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Culture & Art
Add your commentThe True Story of Kaluaikoolau
Film of Hawaiian heroism presented to Molokai community.
By Catherine Cluett
This is a true story of Kaluaikoolau , known as Koolau, who lived in Waimea, Kauai with his wife Piilani and their son Kaleimanu in the late 1800’s. After learning he had contracted leprosy in 1892, Koolau was forced by the government to relocate to Molokai.
Families were not allowed to accompany patients, however, and Koolau refused to leave his family. After shooting a sheriff and two Provisional Government officers who tried to arrest him, Koolau and his family escaped together to the remote Kalalau Valley. There they lived peacefully until first Kaleimanu, then Koolau died of the disease. Piilani, after three and a half years of wandering in the wilderness, finally returned to civilization and lived until 1960.
`Aha Kiole Elections Held
By Catherine Cluett
The community gathered last Thursday night to vote on an `Aha Kiole leader for the moku of Pala’au. Vanda Hanakahi, chair of the statewide `Aha Kiole and representative for Molokai, was not able to be present, but voting proceeded smoothly nonetheless.
Three names appeared on the ballot, along with five leadership criteria established by the `Aha Kiole council and which criteria each candidate met. The candidates were William “Yama” Kaholoa`a Sr., Wayde Lee, and Jossette Mawae-Mollena, all of whom met all the criteria. The ballots were counted by an independent party, and Hanakahi reports that Wayde Lee won the election by the majority vote.
`Aha Kiole is an ancient form of government begun over 1000 years ago. Today, its traditions are being adapted by the community in order to advise the Department of Land and Natural Resources in resource management using traditional practices. The vision of the `Aha Kiole, says Hanakahi, is to “navigate our way back into the current upon which our ancestors traveled with success and wisdom.” Its mission is to strengthen and preserve the cultural and spiritual connection between the resources and the people who use them.
The five criteria laid out by the `Aha Kiole council:
1. Has knowledge handed down generationally regarding fishing, agriculture, land use methodology based on the ‘ahupua`a system, and/or practitioners of Hawaiian cultural arts.
2. Has knowledge of the spiritual connection between natural resources and native Hawaiian values and practices.
3. Must always perform service for the common good of the community, without a personal motive or agenda for self or interest groups.
4. Must be able to adhere to a code of conduct and protocol guidelines established by the `Aha Kiole council and based on the traditional Hawaiian value system.
5. Has the ability to communicate with ‘ike pono: wisdom, insightfulness and respect among ‘ahupua`a constituents, fellow `Aha Kiole members and the governance system.
Molokai is divided into five moku: Pala'au, Kawela, Halawa, Kaluakoi and Koolau. The next moku up for leader elections will be discussed at subsequent public meetings. Hanakahi says it will either be Kawela or Kaluakoi, depending on community interest. More information to follow on upcoming meetings.
Queen Lili`uokalani Birthday Celebration
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Students of the Molokai High School Hawaiian immersion program perform a hula to commemorate the 170th birthday of Queen Lili`uokalani on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008. Every year, the Queen Lili`uokalani Children’s Center joins with the community to celebrate the Queen. Present were students from Molokai’s immersion programs, from preschool through high school.
`Aha Kiole Leaders Sought for Upcoming Election
Representatives will advise the state how to manage Molokai’s resources.By Catherine Cluett
While some skepticism was expressed at previous `Aha Kiole meetings, hope remained the central theme at a meeting last Tuesday night. The meeting was called to look for leadership in each of the five moku on Molokai, starting with Pala’au in the center of the island. Vanda Hanakahi is the chair of the statewide `Aha Kiole and representative for Molokai.
What is the `Aha Kiole?
Hanakahi explains that `Aha Kiole is ancient form of government begun over 1000 years ago. “Aha,” means council, and “kiole” originally referred to a tiny fish that swam in large groups and used as a metaphor for a large body of people. So today `Aha Kiole means just that: the voice or council of the people. The `Aha Kiole’s job is to advise the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and similar agencies in resource management using traditional Hawaiian methods and traditions.
