Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻAwa

“ʻAwa was the food of the gods, just as poi was to the Hawaiians. No religious ceremony was complete without the ʻawa.”  (Pukui, Maly)

E hanai ʻawa a ikaika ka makani.
Feed with ʻawa so that the spirit may gain strength.
(One offers ʻawa and prayers to the dead so that their spirit may grow strong and be a source of help to the family.)

Outside of water and drinking coconut, no other drink was known.  ʻAwa was “a sacred drink of importance in many phases of Hawaiian life. … Its effect is to relax mind and body and it was used by farmer and fisherman for this purpose. Medicinal Kahunas (learned men) had many uses for it. It was essential on occasions of hospitality and feasting, and as a drink of pleasure for the chiefs.”  (Titcomb)

ʻAwa is a canoe crop, one of the plants brought by the earliest Polynesian voyagers arriving in Hawaiʻi. It is a member of the pepper family.  In other parts of the Pacific it is known as Kava or Kava Kava.  It is a shrub growing about four to eight feet high.

There are several native traditions regarding the origin of ʻawa in Hawaiʻi. Perhaps the most significant narratives describe ʻawa as having been brought to Hawaiʻi from Kahiki (the ancestral homelands) by the akua (gods) Kāne and Kanaloa.

These two akua Kāne, a Hawaiian god and ancestor of the chiefs and commoners, a god of sunlight, fresh water, verdant growth, and forests; and Kanaloa, a god of the ocean, marine life, healing, and a companion of Kāne – planted ʻawa at various localities throughout the islands. In places where no water could be found with which to prepare the ʻawa, Kāne even caused water to appear, thus forming many springs and streams in the islands.  (Maly)

In the discovery of Hawaiʻi by Hawaii-loa, ʻawa is noted in the find, “One time when they (Hawaii-Loa and his company) had thus been long out on the ocean, Makaliʻi, the principal navigator, said to Hawaii-Loa: ‘Let us steer the vessel in the direction of Iao, the Eastern Star, the discoverer of land … There is land to the eastward, and here is a red star … to guide us … So they steered straight onward and arrived at the easternmost island … They went ashore and found the country fertile and pleasant, filled withʻ awa, coconut trees … and Hawaii-Loa, the chief, called that land after his own name … (Fornander)

It is valued as an intoxicating drink and as a medicine. ʻAwa is also a sedative, used as a sacred plant for prayer, as well as appreciated for pleasure, especially in the south Pacific islands. It assists in opening communication channels with others and with the elements.

The drink is made from the root, which is woody, slightly spongy, toughish and roughly gnarled.  The root was scraped and washed, then reduced to small pieces.  It was then ready to chew (mama) and mix with water to make a cold water infusion. In later days, chewing was replaced by grinding or pounding.  (Titcomb)

It is prepared by pulverizing the root in a mortar; if it is the dry article of commerce it is kept sufficiently moist to prevent its scattering and forming dust. When well pulverized, water is mixed with the mash to bring it to a proper dilution, when it is strained.  (Emerson)

The favorite ʻawa strainer of the Hawaiians is made of the stem of the ahu-awa plant. The stem is split up and the fiber separated from the pulp by being combed between two sticks.  It is then taken up from the bowl and the dripping liquor wrung out of it. The bits of ʻawa root which were caught in it are shaken out and it is again used as a strainer, this time being formed into a kind of funnel, something like a bird’s nest, through which the awa drink is poured into the separate cups of those who are to partake.  (Emerson)

An 1899 article on Molokaʻi Archaeology in the Evening Bulletin notes, “At Pakaikai is found a large stone lying by the bank of the stream, in which are dug four holes each eight inches in diameter and six inches deep.  They are finely polished inside. The holes dug in this large stone are claimed to have been used as awa cups (apu awa) for Kamehameha-ai-luau (a descendant of Kamehameha the Great.)”

“They were chiseled with stone implements by the ancients during the stone age of Hawaiʻi nei, a task which no native of the present generation will dare undertake.  Nearby is another hole dug in another rock and much larger and deeper than the four. This last one is said to be the kānoa ʻawa (or kā ʻawa, large bowl in which ʻawa is mixed and strained,) or place where awa is cleaned and purified, fit to drink.”

