Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Palena

What is commonly referred to as the “ahupuaʻa system” is a result of the firm establishment of palena (place boundaries.)  This system of land divisions and boundaries enabled a konohiki (land/resource manager) to know the limits and productivity of the resources that he managed.

Ahupuaʻa served as a means of managing people and taking care of the people who support them, as well as an easy form of collection of tributes by the chiefs.  Ultimately, distribution of people throughout the Islands helped in preserving resources.

A typical ahupuaʻa (what we generally refer to as watersheds, today) was a long strip of land, narrow at its mountain summit top and becoming wider as it ran down a valley into the sea to the outer edge of the reef.  If there was no reef then the sea boundary would be about one and a half miles from the shore.

Defined palena brought greater productivity to the lands; lessened conflict and was a means of settling disputes of future aliʻi who would be in control of the bounded lands; protected the commoners from the chiefs; and brought (for the most part) peace and prosperity.  (Beamer, Duarte)

Typically, natural features served as boundary markers: summit peaks, ridge crests, streams, volcanic cones, etc.  Additional markers were placed to note the ahupua‘a boundary – so called because the boundary was marked by a heap (ahu) of stones surmounted by an image of a pig (pua‘a,) or because a pig or other tribute was laid on the altar as tax to the chief.

Māʻilikūkahi is recognized as the first great chief of O‘ahu and legends tell of his wise, firm, judicious government.  He was born ali‘i kapu at the birthing stones of Kūkaniloko; Kūkaniloko was one of two places in Hawai‘i specifically designated for the birth of high ranking children, the other site was Holoholokū at Wailua on Kauaʻi.

Soon after becoming aliʻi, Māʻilikūkahi moved to Waikīkī.  He was probably one of the first chiefs to live there. Up until this time, Oʻahu chiefs had typically lived at Waialua and ‘Ewa.  From that point on, with few exceptions, Waikīkī remained the Royal Center of Oʻahu aliʻi, until Kamehameha I moved the seat to Honolulu.

Māʻilikūkahi is noted for clearly marking and reorganizing land division palena (boundaries) on O‘ahu.  Defined palena brought greater productivity to the lands; lessened conflict and was a means of settling disputes of future aliʻi who would be in control of the bounded lands; protected the commoners from the chiefs; and brought (for the most part) peace and prosperity.

Fornander writes, “He caused the island to be thoroughly surveyed, and boundaries between differing divisions and lands be definitely and permanently marked out, thus obviating future disputes between neighboring chiefs and landholders.”

Kamakau tells a similar story, “When the kingdom passed to Māʻilikūkahi, the land divisions were in a state of confusion; the ahupuaʻa, the ku, the ʻili ʻāina, the moʻo ʻāina, the pauku ʻāina, and the kihāpai were not clearly defined.”

“Therefore, Māʻilikūkahi ordered the chiefs, aliʻi, the lesser chiefs, kaukau aliʻi, the warrior chiefs, puʻali aliʻi, and the overseers (luna) to divide all of Oʻahu into moku, ahupuaʻa, ʻili kupono, ʻili ʻaina, and moʻo ʻāina.”

On Maui, Kalaihaʻōhia, a kahuna (priest, expert,) is credited with the division of Maui Island into districts (moku) and sub-districts, during the time of the aliʻi Kakaʻalaneo at the end of the 15th century or the beginning of the 16th century.  (McGerty)

On the Island of Hawaiʻi, ʻUmi-a-Līloa (ʻUmi) from Waipiʻo, son of Līloa, also started to divide the lands following this similar mauka-makai orientation.

ʻUmi also started a significant new form of agriculture in Kona; archaeologists call the unique method of farming in this area the “Kona Field System.” (These are long, narrow fields that ran along the contours, along the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualālai; farmers then planted different crops, according to the respective rainfall gradients.)

The Kona Field System was described as “the most monumental work of the ancient Hawaiians.”  The challenge of farming in Kona is to produce a flourishing agricultural economy in an area subject to frequent droughts, with no lakes or streams for irrigation.

