“We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness – and call it love – true love.” Robert Fulghum
In about 1807, a young Hawaiian man, ʻŌpūkahaʻia, swam out to the ‘Triumph’, a China-bound seal skin trading ship anchored in Kealakekua Bay. Both of ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s parents and his younger brother had been slain during the battles on the island.
Also on board was Hopu, another young Hawaiian. They set sail for New York, stopping first in China. Russell Hubbard was also on board. “This Mr. Hubbard was a member of Yale College. He was a friend of Christ. … Mr. Hubbard was very kind to me on our passage, and taught me the letters in English spelling-book.” (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)
They landed at New York and remained there until the Captain sold out all the Chinese goods. Then, they made their way to New England.
ʻŌpūkahaʻia was eager to study and learn. He “was sitting on the steps of a Yale building, weeping. A solicitous student stopped to inquire what was wrong, and Obookiah (the spelling of his name, based on its sound) said, ‘No one will give me learning.’”
The student was Edwin Dwight. “(W)hen the question was put him, ‘Do you wish to learn?’ his countenance began to brighten. And when the proposal was made that he should come the next day to the college for that purpose, he served it with great eagerness.” (Dwight)
Later, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) formed the Foreign Mission School; ʻŌpūkahaʻia was one of its first students. He yearned “with great earnestness that he would (return to Hawaiʻi) and preach the Gospel to his poor countrymen.” Unfortunately, ʻŌpūkahaʻia died on February 17, 1818.
Dwight put together a book, ‘Memoirs of Henry Obookiah’ (the spelling of the name based on its pronunciation). It was an edited collection of ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s letters and journals/diaries. The book about his life was printed and circulated after his death.
ʻŌpūkahaʻia, inspired by many young men and women with proven sincerity and religious fervor of the missionary movement, had wanted to spread the word of Christianity back home in Hawaiʻi; his book inspired missionaries to volunteer to carry his message to the Hawaiian Islands.
In giving instructions to the first missionaries, the ABCFM, noted: “You will never forget ʻŌpūkahaʻia. You will never forget his fervent love, his affectionate counsels, his many prayers and tears for you, and for his and your nation.”
“You saw him die; saw how the Christian could triumph over death and the grave; saw the radient glory in which he left this world for heaven. You will remember it always, and you will tell it to your kindred and countrymen who are dying without hope.”
Click HERE to view/download Background on ʻŌpūkahaʻia & the Mission
Missionary Period
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 on the Thaddeus for the Hawaiian Islands – they anchored at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.
Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”), about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands. Collaboration between Native Hawaiians and American Protestant missionaries resulted in, among other things, the
On August 15, 1993, ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s remains were returned to Hawai‘i from Cornwall and laid in a vault facing the ocean at Kahikolu Church.
Saturday, February 17, 2018 marks the Bicentennial of ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s death.
Hawaiian Mission Houses will be hosting a Free Open House that afternoon.
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Kī, the Ti plant, was an emblem of high rank and divine power. The kāhili, in its early form, was a kī stalk with its clustered foliage of glossy, green leaves at the top.
The kahuna priests in their ancient religious ceremonial rituals used the leaves as protection. Ki planted around dwellings is thought to ward off evil. (ksbe)
To dispel evil, fresh leaves were worn around the neck, waist, and ankles and hung around dwellings. Masses of plants were planted around homes to ward off evil and bring good fortune. (CTAHR)
It is a canoe crop, brought to the Islands by the early Polynesians. Kī was considered sacred to the Hawaiian god, Lono, and to the goddess of the hula, Laka. (ksbe)
The kī leaf was a most useful article to the Hawaiians in caring for food. The leaf is long and wide (20 in. x 6 in. is an average size,) smooth, shiny, tough, and, except for the midrib, the veins are unobtrusive.
It has no odor and is clean and fresh looking. Small foods were wrapped in a ti leaf laulau piʻao, larger in a flat bundle called laulau lāwalu.
Broiling wrapped food (lāwalu) was used a great deal. Food that had been cut into pieces, or small fish that would be lost in an imu, or burned crisp if broiled, were wrapped in leaves of the ti, occasionally in leaves of the wild ginger, which is said to have added a delicious fragrance to the fish.
The leaf bundle was toasted over the open fire, turning it occasionally and the food was cooked when the juice ceased to drip from the bundle. Mullet was “cooked with such perfection that when the banana leaves in which it had been steamed were taken off, it had received hardly a slight alteration in form and color.” (Titcomb)
Lieut. James Burney and Astronomer William Bayly, while anchored off Kaua‘i in 1779 with the Cook expedition wrote: “… the natives came off with hogs and sweet potatoes in plenty, and a Root that appears like a Rotten Root of a tree, and as large as a man’s thigh. It is very much like brown Sugar in tast but Rather Sweeter – the natives call it Tee (ki or ti.)”
Ti, grown in a favorable location for many years, may have a root weighing 200 to 300 pounds. Roots on the ordinary garden ti may weigh 50 to 60 pounds.
