ʻAe Kaulilua i Waiʻaleʻale Kaulilua i ke anu ʻo Waiʻaleʻale ʻO ka maka hālalo ka lehua makanoe ʻO ka lihilihi kūkū ʻia no ʻAipō ʻO ka hulu ʻaʻa ʻia ʻo Hauaʻiliki (Waiʻaleʻale rises haughty and cold Where the stunted lehua blossoms droop in the cold The leafless bushes on the fringe of ʻAipō swamp The Bright feathers that cover Hauʻiliki) To know the Hawaiian Soul, one must first know the land, the ʻāina, the deep connections between place, king, and history.

The chant and voice you are hearing celebrate these understandings.

Nowhere, is the express of tie to the land of one’s birth more apparent than with this kamaʻāina, native-born, Mary Abigail Kawenaʻulaokalaniahiʻiakaikapoliopele Kawahineʻaihonua Naleilehuaapele Wiggin Pukui.

Mary Kawena Pukui, is Hawaiʻi’s foremost living cultural authority, linguist, story teller, composer, translator, genealogist, teacher, and kumu hula or Hula Master.

Throughout her lifetime Kawena has authored, or co-authored some fifty two books and artcles, composed over 150 songs and chants, and received numerous awards and and degrees.

Kawena’s stewardship of Hawaiian Culture is reflected in her spledorous name, itself a Hawaiian mele or poem.

As she herself translates it, “The Rosy Glow in the sky made by Hiʻiaka in the bossom of Pele the earth consuming women the crimson lehua wreaths of Pele” The name represents the blending of Kawena’s two heritages Polynesian and American.

The Hawaiian part of the name tells of Kawena’s ancestral ties to Pele, Hawaiʻi’s most awesome goddess of the volcano, Paʻahana Kanakaʻole, Kawena’s full blooded Hawaiian mother was descended from a sacred line of kahuna or priests of Pele.

Kawena’s English names were given by her New England Father.

Henry Nathaniel Wiggin had voyaged to the Pacific in 1892 from Salem, Massachusetts.

In this rare turn of the century portrait, Kawena’s family is gathered on the lānai of their Big Island home.

Her parents are on the upper right, and that six old Kawena in the chair with her pet goat Nancy nearby.

To say that one is a child of Kaʻū is the highest compliment among ourselves Kawena has written, “here all people are of one ʻohana or extended family, the district of Kaʻū on the island of Hawaiʻi.

This vast land with its lava strewn coasts, wind swept plains and majestic slopes of Mauna Loa, is the most forbidding and spiritual of Hawaiian places.

This remote land of volcanoes teems with symbols of its primordial past.

Kawena’s roots are here, among the stupendous earth drama of eruptions, fissures, and flame, this is the magnificent theatre that textured her early sense of Hawaiianness.

To tell Kawenaʻs story, we journey there with two women who have deeply shared Kawena’s revereance for Hawaiian Culture.

Patience: “I found this letter that Kawena had written to her friend and its almost like a travel log, and it tells of the different places of interest to visit when one goes to Kaʻū.” Patience Nāmaka Bacon, Kawena’s hānai, or adopted daughter and Elanor Williamson, Kawena’s longtime research assistant.

Like sisters Pat and Ela have a thirty year relationship centered around their work with Kawena at Honolulu’s Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.

Patience: I’ll read this, and she said, Just a friendly warning wear nothing redwhen you go along the beachs of Kaʻū, it is it is an offense to the great shark-god Kua.

Ela: Pat, Kawena, and I came in 1959, Uncle Willy was driving along this roadway and Kawena looked Mauka and tears started to run down her eyes, her face, she said not a word.

It was only later that I found out from her, she was very touched.

That she came back to Kaʻū, and Uncle Willy and she talked about the various mountains.

Weʻd just come back from Puna and she had been recorded with ʻOlu Konanui.

They had a marvelous time, both of them riddling.

