Makalii | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

April 29, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Seven Sisters

Nā-Huihui-O-Makaliʻi, “Cluster of Little Eyes” (Makaliʻi) (a faint group of blue-white stars) marks the shoulder of the Taurus (Bull) constellation. Though small and dipper-shaped, it is not the Little Dipper.

Traditionally, the rising of Makaliʻi at sunset following the new moon (about the middle of October) marked the beginning of a four-month Makahiki season in ancient Hawaiʻi (a sign of the change of the season to winter.)

In Hawaiʻi, the Makahiki is a form of the “first fruits” festivals following the harvest season common to many cultures throughout the world. It is similar in timing and purpose to Thanksgiving, Oktoberfest and other harvest celebrations.

Something similar was observed throughout Polynesia, but it was in pre-contact Hawaiʻi that the festival reached its greatest elaboration. As the year’s harvest was gathered, tributes in the form of goods and produce were given to the chiefs from November through December.

Various rites of purification and celebration in December and January closed the observance of the Makahiki season. During the special holiday the success of the harvest was commemorated with prayers of praise made to the Creator, ancestral guardians, caretakers of the elements and various deities – particularly Lono.

Makaliʻi is also known as the Pleiades; its common name is the Seven Sisters.

But it is not these seven sisters that is the subject of this summary; this story is about Mellie, Kulamanu, May, Einei, Lucy, Kathleen and Lani – the seven daughters of Curtis and Victoria Ward.

Curtis Perry Ward was born in Kentucky and arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1853, when whaling in the Pacific was at its peak. Curtis worked at the Royal Custom House, which monitored commercial activity at Honolulu Harbor for the kingdom.

Victoria Robinson was born in Nuʻuanu in 1846, the daughter of English shipbuilder, James Robinson and his wife Rebecca, a woman of Hawaiian ancestry whose chiefly lineage had roots in Kaʻū, Hilo and Honokōwai, Maui.

Ward started a livery with headquarters on Queen Street and expanded into the business of transporting cargo on horse-pulled wagons. The size of Ward’s work force became just as big as the harbor’s other major player, James Robinson & Co. (Victoria’s father.)

Curtis and Victoria married in 1865 and for many years they made their home near Honolulu Harbor on property presently occupied by the Davies Pacific Center.

The Wards bought land on what was then the outskirts of Honolulu, eventually acquiring over 100-acres of land running from Thomas Square on King Street down to the ocean.

They built the “Old Plantation” in 1882, a stately, Southern-style home on the mauka portion of the property. It featured an artesian well, vegetable and flower gardens, a large pond stocked with fish, and extensive pasturage for horses and cattle. Self-sufficient as a working farm, Old Plantation was surrounded by a vast coconut grove.

Here’s a link to a video of “Old Plantation” with Anna Machado Cazimero, Kanoe Cazimero, Rodney Cazimero, Melveen Leed and Tito Berinobis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtPTv1QENC0

That year, Curtis Ward died (at age 53,) leaving Victoria to raise seven daughters and manage the estate. Here’s a little bit about the girls.

Mary Elizabeth “Mellie” Ward (February 16, 1867 to July 26, 1956) – married Frank Hustace September 30, 1886; Frank worked with, then succeeded his father-in-law in the draying business.

May Augusta Ward (May 10, 1871 to January 6, 1938) – married Ernest Hay Wodehouse in 1893; he was a prominent figure in the business world of Hawaiʻi; former president of Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association and the Sugar Factors Co, Ltd.

Annie Eva Theresa “Einei” Ward (March 13, 1873 to July 19, 1934) – married Wade Armstrong (Einei was the first of the Ward sisters to die, living to the age of 61.)

Keakealani Perry “Lani” Ward (May 27, 1881, December 31, 1961) – married Robert Booth; in 1966, Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children completed a new four-story Lani Ward Booth wing on Punahou Street.