Tutu & Me Ho’olaule’a
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This month’s theme for Tutu & Me’s Ho’olaule’a reflected the many wonders of the sea. Keiki from 0 to 5 years old could be seen running around the grounds at Kualapu’u Recreational Center in their bright orange Ho’olaule’a 2008 t-shirts.
Tutu & Me is a program in which caregiver’s are able to take their children to the different sites to learn and interact with other caregivers as well as children their age. The program focuses in preparing the children for Kindergarten and providing resources for caregivers.
As you walk into the center there were many age appropriate booths set up from face painting, ocean themed balloon animals to even a place where keiki and caregivers could see, touch, and experience live fish, limu (seaweed), and crabs.
Outside on the lawn you could listen to serene music by kupuna and keiki alike as well as play in the near by sandbox or relax under the trees to make whale or monk seal hats. In all, this year’s Ho’olaule’a was a combination of family, friends, and community who came together to share experience and unity.
Remembering the Role of Taro in Hawaii
Annual Taro Variety Field Day will display taro varieties.
By Alton S. Arakaki
Today rice is our primary source of carbohydrate for the energy our body requires to conduct our everyday activities. Hawaii doesn’t produce any rice or other carbohydrate grains.
Most of the grains we consume are naturally adapted and produced in the temperate regions of the world. People that live within tropical latitudes primarily depend on root crops that are more naturally adapted to the climatic conditions for their carbohydrate needs. Root crops such as true yams, sweet potato, cassava and taro are heavily depended on to provide daily rations of carbohydrate. Breadfruit is also a carbohydrate source.
Not too long in our distance past, native Hawaiians produced 100 percent of their dietary carbohydrate needs. Those needs primarily came from taro. It has been said that each person consumed seven to nine pounds of taro per day on the average.
If Michael Phelps, the golden U.S. Olympic swimmer, got the 12,000 calories per day he needs to swim by consuming, just for breakfast, three fried egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise, followed with two cups of coffee, five egg omelets, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate chip pancakes, it is conceivable that native Hawaiians consumed seven to nine pounds to perform their daily activities to survive.
At that consumption rate, it would require 1.5 taro plants per day, or 550 plants per year. That’s the equivalent of 2,555 to 3,300 pounds of taro per person per year.
Enough numbers, you do the rest in figuring out how much taro was required to feed the population of Hawaii of our distance past. Even with our modern sciences and technologies today, we don’t even come close to that production level in Hawaii. Not even with rice. This is something we need to think about collectively as island dwellers when talking about food security for Hawaii and our need for dietary carbohydrate.
In order to produce that much carbohydrate, native Hawaiians developed advance land management and agriculture systems. We still see some of those systems in upper kula lands and in river valleys. They also developed and grew many taro varieties, some that were adapted to specific land districts and ahupua’a of the islands. Since taro plants don’t produce seeds readily like corn or mango, ancient growers needed to be pretty smart to develop new varieties. It is still a mystery as to how the varieties came to be. Some believe that it happened by accident or by nature’s plant mutation, and others believed that there were a few who understood the art of producing viable taro seeds. They had taro varieties reserved for the Ali’i, ceremonies and for medicinal purposes. At one time, there were more than 300 varieties grown on our islands. Today we have less than 70.
The Cooperative Extension Service will be holding their Annual Taro Variety Field Day on Saturday, Sept. 6 starting at 9 a.m. More than 60 of the rarest native Hawaiian taro varieties will be displayed. There will be discussions on the taro varieties and on how to grow them.
There will be a limited amount of planting materials, huli, of Hawaiian taro varieties for you to take home to grow and contribute towards perpetuating our native Hawaiian taro. If you wish to take planting materials, please come in your field attire because taro sap will permanently stain your clothes, and bring your digging and cutting tools, labels, marking pens, ties and a container.
Alton S. Arakaki is an extension agent with the county.
Once Upon a Time on Molokai
A look back at the village of Pelekunu.
If you look down while flying over Molokai’s North Shore, keep an eye out for a village that once flourished in Pelekunu.