Traditionally, the Island of Kaua‘i was divided into five moku (districts): Haleleʻa, Kona, Koʻolau, Nāpali and Puna. However, after the battle of Wahiawa in 1824, the land of Kaua‘i was redistributed and district boundaries changed. The new district names became: Hanalei, Kawaihau, Līhuʻe, Kōloa and Waimea.  (Cultural Surveys)

The size of the ahupuaʻa depended on the resources of the area with poorer agricultural regions split into larger ahupuaʻa to compensate for the relative lack of natural abundance. Each ahupuaʻa was ruled by an aliʻi or local chief and administered by a konohiki.

These natural land divisions were the result of the flow of water over the land (streams or springs.)  In keeping with the concept of wealth being fresh water, the traditional land tenure system in ancient Hawaiʻi had at its very core the presence of water.  Although of many shapes and sizes, the typical ahupuaʻa consisted of three area types: mountain, plain and sea.

Later, during the Mahele and subsequent testimony before the Land Commission, properties were identified by the ahupuaʻa and the boundaries were known.

Fearing the loss of knowledge of the ancient palena, on June 26, 1862 a bill providing for Commissioners of Boundaries notes, “Owners of said lands require a settlement of the boundaries of said lands, for the reason of the death and consequent loss of the testimony of witnesses necessary for the just settlement of such boundaries.”  (Beamer, Duarte)

More formal mapping was made to preserve the traditional locations, with provisions noting, “Lands will be mapped to make clear the ancient ahupuaʻa boundaries, or in some cases maps will be made to make clear `iwi (boundary of a land division smaller than an ahupuaʻa), at the place where one’s land ends.”

Surveys conducted and maps produced during the Māhele and Boundary Commission era were some of geography’s earliest encounters with Hawaiʻi and its people.

Mapping was applied to aid in the transition from the traditional system of land “tenure” to that of fee simple and leasehold ownership and to record traditional knowledge of boundaries and places. (Beamer, Duarte)

The image shows what is believed to be an ahupuaʻa marker on the ridge at Kuliʻouʻou valley (from a collection from John Dominis Holt (DMY.))

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Hōnaunau

Each island was divided into several moku (districts,) of which there are six in the island of Hawaiʻi, and the same number in Oʻahu. There is a district called Kona on the lee side and one called Koʻolau on the windward side of almost every island.  (Alexander)  The moku of Hawaiʻi Island are: Kona, Kohala, Hāmākua, Hilo, Puna and Kaʻū.

The Polynesians who came to the Hawaiian Islands were quick to consider the sunny, sheltered Kona district of Hawaiʻi, rising gently to fertile, cloud-covered slopes, as an environment suited to their needs.

It was ideal for food crops such as taro, breadfruit, banana, sweet potatoes and sugar cane they brought with them. Its clear, calm waters offered excellent near- and off-shore fishing. This coast became the most densely populated area in the islands and the coveted land of the chiefs.

In the centuries prior to 1778, seven large and densely-populated Royal Centers were located in Kona along the shoreline between Kailua and Hōnaunau.  These included Kamakahonu at Kailua Bay, Hōlualoa, Kahaluʻu, Keauhou, Kaʻawaloa, Kealakekua and Hōnaunau.

The compounds were areas selected by the aliʻi for their residences; aliʻi often moved between several residences throughout the year.  The Royal Centers were selected for their abundance of resources and recreation opportunities, with good surfing and canoe-landing sites being favored.

Structures associated with the Royal Centers include heiau (religious structures) and sacred areas, house sites for the aliʻi and the entourage of family and kahuna (priests), and activity areas for burial, bathing, games, recreation and crafts and often a puʻuhonua (refuge area.)

The small but deeply indented Hōnaunau Bay, with a sandy cove where canoes could be easily beached, was a favorite residence for the king.  (Emory)

The grounds of the Royal Center was centered around the small embayment known as Keoneʻele Cove.  Cup holes, which may have held kapu sticks, are noted to the north, east and southern boundaries of this area. It is believed that these kapu sticks demarcated the boundary of the royal area.

