Kalakaua | Page 3 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

March 26, 2024 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi

Born on March 26, 1871, Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi (grandson of Kaua‘i King Kaumuali‘i and the cousin of King Kalākaua and Queen Lili‘uokalani) was prince of the reigning House of Kalākaua.

After the rule of the House of Kamehameha ended with the death of King Kamehameha V in 1872, and King Liholiho died in 1874, the House of Kalākaua ascended to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

He became an orphan after his father died in 1880 and mother in 1884. Prince Kūhiō was adopted by King David Kalākaua’s wife, Queen Kapi‘olani, who was his maternal aunt.

He attended the Royal School and Punahou; studied four years in St. Matthew’s College, California; was a student at the Royal Agricultural College in England and graduated from a business college in England.

Historical accounts say that Kūhiō was tagged with the nickname “Prince Cupid” by a French teacher when he was very young because of his chubby stature and good-natured personality.

He witnessed the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, took the side of the monarchy, was found guilty of treason for plotting a counter-revolutionary attempt and made a political prisoner.

Prince Kūhiō, eligible royal heir to the Hawaiian throne, Delegate to Congress for ten consecutive terms and tireless worker for native Hawaiian rights, was born along the Poʻipū coast at Kukui‘ula and grew up in Kōloa on Kaua‘i.

Kūhiō was often called Ke Ali‘i Maka‘āinana (Prince of the People) and is well known for his efforts to preserve and strengthen the Hawaiian people.

In politics, he was a Republican. He launched a campaign to establish local government at the County level; this led to the County Act in 1905. Under the Act, the islands were divided into five separate Counties.

Prince Kūhiō restored the Royal Order of Kamehameha I and established the Hawaiian Civic Club.

The Order of Kamehameha I was established on April 11, 1865 by King Kamehameha V (Lot Kapuāiwa) to honor the legacy of his grandfather, the unifier of these islands, Kamehameha the Great.

The Order was reorganized by Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaole in 1902. Today, the organization continues to guard, maintain and preserve the rituals and the memory of the ruling Chiefs of Hawai‘i.

Hawaiian Civic Clubs were organized in 1918 and were formed to provide scholarship aid for the education of Hawaiian students; preserve and promote the Hawaiian heritage, traditions, language and culture; improve the conditions of the Hawaiian people and community at large; and perpetuate the values that dignify all human life.

In 1919 he also introduced the first bill asking that Hawai‘i become a state.

While a delegate of Congress, he spearheaded the effort in the passage of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act that provides lands for native Hawaiians.

He was concerned about the diminishing number of Hawaiians and their seeming inability to adapt to urban living. It was his dream to have Hawaiians return to the land and encourage them to be self-sufficient farmers, ranchers and homesteaders.

Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi died on January 7, 1922 of heart disease. He was given the last state funeral for an Ali‘i; he is buried at Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum.

Prince Kūhiō Day is an official holiday in the State of Hawaiʻi. It is celebrated annually on March 26, to mark the birth of Prince Kūhiō.

Kuhio Wearing his campaign hat and shirt-PP-97-2-017

Kalanianaole, Jonah Kuhio, 1871-1922-PP-97-2-010

JonahKuhioKalanianaole

Kalanianaole, Jonah Kuhio, 1871-1922-wearing_Order_of_Kamehameha regalia-(HSA)-PP-97-2-008

Kalanianaole, Jonah Kuhio, 1871-1922, in prison uniform (1895) PP-97-1-032

U.S. Congressman Carter Glass, Lincoln Holstein (1865-1943), Kuhio, Congressman Phillip Campbell of Kansas, and Honolulu mayor John C. Lane (1872-1958)-PP-9

Brothers David Kawananakoa (1868-1908) and Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole (1871-1922)-PP-97-2-023

David Kawananakoa (1868-1908) Edward Keliiahonui (1869-1887) and Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole (1871-1922)-PP-97-17-008

February 3, 2024 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

William Charles Lunalilo

William Charles Lunalilo was born on January 31, 1835 in an area known as Pohukaina (now part of Honolulu) to High Chiefess Miriam ‘Auhea Kekauluohi (Kuhina Nui, or Premier of the Hawaiian Kingdom and niece of Kamehameha I) and High Chief Charles Kanaʻina.

