By The Molokai Dispatch Staff
Throughout the month of May, schools across Molokai celebrated Lei Day. Students participated in the royal court, draped in lei representative of each island’s colors. Each grade performed special songs or hula for their families and schools, as the community celebrated this cultural tradition and the aloha spirit.…
By Catherine Cluett Pactol | Editor
Molokai’s Hawaiian language immersion preschool, Punana Leo, held it’s annual Ho’omau event last Saturday for the first time since the pandemic. Haumana of Punana Leo opened the community event with song and keiki introductions, followed by performances by Kula Kaiapuni ‘o Kualapuu, the island’s elementary language immersion program. Keiki sang throughout a torrential downpour of rain, as attendees took cover under tents. But the rain didn’t dampen the spirits of those gathered, who went on to enjoy food and craft booths and entertainment throughout the day.
The event is a fundraiser to help support Punana Leo o Molokai’s continued perpetuation of Hawaiian language education. …
By Catherine Cluett Pactol and Jack Kiyonaga
At 7 a.m. last Saturday, more than 100 Molokai residents stood at the gated entrance to Kawakiu, an area of west Molokai owned by Molokai Properties Limited, also known as Molokai Ranch. For those gathered, Kawakiu represents not only a cultural and historic site, but also generational subsistence grounds.
“We’re walking for our young people so they can go hunting and fishing here… it’s a constant battle to keep your rights alive,” said activist Walter Ritte to the gathered crowd waiting to march the dirt road that is currently blocked to the beach. “Kawakiu is a historic site, there are burials over there, house sites over there, heiau over there.”…
By The Molokai Dispatch Staff
Molokai waited a long time for this year’s community celebration of Ka Molokai Makahiki. With the past three years cancelled during the pandemic, the event was postponed again from a torrential rainstorm in January. Finally held last weekend, the opening ceremony and cultural protocol kicked off Friday evening followed by keiki giving it their all in the games.
“The rising of the Makali’i constellation on the eastern horizon during the setting of the sun in the west signals the beginning of Hawaiian new year, the season of Makahiki,” said Nahulu Maioho during the opening ceremonies. “This was a time set aside to give thanks and to celebrate life.…
By Jack Kiyonaga, Reporter
Student artwork and writing filled “The Barn” at Molokai High School on Feb. 25. The event was
the seventh annual ‘Aha Opio O Molokai, dedicated to celebrating Hawaiian culture and education.
Student projects ranged from artwork based on Hawaiian myths, to wood working, to live action poi pounding.
The student projects were intended to “celebrate innovation” and align with “one or more of the HA [Hawaii Dept. of Education framework] outcomes: Belonging, Responsibility, Excellence, Aloha, Total Well Being, and Hawaii,” according to the event’s website.
The day was an opportunity for students to fully engage with Hawaiian culture and be reminded of the hard-won history by which this education came about. …
uTalk News Release
Teachers and students on Molokai are being offered free access to a new Hawaiian language learning app in return for putting it through its paces in the classroom. Language company uTalk have just added Hawaiian to their award-winning app and are looking for Hawaiian schools to help trial it.
The uTalk app uses recordings of native speakers and fun, point-scoring games to help beginners get started in a new language. And, as well as being able to use the app to learn Hawaiian, people who already speak Hawaiian can also use it to learn any of 150 other languages from Hawaiian. …
By The Molokai Dispatch Staff
This year’s Ka Molokai Makahiki celebration, the planned to be first community-wide observances in three years, kicked off last Thursday with Ka’ahele a Lono traversing the footsteps of the kupuna starting in Halawa Valley. Shouldering the 40-pound lei-draped banner of Lono, Molokai residents embarked on a planned four-day march across the island to Hale O Lono.
“After two long years, the games are finally back!” wrote Ka Molokai Makahiki committee on their Facebook page. “As we reflect on the lessons learned during the pandemic and forge our way into this new era, we re-focus our energies this makahiki season back to our piko, our Molokaʻi ʻ ōpio, and dedicate this year to growing our community.…
Community Contributed
By Wailana Purdy-Avelino
On Sunday, Jan. 22, Iolani Palace was overflowing in sorrow as the gates opened. The sounds of wailing filled the air as Hawaii mourned the loss of Princess Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa. Guarding her procession from the gates to the palace doors were men, women and children dressed in their regalia from the Royal Hawaiian Societies and the Hawaiian Civic Clubs. She was carried in her casket made entirely of koa wood into the palace, where her people could pay their respects as she lay in state.
On Monday, Jan. 23, the sacred resting ground of the aliʻi of Hawaiʻi, Maunaʻala is where the princess will be laid to rest.…
By Sage Yamashita, Intern Reporter
It’s a new year and the annual Makahiki games are right around the corner. In a time of joy and prayer, friendly competition will excite Molokai’s community. Last Thursday, Molokai High School students prepared with their own Makahiki games to find their representatives for the upcoming community games on Jan. 28.
“Since we started academies this year, we wanted to kind of have our academies build that sense of belonging and that teamwork, that idea of teamwork,” said Vice Principal Tilana Roberts. “So each academy actually finds the champions.”
According to Roberts, freshmen to seniors are in academies of community service and sustainability academy (CSS) or innovation and business technology (IBT).…
Community Contributed
By Glenn I. Teves, UH CTAHR Molokai Extension Agent
In ancient Hawaii, the rising of the constellation Makali’i, also known as Pleiades or the Seven Sisters, signaled the start of the Makahiki season and the season of the harvest. Southerly storms signaled the arrival of Lono i ka Makahiki, a special season to give thanks for the bounty of food, and another year without famine. The celebration of abundance was probably the most important aspect of Makahiki, while also giving thanks to the God Lono, the god of fertility, agriculture, rain, music, and peace for blessing our fertile, fat lands or ‘aina momona. …
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