Three sisters never married, and Lucy and Kathleen lived their lives at Old Plantation:
Hattie Kulamanu Ward (March 26, 1869 to March 2, 1959)
Lucy Kaiaka Ward (August 27, 1874 to March 20, 1954) (one of the founding members of the Hawaiian Humane Society)
Victoria Kathleen Ward (February 27, 1878 September 12, 1958)

Victoria Ward established Victoria Ward Ltd. in 1930 to manage the family’s property, primarily the remaining 65-acres of Old Plantation, now part of the core of Kakaʻako real estate adjoining downtown Honolulu. Victoria Ward died April 11, 1935.

Victoria Ward was loyal to the Kingdom (Queen Liliʻuokalani was her personal friend) and she died under the flag much in the same way her husband passed under the Confederate flag more than 50 years before. (Command)

Three sisters, Lucy Kathleen and Kulamanu, took control of the Victoria Ward Estate, with Kathleen becoming president and Lucy the secretary.

All was not always happy in the family.

In 1951, sisters Lucy and Kathleen sued to establish guardianship for sister Kulamanu. At the hearing, evidence of insanity was undisputed and proved to the judge’s satisfaction that Kulamanu was mentally incapable of managing her estate. On evidence of suitability the probate judge found that Hawaiian Trust Company, Limited, is “a fit and proper person to be appointed” as guardian of her estate. (Circuit Court Records)

Later (1957,) the Supreme Court decided on sisters Lani and Mellie (and nephew Cenric Wodehouse) petition for the appointment of a guardian for their sister, Kathleen, alleging that Kathleen was seventy-seven years of age, mentally infirm and unable to manage her business affairs.

The court found Victoria Kathleen Ward was incompetent to manage her business affairs (but not insane) and appointed Chinn Ho, Mark Norman Olds and George H Vicars, Jr guardians of the property. (Supreme Court Records)

In 1958, the city bought the mauka portion of the Old Plantation Estate and tore it down to build the Honolulu International Center (later re-named Neal S. Blaisdell Center (after Honolulu’s former Mayor.))

The Blaisdell Center has been in operation since 1964 and in 1994 was remodeled and expanded. The Blaisdell Center complex includes a multi-purpose Arena, Exhibition Hall, Galleria, Concert Hall, meeting rooms and parking structure.

On April 8, 2002, General Growth Properties, Inc announced the acquisition of Victoria Ward, Limited; this included 65-fee simple acres in Kakaʻako, with improvements of over one-million square feet of leasable area (Ward Entertainment Center, Ward Warehouse, Ward Village and Village Shops.)

General Growth later (2004) acquired the Howard Hughes Corporation. With excessive debt, General Growth was pushed into bankruptcy in 2009; then, in 2010, it spun off the Ward assets into the Hughes entity (General Growth was out of bankruptcy by the end of that year.)

2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC

November 13, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Months

Mahina, the moon, was the goddess who kept time for the Hawaiian. Mahina was more important to everyday life than the sun or the stars.

It was the duty of certain priests trained as astronomers to keep the annual calendar and watch the moon to determine just when certain tabu should be placed on the fish or land.

A proper planting season for the farmer depended upon the time as announced by the astronomer. The bird catcher, the canoe builder and many other craftsmen depended upon the astronomer’s announcement of the correct Mahina. (Taylor)

The Kilokilo (observer of the sly for omens) was an important person generally attached to the court of a king or to the temple of the king’s high priest. He was an astronomer priest, versed in the language of the stars.

The rising and the setting of the moon marked a day for the Hawaiian, only he did not call the time a day, he called it a night. The appearance of the new moon and the death of the old moon marked the month for the Hawaiian, which he called Mahina. Twelve such moons made a year for him.

The importance of knowing the passing of a year was to know when to celebrate the Makahiki, the great harvest festival. It was important to know just when the festival should be celebrated because it coincided with the coming of the god Lono on a visit to each district in the Islands. (Taylor)

The Hawaiian divided his calendar into the space of a year composed of 12 months or moons. He did not control the division of time known as a year by the sun, as we do, but by a small group of stars which we call the Pleiades and he called Makalii (small eyes).