In pre-contact times, the royal grounds contained several chiefly residences and ceremonial-related structures. Other highlighted sites used by royalty included the Heleipālala fishponds and Keoneʻele Cove canoe landing.

“When first seen by Europeans, the district was composed of scattered coastal settlements of thatched houses with two nodes large enough to be called villages: Hōnaunau at the north end and Kiʻilae at the south.”  (NPS)

“Hōnaunau, we found, was formerly a place of considerable importance, having been the frequent residence of the kings of Hawaii, for several successive generations.” The town contained 147-houses. (Ellis, 1823)

“We arrived in the afternoon at a village by the seaside called Hōnaunau, about two leagues (4-miles) to the southward of Kealakekua Bay. … They took us to a large house which was tabooed for the king, with a number of smaller houses contiguous to it for sleeping in and for his attendants when he comes to the village.”

“We were told that he has a set of houses kept for him in the same way in every village he is likely to stop at round the Island, which; when he once occupies or eats in, cannot afterwards be used by any other.”  (Menzies, 1793)

A feature found at Royal Centers were fishponds.  Cartographer Henry Kekahuna called the Honaunau ponds Heleipālala. These were a number of fish ponds inland from the shore and containing a mixture of fresh and ocean waters.

They were probably stocked with fish (most likely ʻamaʻama (mullet) and awa (milkfish.))  Given their location within the royal grounds, an area inhabited and used by aliʻi, the Heleipālala ponds were most likely kapu (prohibited) to commoners.

Beyond the boundaries of the royal grounds, around the head of Hōnaunau Bay, lived the chiefly retainers and the commoners. To the south were scattered settlements along the coast and inland under the cliffs of Keanaeʻe.  (NPS)

At Hōnaunau was the puʻuhonua, The Place of Refuge, termed the ‘City of Refuge’ by Rev. William Ellis in 1823, with its adjoining chiefly residences and associated with the Royal Center.

Hōnaunau was not the only puʻuhonua in the Islands.  Ethno-historical literature, and available physical, cultural, and locational data, note at least 57-sites across the Islands.  Puʻuhonua tended to occur in areas of high population and/or in areas frequented by chiefs.  (Schoenfelder)

Hale O Keawe, at the northern end of the eastern wing of the Great Wall at Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau, was named after and either built by or for Keawe around 1700.  In ancient times the Heiau served as a royal mausoleum, housing the remains of deified high chiefs.

Historical information indicates that in the area immediately east of the Hale o Keawe was once the location for a ti leaf thatched structure called the “Hale O Lono.”  In 1919, archaeologist JFG Stokes was told by elderly Hawaiians that this area was a temple used for the four periods of prayer held monthly for eight months of the year.

The area bordering the east side Keoneʻele Cove was traditionally known as Kauwalomālie. Kauwalomālie is said to have contained a large platform, fronted by an 8-foot high retaining wall. The platform was reportedly the location for a chiefly residence and/or ceremonial area.  (NPS)

At about the time of ʻUmi (about the same time Christopher Columbus was crossing the Atlantic,) a significant new form of agriculture was developed in Kona; he is credited with starting this in Kona.  Today, archaeologists call the unique method of farming in this area the “Kona Field System.”

This intensive agricultural activity changed farming and agricultural production on the western side of Hawai’i Island; the Kona field system was quite large, extending from Kailua to south of Hōnaunau.

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 1871, a coastal trail that originally extended from Nāpōʻopoʻo south to Hoʻokena was repaired, and renamed the 1871 Trail.  It is a section of the historic coastal Alaloa (regional trail) and was a primary route of travel between communities, royal centers, religious sites and resources.  (Improved, it was a ‘two-horse trail’ because it was widened to accommodate two horses.)

The Alahaka Ramp, located near the southern end of the Keanaeʻe Cliffs, is a massive stone ramp that connects the historic 1871 Trail to Kiʻilae Village.  Prior to the construction of the ramp (probably in the mid-1800s,) folks used a ladder or rope to get up the slope.