Lunalilo’s grandparents were Kalaʻimamahu (half-brother of Kamehameha I) and Kalākua (sister to Kaʻahumanu). His great grandfather was Keouakupupailaninui (father of Kamehameha I).

He was declared eligible to succeed by the royal decree of King Kamehameha III and was educated at the Chief’s Children’s School, and at age four, became one of its first students.

He was known as a scholar, a poet and a student with amazing memory for detail. From a very young age, he loved to write, with favorite subjects in school being literature and music.

As a young man, he was courteous and intelligent, generous and friendly. His close friends affectionately called him “Prince Bill”. His native people called him Lokomaikaʻi (“merciful, gracious, generous or benevolent”.)

In the Constitutional Convention of 1864, Lunalilo strongly supported both the cause of the people against unnecessary interference by any ruler and a more democratic government with two houses of the legislature, a House of Nobles and a House of Representatives. He wanted a constitution that favored the people and gave less power to the king.

Kamehameha V had not named a successor to the throne before he died on December 11, 1872. Lunalilo wanted his people to choose their next ruler in a democratic manner and requested a plebiscite to be held on New Year’s Day following the death of Kamehameha V.

He therefore noted, “Whereas, it is desirable that the wishes of the Hawaiian people be consulted as to a successor to the Throne, therefore, notwithstanding that according to the law of inheritance, I am the rightful heir to the Throne, in order to preserve peace, harmony and good order, I desire to submit the decision of my claim to the voice of the people.” (Lunalilo, December 16, 1872)

Prince David Kalākaua and others not in the Kamehameha lineage chose to run against Prince Lunalilo. The people on every island chose William Charles Lunalilo as King.

At noon on January 8, 1873, the Legislature met, as required by law, in the Courthouse to cast their official ballots of election of the next King. Lunalilo received all thirty-seven votes.

The coronation of Lunalilo took place at Kawaiahaʻo Church in a simple ceremony on January 9, 1873. He was to reign for one year and twenty-five days, succumbing to pulmonary tuberculosis on February 3, 1874.

As a proponent of democracy and more freedom of choice for his people, he did not name a successor before his death because he believed that the people should, again, choose their leader. His trait of “Lokomaikaʻi” followed him in death, because of his desire to do what was best for the people.

Upon his passing, the Royal Mausoleum was the temporary resting place for Lunalilo. By birthright, his remains could have remained there with the other Aliʻi, however, his desire was to be among his people, and in 1875 his remains were moved to their permanent resting place in a tomb built for him and his father, Kanaʻina, on the grounds of Kawaiahaʻo Church.

His estate included large landholdings on five major islands, consisting of 33 ahupuaʻa, nine ‘ili and more than a dozen home lots. His will established a perpetual trust under the administration of three trustees to be appointed by the justices of the Hawaiian Supreme Court.

Lunalilo was the first of the large landholding aliʻi to create a charitable trust for the benefit of his people.

The purpose of his trust was to build a home to accommodate the poor, destitute and inform people of Hawaiian (aboriginal) blood or extraction, with preference given to older people. The will charged the Trustees to sell all of the estate’s land and to build and maintain the home.

In 1879 the land for the first Lunalilo Home was granted to the estate by the Hawaiian government and consisted of 21 acres in Kewalo, near the present Roosevelt High School.

The construction of the first Lunalilo Home at that site was paid for by the sale of estate lands. The Home was completed in 1883 to provide care for 53 residents. An adjoining 39 acres for pasture and dairy was conveyed by the legislative action to the Estate in 1888.

After 44 years, the Home in Kewalo had deteriorated and became difficult and costly to maintain. The trustees located a new 20-acre site in Maunalua on the slopes of Koko Head.