They both did.

Pat: She loved riddling.

Ela: They were always taunting each other they were skilled.

He was skilled, she was skilled they were skilled, not once did she ever say kuailo, or I give up, or he say kuailo, I donʻt understand.

They just batting riddles back and forth.

I wonder who else riddles nowadays.

Pat: I haven’t heard it for years.

Ela: It really is a great verbal art.

No trip to Kaʻū was complete for Kawena without a visit to Kalae, South Point.

To see the old and sacred spot.

Pat: It’s like that proverb, Kaʻū ʻāina, kua makani, The wind always blows over the back of Kaʻū.

Ela: Pat, this is Palahemo where Kawena says that we can see all of Kaʻū, from the Kona boundary all over to Puna, this is her birth sand!

Pat: It was on a day just like this it was quite windy, and dry and dusty that I first came down here to Palahemo with Kawena and she wrapped up he hair into, in a scarf.

When we asked her: “why did you do that?”, and she said “never mind.” So we came down here, the dust was blowing and she showed us Palahemo then we got back in the car and we went up to Manukā Park.

Then we put our hands up to our hair, like this, and we looked down and it was just covered with dust and so she said, “Now you know why I did that.” Ela: And she said to come to see this famous pool of Palahemo, it’s famous in songs and chants of Kaʻū.

Pat: I wonder if there are any ʻōpae in there.

Ela: I think I see some.

Some red ʻōpae.

After the dry trip to Palahemo, Kawena could always find Hawaiian Hospitality and aloha at the house of her old friend and Big Island Host.

Uncle Willey Meineke.

Ela: I remember one early morning of July of 1959.

Kawena and I were at Uncle Willey’s home in Waiohinu.

Kawena gently awakened me to follow her to the front lānai.

She gestured east at the brilliant sunrise, the sky was acquiring a rosy glow.

I love my name, she said.

I am named for that rosy glow.

Kawena’s role as cultural guardian seemed a sacriment at birth, respecting ancient Hawaiian custom, her generous haole father allowed Kawena to be given in hānai, adoption, to her grandmother Nāliʻipōʻaimoku called Pōʻai.

It was this commanding woman, descended from the priestly lines of the gods Lono and Pele who would transmit the old traditions, rituals, and religious mysteries to Kawena.

These were her lullabies.

Until Pōʻai’s death when Kawena was six, the pair lived in a little house like this near her parents in Naʻalehu.

As Punahele, or favorite child, Kawena would serve as keeper of the family history and lore.

Pōʻai spoke only Hawaiian to the keiki, child.

Transmitting her knowledge as a healing kahuna, and sharing her great talents in the art of hula.

Imagine the young Kawena hanging onto every trembling word of Pōʻai’s account of the families ancient burial tradition, at the death of Kawena’s Great Grandmother Kealiʻipaʻahana.

The family embarked on a somber midnight journey, to the fiery pits of Volcano, in the manner perscribed by Pele, the bones were cleansed and wrapped in red and black kapa or bark cloth and tossed into the burning caldera accompanied by prayers and chants.

In the early 1900’s, the Wiggins moved to Honolulu.

Kawena along with other Hawaiian and Chinese girls attended Missionary Schools.

Kawena was in the class of 1910, here at Kawaiahaʻo Seminary in Mānoa, now Mid-Pacific Institute.

As was the custom, pupils were taught using the bible as text book, and all classes were in English.

Although speaking Hawaiian was forbidden, Kawena delighted in reciting the old stories to her friends in Hawaiian.

Her reputation as a skilled interpreter of her peopleʻs language began to grow.

In 1937, Kawena began what would be a productive twenty fiver year relationship with Bishop Museum.

In this very office over five decades ago, Kawena began her artful recording and translating of Hawaiian Materials.

In 1935, the forty year old Kawena made her first official field trip for the museum.

Kawena served as translator for anthropologist E.S.