A favorite confection years ago was kī baked in the imu for about 24 hours or until it became a sweet, brown, candy-like food. (Mitchell)
Missionary William Ellis wrote of the ti root in 1823: “The natives bake it in large ovens underground. After baking, it appears like a different substance altogether …”
“… being of a yellowish brown colour, soft, though fibrous and saturated with a highly saccharine juice. It is sweet and pleasant to the taste, and much of it is eaten in this state”.
Foreigners first fermented, and then distilled, the Kī root into an alcoholic beverage. It is said to have started when Captain Nathaniel Portlock, part of Captain Cook’s crew in 1779, baked roots in an imu to convert its starches to sugars, added water and let it ferment with wild yeast into a mild beer.
Lieut. James Burney and Astronomer William Bayly, while anchored off Kauaʻi in 1779 with the Cook expedition wrote: ‘… The Natives eat it sometimes Raw and other times Roasted. We made exceeding good Beer, by boiling it in Water, then let it ferment, so as to purge itself.’
Later, William Stevenson, an escaped convict from Australia, is credited to have taught the native Hawaiians how to distill the beer beverage into a higher alcoholic concoction. (Kepler) Due to the early means of making the drink, it took on the name ʻōkolehao (lit. iron bottom.)
“Since the perverted ingenuity of some early beachcomber first adjusted a twisted gun barrel to an iron pot, and distilled from the root of the ti this liquor to which the French Republic through the Paris Exposition of 1899 gave a blue ribbon. …”
“ʻŌkolehao has been recognized as something in which Hawaiʻi might well have a proprietary pride, because of its surpassing excellence in its class.” (Hawaiian Star, September 20, 1906)
It had its detractors … “If people will drink, let us at least see, if possible, that they drink a fair article of poison. I hold that no man ever killed his wife when under the influence of good, generous liquor. It is the “tarantula juice,” the ʻōkolehao, that does most of the mischief.” (The Friend, October 1, 1879)
Ti is a member of the agave family; botanists had previously placed it in the lily family. Besides green, the foliage of ti plants can be red, orange, purple, or various combinations of these (blue has not yet been found in ti.)
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The swastika was used at least 5,000 years before Adolf Hitler designed the Nazi flag. The word swastika comes from the Sanskrit svastika, which means “good fortune” or “well-being.”
Archeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered the hooked cross on the site of ancient Troy. He connected it with similar shapes found on pottery in Germany and speculated that it was a “significant religious symbol of our remote ancestors.”
In the beginning of the twentieth century the swastika was widely used in Europe. However, the work of Schliemann soon was taken up by völkisch movements, for whom the swastika was a symbol of “Aryan identity” and German nationalist pride
This conjecture of Aryan cultural descent of the German people is likely one of the main reasons why the Nazi party formally adopted the swastika or Hakenkreuz (Ger., hooked cross) as its symbol in 1920.
After World War I, a number of far-right nationalist movements adopted the swastika. As a symbol, it became associated with the idea of a racially “pure” state. By the time the Nazis gained control of Germany, the connotations of the swastika had forever changed.
In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote: “I myself, meanwhile, after innumerable attempts, had laid down a final form; a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. After long trials I also found a definite proportion between the size of the flag and the size of the white disk, as well as the shape and thickness of the swastika.”
The swastika (or Hakenkreuz (Ger., hooked cross)) would become the most recognizable icon of Nazi propaganda, appearing on the flag referred to by Hitler in Mein Kampf as well as on election posters, arm bands, medallions, and badges for military and other organizations. (Holocaust Memorial Museum)
On September 15, 1935, the Nazi government introduced the Nuremberg Laws, legislation which defined German society and state in fascist and racial terms, and strengthened the legal oppression of Jews. (Telegraph)
The swastika came to Hawai‘i in 1936 – it flew aboard the Emden.
On January 7, 1925 the light cruiser Emden, the first significant warship built after the First World War, was launched at Wilhelmshaven and refitted as a training ship.
On October 23, 1935, the Emden embarked on a cruise through the Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific – Azores, Caribbean, Venezuela, Panama Canal, Oregon, Honolulu, Panama Canal, Baltimore, Montreal and Pontevedra (Spain).
Karl Dönitz commanded the 1935 training cruise of the Emden. (He later became commander of submarines and eventually grand admiral. He was also Hitler’s successor and leader of the short-lived Flensburg government (1945)).
They arrived in Honolulu on February 8, 1936. The Royal Hawaiian Band greeted them and played music at Honolulu Harbor. The German crew band broke into music on board.
“In the evening (was a) big reception with dancing. … The next day on the trip to Kailua Beach is better. Here and in the following days in the Waikiki Beach – we experience so much vaunted Hawaii in every respect. With every day it becomes more beautiful.”
“Car and swimming trips alternate with family invitations. Whether German, Hawaiian, American, Military, Japanese or Chinese, we are soon good friends with them.”
“Willingly we are shown the paradisiacal beauty of the island. Who gets to see a hula hula dance, what can add special beauty to his memories.”
“The number of our friends is so great that it is impossible to invite them all to a board fixed, so the commander puts on two afternoons board hard, so we are able to guarantee granted us hospitality to thank all our friends and girlfriends.”