The Maunalua site was purchased by the Brown family (John Ii Estate, Ltd.) and given as a gift to Lunalilo Home in memory of their mother Irene Ii Holloway, daughter of John Ii, who was a close friend of Lunalilo’s father.

With Court approval in 1927, the Kewalo/Makiki property was subdivided and sold and the proceeds used to purchase and renovate the buildings on the site to accommodate 56 residents.

Lunalilo Home temporarily ceased operations from 1997 through 2001 to undertake major renovations to its structure. Upon re-opening, it was licensed by the State Department of Health as an Adult Residential Care Home (ARCH) to accommodate 42 residents.

November 15, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Inventions

On November 16, 1836, in High Chief ‘Aikanaka’s compound of many grass structures for cooking, eating, gathering, and retainers’ quarters was one larger hut in which lay Keohokalole, awaiting the birth of her second born. The first child had died at birth.

The great prophetess and High Chiefess Liliha had said it would be a man child, and he would live. “From this child, the bones of our ancestors will have life.” She also said that he would see the demise of the Kamehamehas.

The child about to be born was promised in hānai to Liliha. ʻAikanaka thought Liliha was the perfect hānai for his daughters’ child.

Liliha was particularly pleased with this hānai. She and her husband, Boki, had no sons. Liliha had two daughters; Abigail and Jane Louea. But she had seen great things in her prophesies for the child who was soon to be her hānai.

The chanters began their mele. The child’s ancestry was extolled: His mother was descended from Keawe-a-Heulu and his father was the grandson of Kame‘eiamoku. The two had been trusted warriors and close advisors to Kamehameha l.

The child was born – news traveled quickly, and suddenly the compound was crowded with people, rejoicing, singing, dancing. Kīna’u had come to name the child. It was her privilege.

Children were named by notable historical events, which would date their birth. Kīna’u decreed; Kalakaua, “Battle Day.” History and the ancients give the complete name as Laamea Kamanakapuu Mahinulani Nalolaekalani Lumia-Lani Kalakaua.

Liliha came to collect her hānai child. Then Kīna’u stepped between her and the child. “The child is to go to Ha‘aheo” she decreed. Liliha protested bitterly but knew she could not win, for Kīna’u’s word was law in this matter.

The tiny Kalakaua was wrapped in kapa and taken by his hānai mother, Ha‘aheo, to the royal grounds, followed by the entourage of Kïna‘u.

Kalakaua was given to a kahu [a wet nurse] to be fed and nurtured. His warm infancy was, however, short-lived, for Ha‘aheo died a year later and Kinimaka, her husband, took the baby to live in Lahaina.

However, he lived only a short time on the palace grounds there – as Kinimaka’s high chief linage was less than his late wife’s. Kinimaka moved to a frame house on the outskirts of Lahaina. Within the year he married a Tahitian woman, Pai, who welcomed Kalakaua with love and tenderness.

When Kalakaua was nearly four, his biological mother, who served on the King’s privy council with one of the most powerful woman in Hawaii, Konia, the granddaughter of Kamehameha l, appealed to her to have Kalakaua sent to the High Chiefs’ Children’s School in Honolulu.

Kalakaua was admitted to the school, but not before he was baptized and given the name “David.” Hence, David Kalakaua. In 1839, when Kalakaua entered the school, the three throne-aligned princes were also attending: Moses, twelve; Lot, ten; and Alexander Liholiho, nine.

After Kalakaua left the High Chiefs’ School, he attended the George Beckwith Royal School. At the age of fourteen, Kalakaua returned to his blood father, Kapa‘akea.

In 1853, at the age of seventeen, Kalakaua began his study of Law under Charles Coffin Harris. Enchanted by the young man, Harris took him into his home to live. It was Kalakaua’s years with Harris that formulated his legalistic oratory.

In 1855, life changed considerably for this young man. Kamehameha III died on December 15, 1854, and after a period of mourning, Alexander Liholiho became King as Kamehameha IV.