Handy and his wife Elizabeth.

The adventuresome Dr.

Handy had met a soul mate in Kawena.

And the pair began a remarkable collaboration.

That summer, Kawena and the Handy’s set out to know the ways of the old Hawaiians on Kawena’s home island of Hawaiʻi.

They criss-crossed the sun scorched desert of Kaʻū, interviewing Hawaiians, many of whom were Kawena’s own relatives.

At night, in the isolated country, the Handy’s bunked in the dusty vehicle while Kawena snuggled in a tiny cot-tent beside the car.

For the first time, the traditions had been interpreted in their own language, style, and understandings.

On her many field trips, Kawena proved to be an expert scholar herself.

She began to accumalate hundreds of Hawaiian words, idioms, and proverbs.

She wrote on notes, on things like this, bits of paper.

This is an envelope, and I canʻt throw it away cause she’s got notes there.

Sheʻd tear out the whole scraps of paper and she wrote on flats of envelopes.

So if one picked this up, this way, one would say well this is just a bit of rubbish and throw it out.

But we have to open everything up because she has all her precious notes there.

I think one of the primary reasons that she was interested in getting this dictionary done is that she, working here at the museum, she had done lots of translations and she had always said that.

The material here in this library, it would take at least two of her lifetimes to make a dent in what was here.

So she felt that the translators of the future, would need something like this and this is the finished product.

She worked on the Hawaiian Dictionary with Dr. Elbert who was once her pupil, she taught him Hawaiian.

Kawena’s passionate determination to preserve the Hawaiian Langauge was realized in 1957.

Elbert: I felt that it was really her dicionary and that I was more or less a technician.

She was very clever, her knowledge of English was wonderful.

And she was so wililng to cooperate with Haoles or with anybody.

People were constantly calling her up for questions.

She had to name almost anything, lots of children, lots of streets, she said she had never named a pig.

(chuckles) I think she wanted to.

She was full of poetry, we filled the dictionary with quotations from songs and chants and sayings.

She was so ahead of her times, she saw what people would be interested in a genaration or two later.

I just can’t get over my admiration for her and for the extreme width breadth of her interests, and capabilities, and talents.

Kawena’s role as kumu, teacher, was not limited to her work at the museum, her bustling home life was itself a laboratory of Hawaiiana.

Just as Pōʻai had taught Kawena, Kawena had taught her two hānai daughters, patience, faith, and later her natural daughter Pele all the skills, crafts, and lore of her people.

I grew up with the hula, it was always part of our family.

We would work together doing the hula, she did the chanting and the drumming, and I did the dancing.

In that way, we were like a team.

In the evenings we would all gather together and her, Kawena and her mother, they would reminisce and tell stories of when they, each one was growing up.

Intersperesed with that would be some dances or chanting.

In this 1935 film, Kawena’s mother, Paʻahana demonstrates Hawaiian String Games as Kawena performs a sitting hula.

[Paʻahana Chanting] Na ka ʻai ʻā he ʻaha ko kekahi lima, ʻaʻahe puka lima, pani pani i ka puka o ka hale o kāua.

ʻO kīkē mai la hua a ka manu, ʻo ka ʻawa ʻili lena i uka ʻo ka liʻu.

(What is that in the hands of the ungodly, there is no escape from the hands, closed, closed within the door of our house.

The egg of the bird is knocking, in the bitter golden rain on the top of the mountains.)

I believe that her fondness for children and teaching them and perpetuating Hawaiian culture just as her grandmother had taught her, she taught them the old sayings and the riddles in Hawaiian, the whole dances with sticks and pebbles, and she also taught them to do string figures.

She composed many many songs for children and she did love children’s songs.

[singing] Pau ʻole koʻu noʻo ihi i ka nani aʻo Kaʻū, Mauna Kiʻekiʻe i luna, Hanohano ke ʻike aku.

(I constantly think of the beauty of Kaʻū, The Large Mountain above, Glorious to behold.)