By Marie Yamashita
PELEKUNU! It was high adventure for my husband, Henry, when he went on a camping trip with some Lions to Pelekunu in mid 1940’s. An avid outdoorsman, he had hunted and fished in many places on Molokai, but never in Pelekunu and probably for the others too, this was their first time to the remote and isolated valley on the windward coast of Molokai. He was excited about the trip and some of his excitement passed on to me. With great expectations he started out with the others early one summer morning.
Meanwhile, I waited for him to come home and tell me about his trip. Not one to give a long narrative, he gave me what I refer to as a “nuts and bolts” description of his experiences when he returned.
The adventure began, he said, when the boat that took them anchored off shore and they all swam to the beach with their camping gear. His friend, Ray, was having difficulty so he had helped him swim ashore. They set up camp, went exploring, caught enough fishes and picked even more hihiwai. Incidentally, I had my first taste of hihiwai from the pile he brought home.
He described a lush, green valley, with flowing streams and everything growing wild. No one lived there, he said, but there was talk that at one time there was a thriving village in Pelekunu. That sparked my curiosity. People lived in the remote valley? Of course I had heard stories like that, but….a village?
All speculations ended in August 1952 when the Honolulu Star Bulletin carried a most interesting article about Pelekunu and Wailau. In it, the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu John Wilson recalled living in Pelekunu. He and his wife, Jenny, had lived there for 14 years and were authorities on the region. Mrs. Wilson was born in Pelekunu and was the postmistress there. Mr. Wilson, an engineer and contractor, made Pelekunu his headquarters while he had jobs elsewhere. He frequently hiked over the mountains to Kamalo or else came in the easier way, over the Wailau Trail to the beach and then by canoe to Pelekunu.
According to the mayor, Wailau and Pelekunu valleys grew “the best taro in the world.” He explained that taro requires lots of cold running water all the time and both valleys had it. Apparently taro was grown extensively even before his time. Mr. Wilson raised oranges, limes, peaches, coffee, and alfalfa but taro was the cash crop for which the valley was best suited. He and others in Wailau organized to bid for a contract to supply paiai for poi eaten at Kalaupapa Settlement. When growers in Oahu underbid them, Pelekunu suffered an economic blow from which they never recovered, he said.
In 1900 there were about 70 people in each of the valleys and there was a school in Pelekunu with 40 children enrolled.
In the meantime, his wife was not enjoying the continual rains in Pelekunu. So, in 1914, while he was away on a job in Nahiku, Maui, she took bold action. She commandeered the captain of the boat that came to load all of their belongings – pigs, chicken, household furnishings, and the “first and only piano in Pelekunu” and moved to Kamalo.
Shortly after that the steamer stopped coming to Pelekunu. With no doctor, no postmistress, and no one to buy their poi, the other families left. By 1939 when the mayor revisited the valley it was a deserted town. Apparently, such was the condition that Henry and his fellow Lions found when they went there in the 1940’s.
Finally, whatever that may have been left of the village was wiped out in the tidal wave that hit Molokai in 1946.
Now, should you ever happen to fly along the windward coast of Molokai, look for Pelekunu and perhaps in your mind’s eye you may see the village that existed there once upon a time.
Learning Through Lei
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“It is part of our hula training, as well as reaching out to the community and visitors to help in experiencing and educating them in the many arts of our culture,” she added.
The workshop was conducted by cultural practitioner Scarlett Ritte, who showed her students how to Hili (to braid) kukui leaves, and to make a wili lei po’o (head lei) with materials that can be found in nature.
`Aha Kiole Continues Discussions
Voting delayed, consensus one step closer.By Andres Madueno
While no voting took place at last Thursday’s `Aha Kiole meeting, the evening did provide a forum to discuss ways to settle disagreements and tensions throughout the community.
The `Aha Kiole Advisory Council was formed to represent local practitioners in Hawaii and to advise the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and related agencies in managing the state’s natural resources using ancient Hawaiian practices.
A series of nominations and voting must occur to elect members to the Molokai Pae Moku of the statewide advisory council. The first of these meetings was held last Thursday to elect representatives to the Pala`au Moku.
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