There are many bright and beautiful stars with whom the Hawaiian was familiar and by which he might have regulated his calendar. Instead, he chose to regulate it by the rising and setting of this small constellation of seven stars. As a result, he considered the Pleiades the most important stars in the heavens.

Just why the Pleiades were selected as the regulator of the year is lost in antiquity. Most Asiatic, all the Pacific Island peoples and some Indian tribes use the rising and setting of the Pleiades as the regulator of the year.

The “Small Eyes” are to be seen on the eastern horizon about the middle of November each year. They travel across the sky for six months on the Black Shining Road of Kane and set about the middle of June in a pit located in the western sky. (Taylor)

In attempting to keep an ancient moon calendar, it is essential to know when to correct the moon calendar so that the seasons will correspond with the sun. That is the secret of the ancient astronomer which we do not know.

King Kalakaua said the astronomer corrected his calendar by adding five bonus days at the end of the Makahiki each year. Other old Hawaiians say that the astronomer simply knew when to add extra days or an extra month. (Taylor)

It is evident from the various accounts of the naming of the months of the year that the same names occurred in the various islands but that they were not applied to the same months. (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

Traditional month names are Ka‘elo, Kaulua, Nana, Welo, Ikiiki, Ka‘aona, Hina‘ia‘ele‘ele, Mahoe Mua, Mahoe Hope, Ikua, Welehu and Makali‘i.

The names of the months varied on each Island and within moku (districts) on each island, a result of the different methods the astronomer priest used to calculate days and months.

Apparently, astronomers on the different Islands and in the different districts had various methods of adjusting the calendar because we know that the names of the months varied on each Island. (Taylor)

The months of the pre-contact Hawaiian were lunar months, each beginning with the appearance of a new moon and lasting 29 or 30 nights until the appearance of the next new moon. Each night of the month had its individual name.

All authorities seem to agree that there were 12 named months. However, there is considerable disagreement as to their names, some disagreement as to their sequence, and evidence that the nomenclature both varied from island to island and was subject to change with time. (Schmitt & Cox)

Hawaiians divided the year into two seasons: Ka‘u, or Summer, when it was dry and hot (beginning in May when the Pleiades set at sunrise). The other part of the year was Ho‘oilo (beginning in October), when it was rainy and chilly. (Handy, Hany & Pukui) There were six months in Ka‘u and six in Ho‘oilo.

While most authorities agree that the months were grouped into two seasons, there is considerable disagreement as to the names of the seasons and the details of the grouping. Some, moreover, report three or four seasons. (Schmitt & Cox)

The lunar cycle was reconciled with the sidereal year (of or relating to stars or constellations) by the insertion of an extra month about once in three years.

The passage of sidereal was noted by the date on which the Pleiades were seen to rise just after sunset. However, the exact rule governing the insertion of the extra month, the point of its insertion in the sequence of the 12 named months, and the name given to the extra month have, apparently, all been forgotten. (Schmitt & Cox)

(Check out the attached images that further explain the names, what actions happen during certain months and some of the differences in names assigned to the calendar names we are used to (January through December).

November 25, 2021 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Happy Thanksgiving!

Na-Huihui-O-Makaliʻi, “Cluster of Little Eyes” (Makaliʻi) (a faint group of blue-white stars) marks the shoulder of the Taurus (Bull) constellation. Though small and dipper-shaped, it is not the Little Dipper. (Makaliʻi is also known as the Pleiades; its common name is the Seven Sisters.)

In Hawaiʻi, the Makahiki is a form of the “first fruits” festivals common to many cultures throughout the world. It is similar in timing and purpose to Thanksgiving, Oktoberfest and other harvest celebrations.

Something similar was observed throughout Polynesia, but it was in pre-contact Hawaiʻi that the festival. Makahiki was celebrated during a designated period of time following the harvesting season.

As the year’s harvest was gathered, tributes in the form of goods and produce were given to the chiefs from November through December.

It’s not clear when the first western Thanksgiving feast was held in Hawaiʻi, but from all apparent possibilities, the first recorded one took place in Honolulu and was held among the families of the American missionaries from New England.