Reece Taylor used to come and pick Kawena up and they would go for little rides and they would go out to Hanauma and while she was there she was inspired to write a song.

So when she got home, she brought her paper and pencil out and started to compose the song thats how Hanauma came to be.

E luana hauʻoli ai, E hoʻolono like aʻe ana, I ka leo hone o ke ka, E hoʻolono i ke kāhea ʻana i ka leo hone o ke kai.

(To relax happily To listen together To the pleasant sounds of the sea) Technology soon provided Kawena with a fitting tool with which to preserve the lively interviews she conducted with Hawaiians, the tape recorder.

Pukui: I am now exchanging knowledge with those interested in Hawaiian themselves, their thinking pattern the why of some of their behavior, I tell them of the old and they tell me of the new and together we learn.

I like to learn.

Even if I am over 3 score and 10.

Pat: Kawena would carry a three ring binder like this on our field trips, she would never pick up a pencil while she was recording.

She was always interested in what they were saying.

Only after we left the people she would open up her binder and jot down notes from what had occurred.

El: Her eyes were glistenin, well I said something’s happening here.

Well, what she did was tap my knee, kulikuli, be quiet and I did, what she was trying to do in recording is to get the opinions and the thoughts of others.

(conch shell) The culmination of Kawena’s life-long scholarly dedication to Hawaiʻi is symbolozed by the recent publication of her luminous book, ʻŌlelo Noʻeau Book of Hawaiian Proverbs, the volume was published by the Bishop Museum Press, aided with a grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Eli Williamson served as senior editor.

Eli: These striking prints by Big Island Artist Dietrich Varez illustrate some of the proverbs of Mary Kawena Pukui.

This one, hele nō ka ʻalā, hele nō ka lima.

The rock goes the hand goes.

To make good poi off of taro.

The free hand must work in unison with the poi pounder.

Keep both hands going to do good work.

The Book is perhaps the loveliest testament ever made to the Hawaiian Spirit.

Kawena: Kamaʻilio ka waha, hana ka lima.

Let the mouth talk, while the hands work.

Kawena’s sparkling interpretation of Hawaiian Humor, her skill in deciphering the metaphoric deeply layered shadows of Hawawiian speech.

Kawena: He hale ke kino no ka manao.

The body is a house for the thoughts.

Make this book her, gift of aloha to all the people of Hawaiʻi.

Huehue nā motu ē, Ua hōʻike mai nā hana, nā anuʻu .

.

The books dedication was celebrated with a glorious tribute to Kawena in the regal Hawaiian Hall of Bishop Museum.

He inoa no Kawena ka lei wehi ola ʻo Hawaiʻi nei.

(applause) Pat: It was a very warming evening to see so many people gathered to pay tribute to Kawena and tell of their own experiences with this woman who always helped.

Bill Kahiwa: Aloha, I’m Bill Kahiwa, and I wanna share my many many wonderful experiences with Kawena, sheʻs the one that made me sing Hawaiian songs the right way.

I have many many beautiful memories with this wonderful person.

I laila no au i Waikīkī maopopo maikaʻi.

(I was at Waikīkī a place I know extremely well.)

That evening who performed did it with such love that the feeling is something that is hard to describe because it was so beautiful.

Everybody gave so lovingly.

(applause) I first met Kawena Pukui I was very very impressed with Kawena.

This lovable kind, soft spoken person, so knowledgeable in things Hawaiian and so, so happy to share what she knew with us.

I was greatly enriched by what I hear her say and what I learned from her.

I kou inoa, ʻo Mauinuiakama, ʻUlumāhiehie, Maui nō ē ka ʻoi.

(In your name, dear Mauinuiakama, appearing finely, Maui is definitely the best.)