Kalakaua was attracted to Julia Kapiolani; she was educated in both English and Hawaiian and spoke only Hawaiian and was thoroughly Hawaiian oriented. She was described as lovely, shy and gracious.

Julia Kapiolani was of high chiefly background; she was born December 31, 1834, in Hilo, Hawaii, of High Chief Kūhiō and High Chiefess Kinoiki. She was named in honor of the first High Chiefess to defy the Goddess Pele.

From her early teens she was under the custody of Kamehameha III and had been a member of the court. In 1852, when she was eighteen, she married Benet Namakeha, thirty years her senior. They had both gone on a missionary expedition to Micronesia.

A year later they returned to the court of Kamehameha IV. Shortly after her arrival in Hawaii, Kapiolani become widowed, and her path constantly crossed Kalakaua’s.

On December 8, 1863, Kalakaua’s romance with Julia Kapiolani crystallized, and they were married in a quiet, secret ceremony by an Episcopal minister.

By the 1870s, Kalakaua was beginning to feel the pressure of poverty. The Kalakaua family did not have the riches of the Kamehamehas. Kalakaua’s government salaries were low and his talent for making money was negligible.

But as Queen Emma wrote that with Kalakaua’s “faults we must give him credit for great ambition — he has faltered but keeps on trying. He is not idle, he has stumbled and blundered before the public till actually he really has gained courage amongst the and speak out and write boldly.”

Emma’s reference to Kalakaua’s faults, faltering, stumbling, and blundering referred to Kalakaua’s disastrous tenure as postmaster and his engagement in newspaper work. Along with his political duties, Kalakaua’s dreams and interests were with the arts and in writing.

In the early-1870s, with a young wife to support, Kalakaua reached for a means to support himself beyond his salaries as chamberlain, attorney (he passed the bar in 1871), and as clerk in the Land Office.

He became an inventor. Remembering the wonderful ships he had visited years before, he turned his attention to naval defense. He wrote Dom Pedro, Emperor of Brazil on Sept 19, 1872 for funds to build a torpedo-proof vessel. (Kelley)

“‘I flatter myself,’ Kalakaua wrote, ‘among the inventors of instruments of naval warfare to have invented a submarine torpedo for the destruction of an enemy vessel advancing on a hostile coast …’ and went on to cite its versatility, practicality and effectiveness.”

“‘The important feature of the invention is the direct action of destruction and the sure annihilation of anything crossing its way . . . I may safely assert that there is nothing afloat (with) the thickness of iron armor and carrying a plate of three to four inches thick at the ships bottom, save the invention proposed by me, and submitted to the British Government …’”

“Kalakaua tried to cover all possibilities for funding, it seems, and submitted a request for patronage to Queen Victoria as well. ‘I have refrained from sending a model, as it would be liable to miscarriage.’ Kalakaua did, however, send detailed drawings of his proposed vessel …”

“‘I am, Sire, with the most profound respects,’ Kalakaua closed the letter, ‘your Imperial Majesty’s most obedient and humble Servant. David Kalakaua, chief of staff and aide camp to His Majesty the King of Hawaii. Knight Companion to the Order of Kamehameha I, Knight Commander of the Order of His Imperial Majesty Francis Joseph of Austria.”

“Either the emperor of Brazil was also suffering from a general flatness of the purse or his fancy was not captured by Kalakaua’s flowery descriptions and entreaty because Kalakaua’s Torpedo Proof Vessel and Torpedo apparently never did get off the drawing board.”

“Kalakaua also tried his hand at designing a sort of semi-submerged, steam-propelled ship battering ram, a ‘Fish Ram’ …. It was shaped like a fish with the steam emitting from the half of the tail which protruded above the water. The battering ram was the elongated snout of the fish, and a compass was inset just where the fish’s eye would be.”

“His most practical invention [was] a bottle cap, much like the plastic caps that you can pick up today …. The cap has a loop which fits around the neck of an opened bottle.”