According to the reported entry in Lowell Smith’s journal on December 6, 1838: “This day has been observed by us missionaries and people of Honolulu as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God. Something new for this nation.”

“The people turned out pretty well and they dined in small groups and in a few instances in large groups. We missionaries all dined at Dr. Judd’s and supped at Brother Bingham’s. … An interesting day; seemed like old times – Thanksgiving in the United States.”

The first Thanksgiving Proclamation in Hawaiʻi appears to have been issued on November 23, 1849, and set the 31st day of December as a date of Thanksgiving. This appeared in ‘The Friend’ on December 1, 1849.

The following, under the signature of King Kamehameha III, named the 31st of December as a day of public thanks. The Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1849 read, in part:

“In accordance with the laws of this Kingdom, and the excellent usage of Christian Nations, it has pleased his Majesty, in council, to appoint the Thirty-first day of December, next, as a day of public thanksgiving to God, for His unnumbered mercies and blessings to this nation; and …”

“… people of every class are respectfully requested to assemble in their several houses of worship on that day, to render united praise to the Father of nations, and to implore His favor in time to come, upon all who dwell upon these shores, as individuals, as families, and as a nation.” (Signed at the Palace. Honolulu, November, 23, 1849.)

“It will be seen by Royal Proclamation that Monday, the 31st of December has been appointed by His Majesty in Council as a day of Thanksgiving. We are glad to see this time-honored custom introduced into this Kingdom.”

The celebratory day of Thanksgiving changed over time. On December 26, 1941 President Roosevelt signed into law a bill making the date of Thanksgiving a matter of federal law, fixing the day as the fourth Thursday of November.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving_grace_1942-WC

November 23, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Happy Thanksgiving!

Makaliʻi is also known as the Pleiades; its common name is the Seven Sisters.

As the year’s harvest was gathered, tributes in the form of goods and produce were given to the chiefs from November through December.

No one knows when the first western Thanksgiving feast was held in Hawaiʻi, but from all apparent possibilities, the first recorded one took place in Honolulu and was held among the families of the American missionaries from New England.

The following, under the signature of King Kamehameha III, named the 31st of December as a day of public thanks. The Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1849 read, in part:

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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Makalii-Pleiades

December 1, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Makahiki

There were four months devoted to the observances of the Makahiki, during which time the ordinary religious ceremonies were omitted, the only ones that were observed being those connected with the Makahiki festival. The keepers of the idols, however, kept up their prayers and ceremonies throughout the year. (Malo)

Traditionally, the rising of Makaliʻi (Pleiades) at sunset following the new moon (beginning in late-October or early-November) in noted the change of the season to winter.

The Makahiki is a form of the “first fruits” festivals common to many cultures throughout the world. It is similar in timing and purpose to Thanksgiving, Oktoberfest and other harvest celebrations – it celebrated Lono, god of plenty.

Something similar was observed throughout Polynesia, but it was in pre-contact Hawaiʻi that the Makahiki festival was celebrated during a designated period of time following the harvesting season.

The first period of the Makahiki was the kapu time when the people, although they had stopped working, were not yet allowed to play. Before they could play, the taxes for the King – the pig, the taro, the sweet potatoes, the feathers, the kapa, the mats, all things that were made – had to be brought together and offered on the alters of Lono. (Handy)

Then an image of Lono was carried around the island by the priests. At each of the ahupua‘a, the chief of that district presented the gifts. (Handy)

The Makahiki circuit conducted by the Lono priests carrying the akua loa representation of Lono was marked not only by the collection of tribute within each territorial unit (ahupua‘a), but also by large gatherings of people from each community as the procession of priests and warriors passed through. (Kirch)

Once the ʻAuhau (taxes) and hoʻokupu (offering) were collected, the Makahiki festival, including sports, feasting and dancing, could begin.