(applause) [Chanting] Ua pili i ka ua lani kolu, ʻo Wākea ʻoe o ke koʻolau, kuʻu hoa ʻo ka malu kī a ka malu, ʻo ke kukui a ka malu, ʻo kukui a ka hoʻiwai, a he waiwai nui no ke aloha, ʻo ia kaʻu e pūlama nei ʻo ka ua keiki nō, he inoa nō.

(Bound to the lani kolu rain, in the time the sun shines brightly atop the Windward Skies, my friend providing protection and residing in the protection, of the shade of the kukui tree, lighting the path leading the water back, and there is much wealth in your affection, that of the child which I cherish, in honor of...) Pat: Tūtū Kawena is frail these days and she wasnʻt able to come that night to see the beautiful party in her honor, but I went to see her the next day.

I took all her all the many lei friends had brought and draped on her portrait, and I placed them all around her neck, she looked at me and I put this book down in front of her, and she read, ʻōlelo noʻeau.

Mary Kawena Pukui.

That evening here, I just enjoyed the tribute with others.

To finally hear and see her hold the book.

And read the title and her name, she held the book and started to turn the pages, she got to the section A, here this one, she said.

He kānaka kanu maiʻa, a man planting banana.

She said what is is, then she started to read.

These little short ones like ahu ili kau.

Then she would translate this, and she went on sometimes she missed a word, Iʻd fill it in and sheʻd fill it out and she said, this is a good book.

I said that, that evening I enjoyed with her.

That day when I visited Kawena, really, my tears ran unchecked.

She was holding something, her final, her big book.

Kawena: “because I know my mother’s language I’ve enjoyed exchanging thoughts with other Polynesians to discover our alikenesses and our differences.

And because I know my father’s I can explain to others what we have had here and lost.

And what we still retain, knowledge to me is life.

Ua mau ke ea ʻo ka ʻāina i ka pono.” [Singing] Mau ke aloha no Hawaiʻi.

E hauʻoli e nā ʻōpio o Hawaiʻi nei, ʻOli ē, ʻOli ē. Mai nā aheahe makani e pā mai nei, mau ke aloha no Hawaiʻi.

Mau ke aloha no Hawaiʻi.

(The love of Hawaiʻi persists, Happy youth of Hawaiʻi, Rejoice, Rejoice, Gentle breezes blow, Love always for Hawaiʻi.)

This week on Spectrum Hawaiʻi, two Hawaiian artists express themselves in contemporary images and attitudes.

Educators strive to perpetuate Hawaiian Culture, by teaching the language.

But First, the pageantry of the Pāʻū rider.

[singing]Hoʻohihi me ka nani holo lio.

(Entranced by the beauty of the horse rider.)

I think ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a pāʻū rider, you know some people want to be Miss America, and I always I wanted to be a Pāʻū Rider.

Pāʻū, is the Hawaiian word for skirt.

Nobody knows exactly when horse women began wearing the long pāʻū.

I believe from the research that I’ve done on Pāʻū Riding that it evolved as a dust cover first for the women.

Hawaiian women learned to ride astride, they didn’t learn to ride side saddled as most English women did, and so they had these long dresses, holokū or holomuʻu, and they had to have something to cover them up when they rode.

The use of the pāʻū was noted as early a the 1850’s, one person wrote, how straddling their horses the women ride with their legs aswoft and long gaudy materials, galloping, greeting friednds, laughing, and vanishing in clouds of dust.

Hawaiian women loved to race, and they also were real riders when they had to be.

But when they went to elegant afffairs, its documented that they raced across the plains.

One of their favorite places was at the base of Diamond Head Crater.

Well Kapiʻolani Park once it was dedicated became the hub of horse racing.

The woman rode with great enjoyement in official parardes ot just Sunday Jaunts.

The first pāʻū skirts were made of about twenty yards of brightly colored floral material, today’s pāʻū uses twelve yards.

Pāʻū draping is an art, you learn it from someone else, whose learned it from someone else, and it’s just a handed down kind of thing.