(In 1918 the trail section north of Hōnaunau was improved for wheeled traffic; however, the section south to Hoʻokena was never modified for motorized vehicles.)

In 1891, the lands at Hōnaunau were deeded to the Bishop Estate Trustees and from 1921-1961 the County of Hawaiʻi leased the Bishop Estate-owned lands for a County Park. It is during this time, they constructed a series of seawalls that fronted the eastern and western sides of Keoneʻele Cove. (NPS)

The image shows Keoneʻele Cove and the area known as Kauwalomālie (NPS, 1912.)  I have added other images to a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Kauhale

ʻĀina is compounded from the verb “ʻai” (to eat,) referring specifically to vegetable foods, with the substantive suffix “na,” which makes it a noun. The word ʻāina (land,) then, means “that which feeds.”

In old Hawaiʻi’s subsistence society, the family farming scale was far different from commercial-purpose agriculture.  In ancient time, when families farmed for themselves, they adapted; products were produced based on need.  The families were disbursed around the Islands, as well as across regions on each island.

Traditional hale (‘house’, ‘building’) were constructed of native woods lashed together with cordage most often made from olonā.  Pili grass was a preferred thatching that added a pleasant odor to a new hale. Lauhala (pandanus leaves) or ti leaf bundles called peʻa were other covering materials used.

Unlike our housing today, the single ‘hale’ was not necessarily the ‘home.’ The traditional Hawaiian home was the kauhale (Lit., plural house;) this was a group of structures forming the living compound – homestead – with each building serving a specific purpose.

The main structure within the kauhale household complex was the common house, or hale noa, in which all the family members slept at night. It was the largest building within a family compound and the most weatherproof.  (Loubser)

Other structures included hale mua (men’s meeting/eating house,) hale ʻāina (women’s eating house,) hale peʻa (menstruation house) and other needed structures (those for canoe makers, others used to house fishing gear, etc.)

The terrain and the subsistence lifestyle and economy created the dispersed community of scattered homesteads.  Typically a Hawaiian family’s homestead stood in relative isolation.

Where homesteads were assembled near each other, they were not communities held together either by bonds of kinship or economic interdependence.

“Go into any of these valleys, and you will see a surprising sight: along the whole narrow bottom, and climbing often in terraces the steep hillsides, you will see the little taro patches, skillfully laid so as to catch the water, either directly from the main stream, or from canals taking water out above.”

“Nearby or among these small holdings stand the grass houses of the proprietors, and you may see them and their wives, their clothing tucked up, standing over their knees in water, planting or cultivating their crop.”  (Nordhoff, 1875)

Fishermen and their families living around the bays and beaches, or at isolated localities along the coast where fishing was practicable, led a life that was materially simpler than that of planters who dwelt on the plains.

Placement and occasional collection of kauhale was more of a functional pattern.

Kauhale means homestead, and when there were a number of kauhale close together the same term was used.  The old Hawaiians had no conception of village or town as a corporate social entity; there was no term for village.

The kauhale were scattered near streams in valley bottoms; each family kauhale was right beside its lo’i.  A spring (or springs) was sometimes the reason for a village-like conglomeration of homesteads – again, families focused on the water source.

Small bays and beaches generally had a cluster of houses where the families of fishermen lived – it was primarily because of the proximity to access to the ocean.

Kamakau noted, in early Hawaiʻi “The parents were masters over their own family group … No man was made chief over another.”  Essentially, the extended family was the socio, biological, economic and political unit.

Because each ʻohana (family) was served by a parental haku (master, overseer) and each family was self-sufficient and capable of satisfying its own needs, there was no need for a hierarchal structure.

The Hawaiian concept of family, ‘ʻohana, is derived from the word ʻohā (fig., offspring, youngsters,) the axillary shoots of kalo that sprout from the main corm, the makua (parent.)  Huli, cut from the tops of mauka, and ‘ohā are then used for replanting to regenerate the cycle of kalo production.