While the lands rested and are softened by the rains, in preparation of the new planting season, all wars were prohibited and goodwill prevailed. The chiefs joined with the makaʻāinana in feasting, testing or argumentative skills and athletic competition. (PKO)

At the end of the Makahiki festival, the king went off shore in a canoe. When he came in, a group of men with spears rushed at him (he was protected by his own warriors.) It was believed that unless the king was sacred enough to be superior to death, he no longer was worthy of representing Lono. (Handy)

Various rites of purification and celebration closed the observance of the Makahiki season. During the special holiday the success of the harvest was commemorated with prayers of praise made to the Creator, ancestral guardians, caretakers of the elements and various deities – particularly Lono.

The Kukui tree is considered to be the kinolau, or form, of Kamapuaʻa, the pig god, the lover of fire goddess Pele (perhaps due to light’s affinity with fire) and so a pig’s head carved from kukui wood is placed on the altar to Lono at the annual Makahiki festival.

Kapa was closely linked to Lono. White kapa streamers adorned the akua loa, or ‘long god’ during the Makahiki. The hale o Lono temples were located immediately inside the eastern boundary of each ahupua‘a. They served in the annual tribute collection by the ali‘i during the Makahiki. (Kirch)

Captain Cook sailed past Hāmākua, Hilo, Puna, and Kaʻū and put in at Kealakekua Bay, and on January 17, 1779, he put in at Kaʻawaloa Bay – the sails and masts of the ships of Captain James Cook resembled Lono’s akua loa.

When Captain Cook appeared they declared that his name must be Lono, for Kealakekua was the home of that deity as a man, and it was a belief of the ancients that he had gone to Kahiki and would return. (Kamakau)

“During the Makahiki season … the people of different districts gathered at one place”. (Malo) Kamakau, noted that “a place had been made ready” before the arrival of the Makahiki gods, where sporting matches were performed after the tribute offerings were made. (Kirch)

Hawaiian ethno-historic sources indicate the existence of special gathering places where members of an ahupua‘a community would assemble during the Makahiki period, especially for the offering of tribute to the Lono priests and for various sports, games and other ceremonies associated with this important ritual period. (Kirch) On such has been identified on Kauai.

Lono, the god of agriculture, along with Kāne’s help, insures a life cycle and abundance to all animal husbandry and crops. Kanaloa, the god of the sea, also needs Kāne’s help in order to insure a life cycle for the fish. This is significant as these three components are represented at Kāneiolouma on the South Shore of the island of Kauai.

“The heiau was the principal medium through which all religious activities were manifested, and was therefore the most important representative of religion collectively in ancient Hawai‘i.”

As noted by Henry Kekahuna in his 1959 mapping of the Kāneiolouma complex, the Kāneiolouma heiau at Poʻipū had three main sections (religion, agriculture and aquaculture (fish ponds.))

“On the East side, there is a large sports arena where Hawaiian games such as forearm wrestling, or uma, wrestling, or hakoko, and deadly grappling, or lua, were carried on.” (Kekahuna)

“On the South side, there is a large fishpond where special fish intended only for the ali‘i were raised. The Waiohai spring is the center of this fishpond.”

Extensive walled enclosures, alters, numerous bases for temple images, shrines, taro patches, irrigation ditches, a series of large fishponds, house platforms, extensive cooking areas, and terracing throughout make this complex ideal for rehabilitation.

Within the complex, an intricate system of walls and terraces trace the architecture of an ancient way of life. Near its center, the complex contains what may be the only intact Makahiki sporting arena in the state.

The Kāneiolouma and agricultural site complex is part of a huge complex of agricultural and habitation sites ranging from Kōloa town to the coast of Poʻipū and ranging from the Weliweli area westward to Kukui‘ula Bay and the Kōloa Field System.

Per the Bishop Museum Planetarium, December 1, 2016, marks Makahiki (start of the Hawaiian year.) To mark the start of the Makahiki season: 1) wait for the star cluster of the Pleiades to rise at sunset, which occurs every year on November 17; 2) wait for the new moon that follows this sunset rising of the Pleiades, which occurs in 2016 on November 29 …

3) wait for the first visible crescent moon that follows this new moon. This year, this slender crescent should be visible in the west at dusk on December 1, thus marking the start of the Makahiki season and of the Hawaiian year. (BM)

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