“Again, we are all endowed very rich goodbye. Hours earlier, everything gathered in front of the ship, listening to the … Military band. Then plays and then sing again the Royal Hawaiian band.”
“Each of our friends hanged a wreath of flowers around, pushes us again the hand and says: Aloha! This word of Hawaiians expresses all the feelings of his friends.”
“It is a farewell to one of us probably no one forgets. Even our brave ship carries an Aloha wreath at the bow. Always quieter Aloha calls, nor do we see the Aloha Tower, then the Diamond Head, and then we throw the wreaths – as required by the custom – overboard, the dream of Hawaii is over! – Aloha oe!!” (Witnesses Report; Norderstedter Zeitzeugen)
The Emden left the Islands on February 17, 1936.
Emden spent the majority of her career as a training ship; at the outbreak of war, she laid minefields off the German coast and was damaged by a British bomber that crashed into her. (WorthPoint)
During WWII the Emden was used as a training ship but participated also in several combat operations until 1944. In January 1945, “she took on board the mortal remains of General Field Marshal Hindenburg and his wife, which had been disinterred” to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy hands. (Williamson) (Paul von Hindenburg was German President before Hitler.)
Badly damaged by British bombers on April 10, 1945 at Kiel, she was blown up on May 3rd in the Heikendorfer Bay. The remains were broken up for scrap in 1949. (Ships Nostalgia)
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“He had been the friend of the Mission from the first – had forsaken his vices, embraced the Gospel, joined the Church of Christ, and maintained a consistent life.”
“When he found that he must die, he resolved to retire to the island, and to that spot in that island, which had been familiar in his early days.”
“As he stood upon the shore of O‘ahu ready to depart, with the Missionaries near him, and multitudes of natives about him weeping because they should see his face no more …”
“… he declared, in the presence of all, his confidence in the Missionaries, and his joy in the religion which they had brought to the Islands and to himself …”
“… and then desired that all might be quiet, while, on the beach and under the open heavens, one of the Missionaries should commend him and them to the protection and guardianship of Almighty God.”
“Having retired to the home of his fathers, he a few days after died; and as he died, this venerable warrior and chieftain said, ‘I am happy – I am happy’ – a speech, which, we venture to say, no dying Islander ever uttered before the Missionaries arrived and preached the Gospel.”
“Some months before his death, he had his parting advice to his people committed to paper. Just before he left O‘ahu, it was read to him.”
“‘These are my sentiments still,’ said he; ‘and, on the day that I am taken away, I wish the people to be assembled, and these words to be read to them as mine.’”
“This document, like his other compositions, since his professed obedience to the Gospel, is described as breathing a spirit of piety, and exhibiting evidence of the Christian hope.”
“The evidences of his Christian character are thus enumerated by Mr. Bingham – ‘The consistency of his life with what he knew of the requirements of the Word of God – his steady adherence to Christian principles, which he professed to follow since his contest, preservation, and victory at Tauai …’”
“‘… his steady, warm, and operative friendship for the Missionaries; and his constant, earnest, and efficient endeavours, while his health would allow it, to promote the cause of instruction and religious improvement among the people …’”
“‘… his constancy in attending the worship of God – his firmness in resisting temptation – his faithfulness in reproving sin – his patience in suffering – his calm and steady hope of heaven, through the atonement of Christ …’”
“‘… whom he regarded as the only Saviour, to whom he had, as he said, given up himself, heart, soul, and body, to be his servant for ever —all combine to give him a happy claim to that most honourable title of Rulers on earth, a Nursing Father in Zion, and to the name of ‘Christian, the highest style of man.’’”
“‘This world,’ he said, ‘is full of sorrow: but, in heaven, there is no sorrow nor pain – It is good! – It is light! – It is happy!’”
“It is a subject of gratitude, that the life of so important a man was preserved during the troubles of last year, when his sudden removal might have been followed by most disastrous consequences.”
“Thanks should be rendered, also, for the gracious support which was afforded him, during his long illness, as death gradually advanced.”
“The power of religion was strikingly manifest in the victory, which, in this instance, faith gained over inveterate habits, pride, the love of sin, and the love of the world: nothing but Christian truth ever obtained such a conquest.”
“Such a man as Karaimoku would be a blessing to any nation.”
“He only wanted an early education, to have made him an accomplished statesman. The nation must long lament his loss, for there is no one who can fill his place.” (Missionary Register, 1828)
“Kalanimōku, whom the natives called (“kaula hao, iron cable, of the country, a compliment higher than the discharge of twenty-one guns from the fort would have been” (Bingham)), died in 1827.”
“Anticipating the approach of his dissolution from the progress of dropsy (edema – a condition characterized by an excess of watery fluid collecting in the cavities or tissues of the body), the old chief sailed from Honolulu for Kailua (Kona), where he wished to die.”
“Here, under an unsuccessful operation for his disease, he fainted, and after a few hours expired, on the 8th of February. In him the heathen warrior was seen transformed into the peaceful, joyous Christian.” (Anderson)
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