The beverage is not attractive to the eye. If dried ʻawa is used, the liquid is greyish, if green ʻawa is used it is greenish. The liquid is never clear in spite of straining. In Hawaiʻi it was a fairly thick liquid, this being preferred to “the dishwater drunk in the south” according to an old saying remembered by Kinney. Ellis termed it “like thick calcareous water.”  (Titcomb)

The ʻawa-drinking house was like a chief’s house, there must be no gaiety, no talking, no jollity, lest one vomit. The candlenut torch was the only thing one desired – one or two torches would produce warmth – then there was a sound in the ear like the chirping of land shells and of fiddles that teased the ear pleasantly, or like the roaring of the strong wind that changed to stillness. Such was the custom of the planter; he would sleep till morning and the pains and soreness would be gone.  (Kamakau, Titcomb)

Their general drink is water or the milk of the coconut, but all the chiefs use the ʻawa, and some of them to excess, as was very evident from their skins, which were rough and parched as can well be conceived, and their eyes red and inflamed.  (Kotzebue, Titcomb)

There is a deep cultural-historical relationship between the Hawaiians and ʻawa. The poʻe kahiko (ancient people) identified many varieties, cultivation techniques, values and uses of the ʻawa.  (Maly)

I have had ʻawa once, it was part of an ʻawa ceremony we participated in to commemorate the signing of the Kaʻawaloa Curator Agreement between DLNR and the Royal Order of Kamehameha I.  (It was a moving experience; I was proud and honored to be there.  The descendant families, members of the Order and others sat on one side; I sat by myself (representing the State) on the other side.)

The image shows the Kaʻawaloa ʻawa ceremony.  In addition, I have added related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sustainability

I sometimes get tired of that term; it gets to be overused and overplayed.

How about simply calling it doing the right things for the right reasons?

Our existence here is not about us and it’s not about now.

As Isaac Newton suggested, we are standing on the shoulders of those who came before us … that gives us the responsibility to pass on the legacy to those who follow.

Others before us planted the seed; it is our responsibility to nurture its growth, so those in the future may enjoy its fruit … and sow the seeds for yet future generations.

Our responsibility is to move from the “what’s in it for me” and “I got mine” mentalities, toward a long-term frame of reference and a focus on others (those we will never meet,) rather than ourselves.

That’s what sustainability means to me.  Happy Earth Day.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kalo (Taro)

Hawaiian traditions describe the birth of the islands and the life that exists on them in terms of genealogical accounts.

All natural forms of the environment are believed to be embodiments of gods and deities.  From godly forces the Hawaiian Islands are born of Wākea (the expanse of the sky‐father) and Papahānaumoku (Papa who gave birth to the islands).

Wākea and Papa are credited for being the parents of the first man, Hāloa, the ancestor of all people.  Commoners and aliʻi were all descended from the same ancestors, Wākea (sky father) and Papa (earth mother.)

It is from this genealogical line that Hawaiians address the environment and it forms the basis of the Hawaiian system of land use.

“The first born son of Wākea was of premature birth (keiki alualu) and was given the name Hāloa-naka. The little thing died, however, and its body was buried in the ground at one end of the house.  After a while from the child’s body shot up a taro plant, the leaf of which was named lau-kapa-lili, quivering leaf; but the stem was given the name Hāloa.  After that another child was born to them, whom they called Hāloa, from the stalk of the taro. He is the progenitor of all the peoples of earth.” (Malo)

“The first Hāloa, born to Wākea and Ho‘ohokukalani, became the taro plant. His younger brother, also named Haloa, became the ancestor of the people.  In this way, taro was the elder brother and man the younger–both being children of the same parents.”

“Because our chiefs were of the senior line, they were referred to in respect and affection as “kalo kanu o ka aina” (The taro grown in the homeland) by the junior branches of the family.”(Handy-Pukui)

In pre-Captain Cook times, taro 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.

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.

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 irrigation ditches, or ‘auwai, to divert water into and out of the planting area.  (McElroy)

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.

Kalo patches are variously named on the basis of size, shape, planting method and other factors. Mo‘o ai are narrow strips of planted kalo, much longer than they are wide. Mo‘o kaupapa lo‘i are long rows of lo‘i or wet kalo patches. Other types of wet planting mounds include pu‘epu‘e hou and kipi or kipikipi. Of the wetland methods, lo‘i was most frequently occurring form.