The true ‘community’ in which homesteads were integrated by socio-religious and economic ties was the dispersed community of the family (ʻohana,) relatives by blood, marriage and adoption.

Neighborly interdependence, the sharing of goods and services, resulted in the settling of contiguous lands by a given ʻohana within an ahupuaʻa (rather than in a scattering over an entire district.)

Kamakau states that there were no chiefs in the earliest period of settlement but that they came “several hundred years afterward … when men became numerous.”

As the population increased and wants and needs increased in variety and complexity (and it became too difficult to satisfy them with finite resources,) the need for chiefly rule became apparent.

As chiefdoms developed, the simple pecking order of titles and status likely evolved into a more complex and stratified structure.

While conquest and war resulted in periodic changes in leadership, there was a relative stability and permanence for the families and their kauhale.  As a practical matter it was to the benefit of the chiefs to keep the farmers and fishers on the land they knew and cultivated.

Thus, the kauhale, the homesites of established ʻohana, were permanent features of the landscape, and the vested interest of any given family was equivalent to a title of ownership, so long as the landsman labored diligently to sustain his claim and was loyal to his chief.  (Lots of information here from Handy and Pukui.)

The image shows a drawing of a kauhale – homestead.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Wetland Taro

Wākea and Papa, sky-father and earth-mother, who by the ʻOpūkahonua lineage were half-brother and half-sister, were said to be the parents of islands, Hawaiʻi and Maui (and later Kauaʻi, Niʻihau, Lehua, and Kaʻula – the rest were added later.)  According to tradition, their first human offspring was a daughter, Hoʻohōkūkalani (to generate stars in the sky.)

Wākea seduced his daughter, Hoʻohōkūkalani.  Their first child was born prematurely; they named him Hāloa-naka (quivering long stalk.)  They buried him in the earth and from that spot grew the first kalo (taro) plant. The second child, named Hāloa in honor of his elder brother, was the first Hawaiian Aliʻi Nui and became the ancestor of all the Hawaiian people.

Thus kalo, which was the main staple of the people of old, is also the older brother of the Hawaiian race.

Traditions on the island of Oʻahu provide the names of a dynasty of ruling chiefs including Mā’ilikūkahi, around 1500 (about the time Columbus crossed the Atlantic.) Māʻilikūkahi is said to have enacted a code of laws in which theft from the people by chiefs was forbidden.

A son of Mā’ilikūkahi was Kalona-nui, who in turn had a son called Kalamakua. Kalamakua is said to have been responsible for developing large taro gardens in what was once a vast area of wet-taro cultivation on Oʻahu: the Waikiki-Kapahulu-Mōʻiliʻili-Mānoa area. The extensive pond fields were irrigated by water drawn from the Mānoa and Pālolo Valley streams and large springs in the area.

Other chiefs mentioned in Oʻahu traditions were associated with organizing activities in more systematic ways than those in times previous to them; one such high chief was Kākuhihewa.

Another great chief of Oʻahu, Kualiʻi, was famous for the kolowalu law: “If a man says, ‘I am hungry for food’ feed (him) with food, lest he hungers and claims his rights by swearing the kolowalu law by his mouth, whereby that food becomes free, so that the owner thereof must observe the law faithfully.”

In pre-contact (prior to Captain Cook) times, kalo played a vital role in Hawaiian culture. It was not only the Hawaiians’ staple food, but the cultivation of kalo was at the very core of Hawaiian culture and identity.

The early Hawaiians probably planted kalo in marshes near the mouths of rivers. Over years of progressive expansion of kalo lo‘i (flooded taro patches) up slopes and along rivers, kalo cultivation in Hawai‘i reached a unique level of engineering and sustainable sophistication.

Hawaiians knew the productive advantages of growing wetland taro and placed the greater effort in this area very early, when required to increase food production capabilities for the rapidly increasing number of people. By the time of Captain Cook’s visits in 1778 and 1779, every large river valley in the islands contained many loʻi (pond fields,) and each was systematically irrigated by means of ditches delivering water to the fields spread throughout the valley.