“The cap is attached to the loop and fits snugly over the mouth of the bottle. Kalakaua designed his ‘improved bottle (stopper) cover’ Nov. 16. 1872, at Kaalaa.” (Brown, Star Bulletin)

Kalakaua reigned as King of the Islands from February 12, 1874 until his death in San Francisco, California, on January 20, 1891.

October 23, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka Liona Hae O Ka Pakipika

A busy life … Teacher, Noble, Legislator, Newspaper Publisher, Italian Military Trainee, Surveyor, Revolutionist, Royalist, Counter-Revolutionist, Prisoner, Home Rule Candidate, Hawaiʻi’s First Congressional Delegate … he died October 23, 1903, at the age of 48.

He was born February 15, 1855 on the island of Maui. Hapa – his father was a native of Newport, Rhode Island; his mother, a native of Maui, a descendant of royalty.

He first went to school at Wailuku at the age of 8 years. When he was 10 years old his mother died, then his father moved to ranching at Makawao. There was no English school at Makawao until 1869.

That year, the Board of Education established the Haleakalā Boarding School; he was one of the first students at that school. Upon completion of his studies, he became a teacher at ʻUlupalakua.

In 1880, he was elected to the Islands’ legislature; he represented the citizens of Wailuku and its neighboring Maui community.

Nicknamed Ka Liona Hae O Ka Pakipika, or “The Roaring Lion of the Pacific,” Robert William Wilcox was a revolutionary soldier and politician – he was also referred to as the “Iron Duke of Hawaiʻi.”

King Kalākaua sent Wilcox to Italy to receive military training at the Royal Military of Turin, at the expense of the Hawaiian government.

In 1885, he graduated from the academy and was promoted to sub-lieutenant of the artillery; he then entered in the Italian Royal Application School for Engineer and Artillery Officers. (Several of the old photos of Wilcox show him in his Italian uniform.)

There, he married the first of his two wives, Signorina di Sobrero, an Italian.

Wilcox stayed in Italy until 1887; he returned to the Islands that year, because of the constitutional changes that had happened at that time (Bayonet Constitution.)

Later, he and his wife moved to San Francisco in 1888 and he worked as a surveyor for the Spring Valley Water Works Co. Wilcox came back to the Islands in 1889 and his wife returned to Italy.

On July 30, 1889, Wilcox led a rebellion to restore the rights of the monarchy, two years after the Bayonet Constitution of 1887 left King Kalākaua a mere ﬁgurehead.

By the evening, he became a prisoner and charged with high treason by the government. He was tried for treason, but was acquitted by the jury.

In 1890, he was elected to the Legislature in the Islands.

Following the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893, the Committee of Safety established the Provisional Government of Hawaiʻi as a temporary government until annexation by the United States.

The Provisional Government convened a constitutional convention and established the Republic of Hawaiʻi on July 4, 1894. The Republic continued to govern the Islands.

From January 6 to January 9, 1895, in a “Counter-Revolution,” patriots of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the forces that had overthrown the constitutional Hawaiian monarchy were engaged in a war that consisted of battles on the island of Oʻahu.

It has also been called the Second Wilcox Rebellion of 1895, the Revolution of 1895, the Hawaiian Counter-revolution of 1895, the 1895 Uprising in Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Civil War, the 1895 Uprising Against the Provisional Government or the Uprising of 1895.

In their attempt to return Queen Liliʻuokalani to the throne, it was the last major military operation by royalists who opposed the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. The goal of the rebellion failed.

Wilcox was court-martialed and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to thirty-five years. While in prison in 1895, Pope Leo XIII granted an annulment of their marriage. The Italian Consul and the Catholic Bishop at Honolulu confirmed this action.

In January, 1896, he was given a conditional pardon and became a free man; later that year, Wilcox married again, this time to Mrs. Theresa Cartwright. In 1898, President Dole gave him a full pardon.