And you’re gonna learn it because you’re interested in it, and youʻre interested in its perpetuation.

Instead of a long holokū dress, today’s women wear riding pants and boots, but some things never change.

As it was done for the past 100 years, kukui nuts are still used to fasten the pāʻū.

It wouldn’t work if you had safety pins or velcro at this point, it just wouldn’t hold.

The nut which is encased in the material is tucked under the waist band and it just sticks there.

We tease our riders a lot because we have to pull the waist band very, very tight, they have to suck in their stomach and then we tie it.

And when they exhale it really is tight, and then we put these six kukui nuts to tuck them in, when the parade is over they take it off and if they have six black and blue marks we did it right.

The cape is velvet for the Queen and the Princesses and satin for the attendants adorned with ribbons for the leis.

Each pāʻū unit has seven riders, a banner page, a princess, three attendants, and two escorts.

Each woman recieves a pāʻū skirt and a kepolo, which is the cape.

The men are supplied with bowtie and sash in appropriate colors for their unit.

For Oʻahu it’s gold, Big Island-red, Maui is pink, Molokaʻi green, Kauaʻi is purple, Lānaʻi wears orange, Niʻihau wears brown, and Kahoʻolawe is in blue.

The queen wears green this year, the design and making of the leis brings individuality to each unit, over the years many prominent women have been pāʻū riders, some as queens, some as attendants.

In 1938, composer, musician, Irmgard Aluli, a young teacher in Molokaʻi was asked to try out for the islands pāʻū rider unit.

The morning of the Kamehameha Day Parade the unit went to select their horses Aluli: All us arrived there, selected the horses and our main rider whom we call our head princess we were all riders for her, she was the last one to get there that day, and there was this least desirable one left.

Irmgard gave the princess her big white horse, and rode the nag.

I was riding along and I sneak up on my friends “E Irmgard” in those days you could call out to the pāʻū riders.

What kind horse you got up on you, they sure is.

And Iʻd laugh, and the horse would go on the side, I made a joke of it which was the only thing to do.

In schools and community centers workers gathered the week before to assemble thousands of flowers into stunning parade leis.

Right now weʻre doing our lei sessions, this is our second night of lei sessions.

And today we’re actually putting the horse leis together.

All the flowers are wired and they are bundled together so it takes a special technique so that when they’re going down four miles of parade the things not falling apart as they go.

The base of the lei is three burlap bags rolled together and tied with string.

I started as a pāʻū rider in the 1970’s, the early 70’s.

I am a participant because that is how I feel I perpetuate my Hawaiian culture.

(Singing Hawaiian) Long before the crowds arrive the women are in a school cafeteria getting dressed.

We started at 10:00 last night on our hair, in our hair pieces we have white shells with ʻuki grass koa pods and lauhala roses that we’ve made by hand and wood roses.

I’m representing Molokaʻi and what I have in my hair is ʻuki grass, ferns, and mums baby’s breath.

I have pink roses, pink straw flowers, baby red ti leaves.

(Singing) Waihoʻoluʻu ʻo ke ānuenue.

Nā lio holo pekipeki ma ke alanui.

(Colors of the rainbow.

The horses treading along the street.)

For Healani, this is her time, what she has been working for these past weeks, and past parades.

Healani: Right now I feel very comfortable, I’m at that point where I’m just ready to get on that street and all the way down to Kapiʻolani Park.

I’m ready.

The crowds are pleased by the pageantry and the beauty of the Pāʻū rider and for a moment time drifts back, to a moment when the women of Hawaiʻi rode horses and wore the pāʻū.

(singing) Nā Holo Lio.

(The Horseback riders.)

Basically, I’m a painter, I’m a sculptor and I’m a poet.

In my frame of reference as long as I’m living Hawaiian a part Hawaiian or person of Hawaiian ancestry the art that I produce is of course contemporary Hawaiian art.