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.

Kalo starch is one of the most nutritious, easily digested food.  Kalo corms are high in carbohydrate in the form of starch and low in fat and protein, similar to many other root crops.

The starch is 98.8 percent digestible, a quality attributed to its granule size, which is a tenth that of potato, making it ideal for people with digestive difficulties.

The corm is an excellent source of potassium (higher than banana), carbohydrate for energy and fiber. When eaten regularly, kalo corm provides a good source of calcium and iron. Kalo leaves (lū‘au leaves) are eaten as a vegetable.

The staple of the ancient Hawaiian people, poi, is a gentle food, hypoallergenic, gluten free and easily digestible. It has saved the lives of babies who have been allergic to everything else. Poi is just about for everyone – from the health-challenged to the super-fit endurance athlete. (Bishop Museum)

Kalo, like other plants in its family, is considered poisonous when raw because its tissues contain an acrid component; thorough steaming or boiling eliminates this and allows it to be eaten.

It is estimated that at the peak of kalo production, areas under its cultivation covered more than 20,000-acres (about 31 square miles) over six islands.

Since the early to mid-1800s, kalo cultivation and the demand for kalo has markedly declined, and many of the ceremonial, medicinal and upland kalo cultivars became neglected and were lost.

In the last 200 years, Waipi‘o has experienced many changes: new ownership of the land, assimilation of other ethnic groups into the indigenous Hawaiian population and the shift from subsistence taro farming to market production.  (UH)

In 1900, it was estimated that about 1,280 acres were being used for kalo production.  By 1907, rice had become a major crop, occupying about 10,000 acres.

At that time, Chinese farmers were growing about half the kalo crop and milling 80 percent of the poi. By 1937, the major kalo growers were Japanese.

With the outbreak of World War II in 1941, demand for kalo declined and production dropped to 920 acres.  Today, less than 400 acres of kalo are planted.

The 21st Annual East Maui Taro Festival will be held in Hana, Maui, 9 am – 5 pm, April 20-21, 2013, Hana Ballpark – Hauoli Road & Uakea Street.  Hawaiian entertainment & Hula, 20 Food Booths, 50 Arts & Crafts Booths, an Info Tent for non-profits, an Ag Tent & Farmers Market and hands-on Cultural demos such as poi-pounding, kapa cloth making, creating Hawaiian musical instruments, lauhala weaving. Family-friendly and no admission charge.

The image shows a couple of men pounding poi.   (Lots of information here from CTAHR.)   In addition, I have added some other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Na Pōhaku Ola Kapaemahu A Kapuni – The Healing (Wizard) Stones of Kapaemahu

Pōhaku or stones are believed to hold mana or spiritual power. Pōhaku are featured in shrines as manifestations of ʻaumakua (family guardians,) akua (deities) and ʻuhane (spirits.) Throughout the islands are famous and named pōhaku which figure prominently in healing and health.

At Waikīkī, Oʻahu on Kūhiō Beach Hawaiian legend says Na Pōhaku Ola Kapaemahu A Kapuni were placed here in tribute to four soothsayers, Kapaemahu, Kahaloa, Kapuni and Kinohi, who came from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi (long before the reign of Oʻahu’s chief Kakuhihewa in the 16th century.)

Kapaemahu was the leader of the four and honored for his ability to cast aside carnality and care for both men and women. Kapuni was said to envelop his patients with his mana. While Kinohi was the clairvoyant diagnostician, Kahaloa— whose name means “long breath”—was said to be able to breathe life into her patients.

The art of healing they practiced is known in the Islands as la‘au lapa‘au. In this practice, plants and animals from the land and sea, which are known to have healing properties, are combined with great wisdom to treat the ailing.

They gained fame and popularity because they were able to cure the sick by laying their hands upon them. Before they returned to Tahiti, they asked the people to erect four large pōhaku as a permanent reminder of their visit and the cures they had accomplished.

Legend says that these stones were brought into Waikīkī from Waiʻalae Avenue in Kaimuki, nearly two miles away. Waikīkī was a marshland devoid of any large stones. These stones are basaltic, the same type of stone found in Kaimukī.