With the establishment of Territorial status in the Islands, Hawaiʻi was eligible to have a non-voting delegate in the US House of Representatives.

Wilcox and others formed the Independent “Home Rule” Party and Wilcox ran as a candidate for the Delegate position (against Republican Samuel Parker and Democrat Prince David Kawānanakoa.) Wilcox won, and served as the first delegate and representative of Hawaiʻi in the US Congress.

He ran for re-election, but lost to Republican Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi (Prince Kūhiō served from 1903 until his death in 1922.)

Wilcox returned to Washington to finish out his term (November 6, 1900 to March 3, 1903,) but was very ill. He came back to Hawaiʻi in 1903, and died October 26, 1903. He is buried in the Catholic cemetery on King Street.

October 21, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hula – How the Missionaries Felt

“Hula is the language of the heart, and therefore the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people.” (attributed to Kalākaua)

“Their dances … are prefaced with a slow, solemn song, in which all the party join, moving their legs, and gently striking their breasts, in a manner, and with attitudes, that are perfectly easy and graceful … .” (Captain Cook Journal, 1779)

“Hula is not just a dance, but a way of life, an ancient art that tells of Hawaiʻi’s rich history and spirituality.” (attributed to many)

As hula is the dance that accompanies Hawaiian mele, the function of hula is therefore an extension of the function of mele in Hawaiian society. While it was the mele that was the essential part of the story, hula served to animate the words, giving physical life to the moʻolelo (stories.) (Bishop Museum)

Hula combines dance and chant or song to tell stories, recount past events and provide entertainment for its audience.

With a clear link between dancer’s actions and the chant or song, the dancer uses rhythmic lower body movements, mimetic or depictive hand gestures and facial expression, as part of this performance. (ksbe-edu)

So what did the missionaries really think?

As Hiram Bingham once noted, they “were wasting their time in learning, practising, or witnessing the hula, or heathen song and dance.” (Remember, heathen simply means ‘without religion, as in without God.’)

I think some might be surprised on how some missionaries viewed hula.

“The hula was a religious service, in which poetry, music, pantomime, and the dance lent themselves, under the forms of dramatic art, to the refreshment of men’s minds. Its view of life was idyllic, and it gave itself to the celebration of those mythical times when gods and goddesses moved on the earth as men and women and when men and women were as gods.” (Emerson, son of missionaries)

“(W)hen it comes to the hula and the whole train of feelings and sentiments that made their entrances and exits in the halau (the hall of the hula) one perceives that in this he has found the door to the heart of the people.” (Emerson, son of Missionaries)

In describing a hula danced before Keōpūolani and her daughter Nāhiʻenaʻena, in Lāhainā in 1823, Missionary CS Stewart wrote:

“The motions of the dance were slow and graceful, and, in this instance, free from indelicacy of action; and the song, or rather recitative, accompanied by much gesticulation, was dignified and harmonious in its numbers.”

“The theme of the whole, was the character and praises of the queen and princess, who were compared to everything sublime in nature, exalted as gods.” (Missionary Stewart)

In describing the challenges between commitment to hula, as well as their studies, Sybil Bingham, wife of Hiram noted, “… most of them (are) indeed in earnest to receive instruction as the conduct of each day testifies.”

” Three of them are obliged to attend the hula hula every afternoon. At the close of the school this forenoon, and also last Saturday, they proposed going quickly to eat and return immediately that they might not lose the privilege of the bible lesson. …”

“We were gratified after the vigorous effort made for the hula hula to see our scholars both at public worship and sabbath school.” (Sybil Bingham)

And how did Hiram Bingham feel (the one most often accused of a Hula ban?)