(music) One of the reasons why we use the term contemporary now is because since the interruption of our culture, from the time of contact and more especially from the time of breaking the kapu.

Things Hawaiian were thought to be from a particular period, I believe that this has more to do with colonialism and racism.

People who have been colonized and or conquered, their cultures kind of end right there as far as history is concerned.

Anything they do beyond the contact point becomes really not native anymore.

A contemporary Hawaiian artist in my definition, is an artist of Hawaiian ancestry praciting art in a very contemporary mode.

It can be differentiated from a traditional artist, because traditional artists tend to main traditions.

And they maintain traditions by replicating art work or art-styles that’s very important, in other words we all need to know where we come from what our past is.

But a contemporary artist takes that evolution one step further.

Itʻs important to understand this in terms of the evolution of a culture, what tends to happen is a lot of people study cultures they tend to pidgeon hole cultures and freeze them in time.

If you freeze that culture in time, you’re basically saying that there is no evolution and the reality is everything evolves.

Hawaiian Art is continuing to evolve, and as long as there is a living Hawaiian person, you’re gonna have contemporary Hawaiian Art being produced.

Because its still Hawaiian Culture whether you wanna believe in traditional culture or contemporary arts of that culture When I look at my art and what I’m doign with all the mediums I work in, I am a two thousand year old Hawaiian.

Like all people who come from a culture, I am an end result now of that total sum.

I’m able to deal in my paintings with using the notion of, in Hawaiian Language there’s a thing called kaona, because we Hawaiians have a multi-leveled language.

We are able to say several things at one time.

As I started to develop my abstract form, I started to realize hey man this is like my language.

I can deal kaona, I can talk about several different things.

My abstractions have to deal with Hawaiian Philosophy, it has to deal with how we look at things.

Birthing is a favorite theme of mine.

I do a lot of stuff that has to do with hānau.

Hānau ʻāina, hānau mana, because for me as a Hawaiian, I look back and see what’s really one of the most important things for us as a people.

Well birth, life, we were interested in life.

We were interested in keeping things going, and when I look at what we call Contemporary Hawaiian Art now, that’s what we’re doing.

As I started to develop my form, one of the things I started to do was I had to step back into my history, I had to understand what I was as a Hawaiian its important to me know the technology of making a stone adze, not that I’ll ever use em, because its just too slow for me.

But it was important for me to do that, and what happened when I did that, it made me mo’ paʻa with my background.

It was imporant for me to know the old craftsmenship, in order for me to be pono with what I am doing now.

It was important for me because it made me a better Hawaiian.

If you see some of my scupltures you’ll notice that some of them are made out of whicker, and steal and insulation wire, along with hair, and bone, and feathers, and all of this other stuff.

This binding technique, lashes pieces together to create a three dimensional image and the lash actually keeps the piece together, and over time the joint actually comes stronger because of the compound miter cuts, the faces of the wood basically rest on one another and are held in place by the angle of the cut.

I grew up in a very Hawaiian house, you don’t look at stone, you don’t step on stone, you don’t talk to it, you don’t feed it, you don’t do nothing with it, you just leave it alone.

I know where that came from, it came from the early days of Christianity, where stone, because stone was a very, very important thing to us because what is stone.

Stone is like a second stage of life, the first stage was liquid, you know, and stone was the forms of our deities.

During the Christian overthrow of the old stones were one of the first things we had to do away with.

(music) A number of years ago when I was doing, a lot of metal casting I was real interested in some of the natural pōhaku, the natural stone that exists in Hawaiʻi, and I started to experiment with the casting of solid aluminum scultpures.

I found that by varying the temperatures of the piece, the pour, I was able to get different densities in the aluminum that actually replicated pōhaku.

I use the pōhaku because there are spirits that exist, a lot of the pieces that I have with the pōhaku are actually pieces that speak about the spirit within that’s never died.

Meaning that, this creative spirit or being Hawaiian or being who you are has got to always continue to be there, to happen.

