, and it was through her influence that the eating tabu was freed. Liholiho permitted this, but refrained from any violation of the kapu himself. (Kuykendall)

Keōpūolani ate coconuts which were tabu to women and took food with the men, saying, “He who guarded the god is dead, and it is right that we should eat together freely.” (Kamakau)

The ʻainoa following Kamehameha’s death continued and the ʻaikapu was not put into place – effectively ending the centuries-old kapu system.

Coming of the American Protestant Missionaries – 1819

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) from the northeast United States, set sail from Boston on the Thaddeus for Hawai‘i.

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. …”

“Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.” (The Friend)

“Oct. 23, 1819. – This day by the good providence of God, I have embarked on board the brig Thaddeus (Blanchard master) for the Sandwich Islands to spread the gospel of Christ among the heathens.” (The term ‘heathen’ (without the knowledge of Jesus Christ and God) was a term in use at the time (200-years ago.))

“At 8 oclock took breakfast with the good Mr. Homer; at 11, gave the parting hand toward our dear friends on shore, & came on board accompanied by the Prudential Com. Mr. and Mrs. Dwight and some others.” (Samuel Whitney)

“That day week (the 23d), a great crowd of friends, acquaintances, and strangers, gathered on Long Wharf, for farewell religious exercises. The assembly united in singing the hymn, ‘Blest be the tie that binds.’”

“Dr. Worcester, in fervent prayer, commended the band to the God of missions; and Thomas Hopoo made a closing address. The two ordained brethren, assisted by an intimate friend, & then with perfect composure sang the lines, ‘When shall we all meet again?’”

“A fourteen-oared barge, politely offered by the commanding officer of the ‘Independence’ 74, was in waiting; the members of the mission took leave of their weeping friends, and were soon on board the brig ‘Thaddeus,’ Capt. Blanchard, which presently weighed anchor, dropped down the harbor, and the next day, with favoring tide and breeze, put out to sea. (Thompson)

After 164-days at sea, on April 4, 1820, the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi. Hawai‘i’s “Plymouth Rock” is about where the Kailua pier is today.

By the time the Pioneer Company arrived, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished; through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by former Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”), about 184-men and women in twelve Companies from New England served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the ABCFM in the Hawaiian Islands.

Collaboration between the Hawaiians and the American Protestant missionaries resulted in the

Introduction of Christianity;
Development of a written Hawaiian language and establishment of schools that resulted in widespread literacy;
Promulgation of the concept of constitutional government;
Combination of Hawaiian with Western medicine; and
Evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition (with harmony and choral singing)

First Whalers to Hawai‘i – 1819

Edmond Gardner, captain of the New Bedford whaler Balaena (also called Balena,) and Elisha Folger, captain of the Nantucket whaler Equator, made history in 1819 when they became the first American whalers to visit the Sandwich Islands (Hawai‘i.)

“I had one man complaining with scurvy and fearing I might have more had made up my mind to go to the Sandwich Islands. I had prepared my ship with all light sails when I met the Equator.”

“I informed him of my intention. He thought it was too late to go off there and get in time on the West Coast of Mexico. I informed Folger what my determination was.”

“I gave orders in the morning to put the ship on a WSW course putting on all sail. In a short time after the morning, I discovered he was following. We made the best of our way to the Sandwich Islands where we arrived in six-teen days, had a pleasant passage to the Islands and arrived at Hawaii 19th 9 Mo 1819.“ (Gardner Journal)

A year later, Captain Joseph Allen discovered large concentrations of sperm whales off the coast of Japan. His find was widely publicized in New England, setting off an exodus of whalers to this area.

These ships might have sought provisions in Japan, except that Japanese ports were closed to foreign ships. So when Captain Allen befriended the missionaries at Honolulu and Lahaina, he helped establish these areas as the major ports of call for whalers. (NPS)

“The importance of the Sandwich Islands to the commerce of the United States, which visits these seas, is, perhaps, more than has been estimated by individuals, or our government been made acquainted with.”

“To our whale fishery on the coast of Japan they are indispensably necessary: hither those employed in this business repair in the months of April and May, to recruit their crews, refresh and adjust their ships; they then proceed to Japan, and return in the months of October and November.”