“This was intended, in part at least, as an honor and gratification to the king, especially at Honolulu, at his expected reception there, on his removal from Kailua. Apparently, not all hula was viewed as bad or indecent.” (Missionary Hiram Bingham)

“In the hula, the dancers are often fantastically decorated with figured or colored kapa, green leaves, fresh flowers, braided hair, and sometimes with a gaiter on the ancle, set with hundreds of dog’s teeth, so as to be considerably heavy, and to rattle against each other in the motion of the feet.” (Hiram Bingham)

“They had been interwoven too with their superstitions, and made subservient to the honor of their gods, and their rulers, either living or departed and deified.” (Hiram Bingham)

The missionaries most often opposed nudity, drinking and ‘wasting’ time. Even today, laws forbid nudity in public; frown on excessive drinking and, likewise, we tend to encourage people to be productive members of their community (kind of like the concerns expressed by the early missionaries, including Bingham.)

So what happened? Was hula ever effectively banned? Did hula stop?

“Missionary influence, while strong, never wiped out the hula as a functional part of the Hawaiian society. Faced with this undeniable fact, the authorities sought to curb performances by regulation.” (Barrere, Pukui & Kelly)

While not effectively stopping it completely, it does appear the missionaries did play a role on the Sabbath. “The king Kaumualiʻi appears exceedingly interested in what he now learns from the bible through the interpretation of Honolii.”

“The Capt. of the schooner informed us that last week the king sent out his crier, prohibiting dancing and work in the “Kalo patches” on the Sabbath. Honolii gives us some account of this in his letter to Mr. B.”

“After giving many of the particulars relative to the king’s desire to hear the word of the Great Jehovah he says “I, John, told the king ‘your people have hula hula on the Sabbath day? The king say, yes'”

“Then I ask him, ‘Can you wait hula hula on this day? Your people may hula hula on Monday, this day it is holy. Then king say we may stop hula hula on another Sabbath day.'” (Sybil Bingham)

In 1830, Kaʻahumanu issued an oral proclamation in which she instructed the people, in part: “The hula is forbidden, the chant (olioli), the song of pleasure (mele), foul speech, and bathing by women in public places.” (Kamakau)

Although it was apparently never formally rescinded, the law was so widely ignored, especially after Kaʻahumanu died in 1832, that it virtually ceased to exist.

Kaʻahumanu was not the only Aliʻi who sought to ban hula: “A hula in the village today at the house formerly occupied by Kaomi. It was commenced at an early hour and continued until noon and was broken up only by the appearance of Kinau to put a stop to it.”

“The notice that a hula was going on reached her and she sent word by Kalaaulana to Kaomi to put a stop to it & shut up the house”. (Missionary Levi Chamberlain)

There are many references to King Kamehameha III regularly watching the hula. “The young king (Kamehameha III,) … has been induced, however, to coincide with the other chiefs in all public acts.”

“His conduct, therefore, as a private person, though far from correct, has had but little influence. But recently, he has asserted more openly his independence; & he has done it by pursuing a course, which he knew was altogether opposed to the wishes of nearly all the high chiefs. He has revived the hula, or native dance”. (EW Clark)

He was not alone. “Unquestionably many christian Hawaiians considered hula immoral, and attempted to extirpate it. A series of letters from the Hawaiian journal Nupepa Kukoa in 1864-66 complains about hula schools operating in Maui, Oʻahu and Kauai.”

“These letters are interesting because they show that hula continued to flourish … ‘the “power and influence” of the national dance was never threatened … hula remained the favorite entertainment of Hawaiians of all classes.’” (kaimi-org)

In 1836, it was reported the French consul for Manila visited Honolulu, and attended a state banquet hosted by the King. Part of the festivities was a formal hula performance.

In 1850, the Penal Code required a license for “any theater, circus, Hawaiian hula, public show or other exhibition, not of an immoral character” for which admission was charged.

“No license for a Hawaiian hula shall be granted for any other place than Honolulu.” (The law did not regulate hula in private, so the dance continued to be practiced and enjoyed throughout the islands.)

King David Kalākaua’s 1883 coronation included three days of hula performances and his 1886 jubilee celebrations had performances of ancient and newly created dances.

Hula was never effectively banned; it is a common misconception that one would suggest that the American missionaries banned hula. They could not have banned hula, they did not have the authority.