Usually, water was fed into an irrigation ditch from a stream. A loose-rock dam built across the stream allowed water to flow between and over the top of the rocks to provide for farmers living downstream. The dam functioned to raise the water level just high enough at that point to permit water to flow into the ditch leading to the terraces.

In this way the amount and speed of the water could be controlled. If too much water was found to be flowing into the ditch, a few stones could be removed from the dam, thus lowering the water level and reducing the volume of water entering the ditch.

The speed of the flow of water into the pondfields was controlled by the length and slope of the ditch. By varying the length and grade of the ditch, its builders were able to maintain a constant and low-level gradient over variegated terrain. The flow through the pond fields was controlled by the height of the terraces.

Kalo lo‘i systems are typically a set of adjoining terraces that are typically reinforced with stone walls and soil berms. Wetland taro thrives on flooded conditions, and cool, circulating water is optimal for taro growth, thus a system may include one or more ʻauwai (irrigation ditches) to divert water into and out of the planting area.  (McElroy)

The ʻauwai construction and maintenance formed foundations around which an entire economy, class system and culture functioned.  The ʻauwai, lo‘i and the taro plant’s mythical and spiritual connections in Hawaiian society influenced individual and social activity within the ahupua‘a.  (Handy, HART)

The different representatives in the ahupuaʻa taking part in the work furnished men according to the number of kalo growers on each land.  (The quantity of water awarded to irrigate the loʻi was according to the number of workers and the amount of work put into the building of the ʻauwai.)

David Malo explained how a taro garden could keep a large number of people in vegetable food continuously:  “Some farmers did not plant a great deal at a time. They would plant a little, and after waiting a few months, they planted more land. So they continued to plant a little at a time during the months suitable for planting. The food did not all ripen at once, and by this plan the supply was kept up for a long time and they had no lack of food.”

On the question of the productivity of wet-land taro versus dry-land taro, some missionaries recorded their experiences and observations in 1847 and 1848. They helped answer the question: What number of people could be fed by one acre of land, of average quality in the district, if cultivated for kalo?

Rev. Armstrong suggested that there would be ‘food enough for ten persons’ on an acre of average taro land in Honolulu, that is, subsistence for ten persons.  “With proper management, kalo (taro) land needs no rest. So the natives tell me. Let the water be kept constantly upon it and the weeds cleared out and that is all that is needed. The kalo plants, however, must be changed every crop. It requires about a year to bring a crop of kalo to maturity.”  (Armstrong)

Rev. Johnson of Hanalei, Kauaʻi, a noted wetland taro-producing valley, suggested that 25 people subsist on an acre of good taro land.

Writing from his experiences on the well-watered windward side of Oʻahu, Rev. Parker wrote:  “An acre of kalo land would furnish food for from twenty to thirty persons, if properly taken care of. It will produce crops for a great many years in succession, without lying fallow any time.”

Rev. Bishop, writing from ʻEwa District on Oʻahu, suggested that 15-20 people could be fed from an acre of taro:  “Good kalo land, irrigated by water, improves by cultivation. It only requires time enough between crops to rot the weeds, which serve as manure.”

Rev. Emerson lived and worked in Waialua District on Oʻahu where several large rivers and numerous springs watered the land.

He wrote: “Twenty persons, I think can be fed on an acre of good kalo land. The land can generally be cultivated perpetually, if it has two or three months between each crop, in which to decompose the weeds which might grow during the time the kalo was ripening.”

“I have a large kalo patch that has not been left to rest one month at a time for fifteen years, and yet it produces as largely as fifteen years since. I presume the same parch was cultivated centuries before I knew it. It requires one year for kalo to come to maturity.”

In 6 to 12-months, depending upon plant variety along with soil and water conditions, the taro is generally ready to harvest. Each parent tuber produces from two to 15 ʻohā, side tubers of corms, up to 6 inches in diameter.

The Hawaiian concept of family, ‘ohana, is derived from the word ‘ohā (Fig., offspring, youngsters,) the axillary shoots of kalo that sprout from the main corm, the makua (parent.)  Huli, cut from the tops of mauka and ‘ohā are then used for replanting to regenerate the cycle of kalo production.