On the night of Kāne (the night that the moon rises at dawn,) the people began to move the rocks from Kaimukī to Kūhiō Beach.  During a month-long ceremony, the healers are said to have transferred their names — Kapaemahu, Kahaloa, Kapuni and Kinohi — and or spiritual power, to the stones.

One of the pōhaku used to rest where the surf would roll onto the beach known to surfers as “Baby Queens”, the second pōhaku would be found on the ʻEwa side of ʻApuakehau Stream (site of Royal Hawaiian Hotel), and the last two pōhaku once sat above the water line fronting Ulukou (near the site of the present Moana Hotel.)

It was not until the first decade of the 1900s that Gov. Archibald Cleghorn discovered two stones on his property and two on an adjacent property.

Recognizing their significance, Cleghorn had them excavated and placed together on his estate with the stipulation that they should not be moved.

However, in 1941, the estate land was leased out for the building of a bowling alley.   Upon the bowling alley’s demolition, in 1958, the stones were identified and repaired.  (They were used in the building’s foundation.)

Then, in 1963, they were relocated to Kūhiō Beach.  In 1980, the stones were moved again, approximately 50 feet mauka (toward the mountains) from their 1963 location.

Finally, in 1997, action began to create a permanent and more appropriate home for the stones.  Cultural historian and great-great-grandson of Archibald Cleghorn, Manu Boyd, reportedly said, “The value and meaning of the stones had faded over time with the changing values and mores of the day. Then, their importance was remembered and embraced by people who wanted to restore them.”

For years, committed individuals collaborated on plans to create a wahi pana (sacred place) where Na Pohaku could be honored and protected.  This wahi pana (or legendary site) was restored with the Assistance of Papa Henry Auwae and the Queen Emma Foundation 1997.

In addition to the many involved with the restoration, a delegation from Tahiti was present for the final ceremonies. These individuals blessed the stones with wild basil, traditionally used for cleansing, and presented a small stone from Tahiti named Ta‘ahu ea as a ho‘okupu (offering). That stone is now set on top of the altar in front of Na Pohaku.

Following the direction of Papa Auwae, four plants with medicinal value were added to the site—ma‘o (Hawaiian cotton), ‘ohe (bamboo), makahala (wild tobacco) and naupaka kahakai (beach naupaka).

The group Na Haumana La‘au Lapa‘au O Papa Auwae is the adoptive caretaker of Na Pōhaku. Babette Galang, who studied la‘au lapa‘au under Auwae, explained, “We were advised by Papa Auwae before his passing that we were to malama [take care of] the site.”

The image shows Na Pōhaku Ola Kapaemahu A Kapuni.  Lots of information here from Karyl Reynolds.  In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Puʻukoholā Heiau, Kawaihae, South Kohala, Hawaiʻi

One of the most famous heiau in Hawaiʻi is Puʻukoholā Heiau (“whale hill”,) a significant structure (224-feet by 100-feet) with walled ends, and open and terraced on the makai side – sitting above the Kohala shoreline.

In the 1780s, there were warring factions were fighting for control. The island of Hawaiʻi was in internal struggle when one of the aliʻi nui, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, died.

He passed his title to his son Kīwalaʻo and named his nephew, Kamehameha, keeper of the family war god, Kūkaʻilimoku.

Kīwalaʻo, the new ali‘I, then bestowed gifts of land to his uncle Keawemauhili, but left his own half-brother, Keōua Kuʻahuʻula, with nothing.

Kīwalaʻo was later killed in battle, setting off a power struggle between Keōua, Keawemauhili and Kamehameha.  The 1782 Battle of Mokuʻōhai gave Kamehameha control of the West and North sides of the island of Hawaiʻi.

By 1790, the island of Hawaiʻi was under multiple rule; Kamehameha (ruler of Kohala, Kona and Hāmākua regions) successfully invaded Maui, Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi.

While on Molokaʻi, he sent an emissary to the famous kahuna (priest, soothsayer,) Kapoukahi, to determine how he could conquer all of the island of Hawaiʻi.  Kapoukahi prophesized that war would end if Kamehameha constructed a heiau dedicated to the war god Kū at Puʻukohola.

Called back to Hawaiʻi by an invasion of Kohala by his cousin, Keōua (ruler of Kaʻū and part of Puna,) Kamehameha fought more battles without gaining a decisive victory.

One part of the legend stated that Kamehameha first intended to refurbish and rededicate Mailekini heiau, on the lower slope. But Kapoukahi, who had joined Kamehameha’s staff as royal architect, suggested that a new heiau on the summit would be more appropriate and provide greater benefits.

According to Thrum, Kapoukahi instructed Kamehameha “to build a large heiau for his god at Puʻukoholā, adjoining the old heiau of Mailekini.”

Thrum continues: “Of Mailekini heiau little of its history is learned, or what connection, if any, it had in its working with Puʻukoholā within two hundred feet above it. In early days it was said that traces of an underground passage existed, though it was difficult to tell whether or not the two temples were connected by it. … A tradition is current that this was the one that Kamehameha set out to rebuild that he might be successful in war, but on the advice of Kapoukahi he transferred his labors to the upper one of Puʻukoholā.”

According to Samuel Kamakau, Kamehameha “…summoned his counselors and younger brothers, chiefs of the family and chiefs of the guard, all the chiefs, lesser chiefs, and commoners of the whole district. Not one was allowed to be absent except the women. . . .The building of the heiau of Puʻu-koholā was, as in ancient times, directed by an expert … by a member of the class called hulihonua who knew the configuration of the earth (called kuhikuhi puʻuone) …”

“When it came to the building of Puʻu-koholā no one, not even a tabu chief, was excused from the work of carrying stone. Kamehameha himself labored with the rest. The only exception was the high tabu chief Ke-aliʻi-maikaʻi [Kamehameha’s younger brother]. …”

“Thus Kamehameha and the chiefs labored until the heiau was completed, with its fence of images (paehumu) and oracle tower (anuʻunuʻu), with all its walls outside and the hole for the bones of sacrifice. He brought down the ʻōhiʻa tree for the haku ʻōhiʻa and erected the shelter house (hale malu) of ʻōhiʻa wood for Kū-kaʻili-moku according to the rule laid down for the kahuna class of Pā‘ao.”

According to Historian Kuykendall, basing his information on Kamakau and Fornander, in 1790: “The building of this heiau was a great and arduous undertaking. Priests were everywhere about; they selected the site, determined the orientation, the dimensions, and the arrangement of the structure, and at every stage performed the ritualistic ceremonies without which the work could not be acceptable to the gods.”

Recalling the words of Kapoukahi, Puʻukoholā Heiau was being used by Kamehameha to secure unification of the Hawaiian Islands (at the same time that George Washington was serving as the US’s first president (1790.)

Many of the stones on Puʻukoholā Heiau are believed to have come from Pololu Valley. It is storied that Kamehameha and his men formed a human chain nearly 20 miles long and passed the stones one person to another all the way to the heiau site.

After completing the heiau in 1791, Kamehameha invited Keōua to come to Kawaihae to make peace.  However, as Keōua was about to step ashore, he was attacked and killed by one of Kamehameha’s chiefs.

With Keōua dead, and his supporters captured or slain, Kamehameha became King of Hawaiʻi island, an event that according to prophesy eventually led to the conquest and consolidation of the islands under the rule of Kamehameha I.

In early 1795, Kamehameha took Maui, Lānaʻi, and Molokaʻi. With the conquest of Oʻahu that year, Kamehameha succeeded in bringing all the islands, but Kauaʻi, under his control. In 1810, Kaumualiʻi, that island’s paramount chief, acknowledged Kamehameha’s supremacy, completing the consolidation of the islands into the Kingdom of Hawai’i.

Puʻukoholā Heiau was designated as a Historical Landmark by the Hawaiian Territorial Government in 1928.

The Queen Emma Foundation donated 34 acres of land in 1972, encompassing Puʻukoholā Heiau and the John Young Homestead, making it possible for the establishment of Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site.

Through an act of Congress on August 17, 1972, this site became one of the chosen few to be recognized as one of our nation’s crown jewels and national treasures, to be preserved and protected for future generations.

The image shows Puʻukoholā Heiau in 1890; in addition, I have added some other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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