Taro or Kalo has been a traditional form of food sustenance and nutrition, particularly in ancient Hawaiian culture.  Reportedly, it is the world’s fourteenth most-consumed vegetable.  All parts of the plant are eaten, including poi, table taro (the cooked corm,) taro chips and luau leaf.

The foregoing information (primarily from Marion Kelly and Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa (with some help from some others to fill some gaps)) helps answer some of the When, Why, Where and How Much questions related to wetland taro farming.

The 22nd Annual East Maui Taro Festival is being held May 3-4, 2014.

The image shows kalo (Markell.)  In addition, I have included more related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Common Hawaiian-sounding Words … But Are They Hawaiian?

Are These ‘Traditional’ or New Words and meanings to the lexicon in Hawaiʻi?

While we use them in common language, and most often think of them as traditional Hawaiian words, it seems some words are relatively new to the islands and not part of the traditional Hawaiian language.  Let’s take a look.

Lūʻau
To many, the lūʻau is the quintessential experience and expression of Hawaiian dining and hospitality.  The reality is, it’s a relatively new word.

Traditionally, the ʻahaʻaina or pāʻina were the calls to feast and party together.  These feasts marked special occasions — such as reaching a significant life milestone, victory at war, the launching of a new canoe or a great endeavor. They believed in celebrating these occasions with their friends and families.

In an April 1, 1850 story in ‘The Friend,’ the term lūʻau is used (possibly for the first time – in a translation of ‘Visit of the French sloop of war Bonite, to the Sandwich Islands, in 1836,’) stating, “At the King’s order the luau was served up.  A gastronomic feast is called luau at the Sandwich Islands.”

“It takes its name from an indispensable dish of young taro leaves boiled, or cooked in fat.  In an instant, the cloth was covered with young pigs, fowl, sweet potatoes, luau, etc – all these having been enveloped in leaves and cooked in the earth by the means of red hot stones.”  (The Friend, April 1, 1850)

It’s also not clear if this is the first reference to “lūʻau;” but it predates what Pukui notes as the first use of the term ‘luau,’ where she says it goes back at least to 1856, when it was used in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser. The term “lūʻau” is mentioned again in references to the wedding celebration on Alexander Liholiho and Emma Rooke, when on June 19, 1856 they became known as King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma.  (This may be the reference Pukui was referring to.)

Palaka
It was a sad day when Arakawas in Waipahu (operating from 1909 to 1995) closed its doors.  Gone was the assortment of colors and sizes of palaka wear (the shirts were originally only blue and white,) as well as the myriad needs filled by the diversity and depth of the merchandise in the store.  Arakawas headed the growth of the palaka shirt.

Peter Young Kaeo (1836 – 1880), resident of the leprosy settlement at Kalaupapa, reported in a letter to his cousin Queen Emma, dated November 4, 1873, that he recently visited the settlement store and there bought several yards of cotton twill “to make me some frocks palaka” this is the first known use of the word palaka to describe the style of clothing: short cuts with no tail and meant to be worn outside of the pants.  (Korn)

Scholars state that ‘palaka’ is a transliteration into Hawaiian of the English word ‘frock,’ the term used for the loose-fitting, long-sleeved work shirts worn by the sailors that came to Hawaiʻi.  Gradually, the word came to describe a type and pattern of cloth; typically made into shirts (into plaid-like woven, not printed pattern.)

Pukui notes it is a checkered shirt; in the 19th century, a coarse work shirt worn by males, mentioned frequently in the literature and especially in Peter Kaʻeo’s letters in 1873–74 to his cousin, Queen Emma, and hence probably from English “frock” rather than from “block”. (Pukui)

Kaukau
Back to food; the notable reference was in a short note from Princess Kaʻiulani to Robert Louis Stevenson.  In part she wrote, “Papa and I would like to have you come to our house on Tuesday next for dinner and Papa promises good Scotch “kaukau” for all you folks.”  (She was referencing ‘food’ or ‘eats.’)

The Hawaiian term for food is ʻai. Kaukau in this context is not an Hawaiian word.  Hawaiian dictionaries note ‘kaukau’ meant a heap of stones in a field used as a temporary altar on which the fruit of the field is laid as an act of worship or a snare to catch birds.

Pukui suggests that this term meaning to eat or drink, is probably local pidgin English derived from “chow chow,” Chinese for food.  It is used by foreigners in conversation with natives, and vice versa.  On the plantations, lunch break was “kaukau time.”

Hui
OK, this one is not as clear; the word is used in the Hawaiian language as “A coming together of two or more things; a uniting; an assembly. (In the Maori language, hui, means, come together.)”  Today, in Hawaiʻi, a ‘hui’ is a partnership or association of folks cooperating in a common cause.

Hui is also a Chinese word, generally meaning ‘conference’, but which is sometimes used to refer to a secret society.  The ‘Hui’ had special meaning in November 1894 when Sun Yat-sen, on his third trip in Hawaiʻi, established the Hsing Chung Hui (Revive China Society,) his first revolutionary society.

On another visit to Hawaiʻi (in 1903,) Sun reorganized the Hsing Chung Hui into Chung Hua Ke Min Jun (The Chinese Revolutionary Army) in Hilo.  In 1905, in Tokyo, Sun reorganized the Hsing Chung Hui and other organizations into a political party called the Tung Meng Hui.  Likewise, the Chinese Revolutionary Army was reorganized and all of its members Tung Meng Hui members.

This party spread all over China and rallied all the revolutionists under its wings.  He then made his last visit to Hawaiʻi to form the Hawaiʻi Chapter of Tung Meng Hui.  The revolutionary movement in China grew stronger and stronger. Tung Meng Hui members staged many armed uprisings, culminating in the October 10, 1911 Wuhan (Wuchang) Uprising which succeeded in overthrowing the Manchu dynasty and established the Republic of China.  (Hmmm, was he using Hawaiian of Chinese in his organizational formation?)

Lomi Lomi Salmon
Back to food; lomi lomi salmon … but Hawaiʻi’s waters don’t teem with salmon; so, how did this become a lūʻau staple and into a compartment of our lūʻau plates?

Near the turn of the last century, the most valuable commercial fisheries in the world, excepting only the oyster and herring fisheries, were those supported by salmon.  Of these the most important, by far, were the salmon fisheries of the Pacific coast of North America (California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, including also British Columbia.)

Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) had its regional headquarters was in the Pacific Northwest in the mid-1800s.  Salmon was a mainstay of life of the Northwest Coast Indians.  Fresh or preserved salmon, in turn, became a staple food for HBC posts west of the Rocky Mountains.

By 1830, the HBC was preserving salmon on the Columbia River and at Fort Langley on the Fraser River as well, mainly to feed Company personnel, but with some 200 to 300 barrels of Columbia River salmon exported that year, presumably all to Hawai’i.  Preserved salmon found a ready market on O’ahu, particularly among native Hawaiians.

Just when that notable dish, lomi lomi salmon, first made its appearance is unknown, but if it was in fashion by the 1830s, the HBC can take credit for being the main provider of its principal ingredient.  During the 1830s, HBC sold several hundred barrels of salmon a year in Honolulu.  The 1840s saw a major increase in sales; the peak year was in 1849, with 2,610 barrels exported to Honolulu.

Lomi Lomi salmon, not a traditional Hawaiian dish (however, Hawaiian salt was used in preserving the salmon destined for Hawaiian consumption.)   The source of the salt shipped by HBC to the Northwest Coast could have come from the Moanalua salt lake on Oʻahu, whose salt was considered the best for salting provisions and as a table salt in Honolulu.

The image shows a lūʻau (I wonder if this was a hui, dining after its recent formation; they are a bit overly dressed, no palaka in sight.  However, there’s plenty of kaukau; you can bet the lomi lomi salmon is in there somewhere.)

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