All cultures have something to offer, come and enjoy what we have to offer but don’t take it cause it’s not yours, its ours.

And if we don’t have control of what is ours, then we have nothing to give and likewise you have nothing to recieve.

(Children Chanting) ʻO ka lipolipo, ʻO ka lipolipo, ʻO ka lipolipo, ʻO ka lipo ʻo ka lā, ʻO ka lipo ʻo ka pō, Pō wale hoʻi hānau ka pō, Hānau Kumulipo i ka pō he Kāne, Hānau Pōʻele i ka pō he wahine.

(The intense darkness, the deep darkness, Darkness of the sun, darkness of the night, Nothing but night, The night gave birth, Born was Kumulipo in the night, a male, Born was Kumulipo in the night, a female) Pauahi: Ka manawa aʻu e hele i ke kula, i loko ʻo ke kula ʻaʻole hiki mākou ke ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.

Pāpā ʻia maila mākou, makemake lākou iā mākou e ʻōlelo haole wale nō.

(While attending school, in the school we were not allowed to speak the Hawaiian Language.

They forbade us, they only wanted to us to speak in English.)

Pauahi: Aloha kakahiaka e nā moʻopuna.

(Good morning dear grandchildren) Children: Aloha e kupuna Pauahi Paula.

(Aloha grandma Pauahi Paula) Pauahi: Pehea ʻoukou kēia kakahiaka?

(How are you doing this morning?)

Children: Maikaʻi.

(Well) Paula: Maikaʻi.

No laila, kēia lā, e hana ʻana kākou i ka lāʻī ʻapolima.

(Good.

So then, today, we will be making ti-leaf bracelets.)

Mai ka makahiki 1896, ua hoʻopāpā ʻia ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.

He ʻelua kaukani poʻe mānaleo i koe.

He mau kaukani mau poʻe, e aʻo ana, e aʻo mai ana i ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.

(From the year 1896, Hawaiian language was banned.

There are 2,000 native speakers left.

Many people are learning, are learning the Hawaiian Langauge) Children: ʻŌ ʻo ʻōmaʻimaʻi ʻō.

ʻŪ, ʻūpā maikaʻi ʻū.

(O as in sickly O. U as in good scissors u.)

Ma Ke Kula Kaiapuni ʻo Waiau kekahi Kula Kaiapuni ʻo ʻelua ma Oʻahu nei ke aʻo mai nei nā keiki i nā kumuhana like ʻole mai ka pīʻāpā a ka ʻike noʻeau e pili ana no i nā mea ola ma ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi wale nō.

(At Ke Kula Kaiapuni of Waiau, one of the two Immersion Schools on Oʻahu they are learning different practices exclusively through Hawaiian Language.)

Ua hoʻomaka ʻia i ka makahiki ʻo 1987, a ua hoʻokē nā mākua a me nā kumu i nā alaina, no laila hiki kā lākou mau keiki ke aʻo mai i ko lākou ʻōlelo ʻŌiwi.

(It was established in the year 1987, the parents and teachers contested the obstacles, so that their children could learn in their Native Language.)

(Children Singing) ʻO au inā pane maila mua, ʻelua oʻu momona.

(If I am the first to answer, I will recieve two sweets.)

ʻO ka mea paʻakikī e hana ai, ka hoʻohana ʻana, me ka hana ʻana i ka unuhi puke, nā haʻawina, nā mea like ʻole, a ua ʻoʻoleʻa, a kokoke au hāʻawin pio.

Inā ʻaʻole kākou hana i kēia, make ana ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, make loa.

Nā keiki i hoʻokaiapuni ʻia, inā hoʻokūkū hoʻohālikelike ia me nā keiki ma nā papa ʻōlelo Haole, papa ʻōlelo Pelekānia, ua like pū ko lāua holomua ʻana.

(The difficult thing to work out is, the working, the translating of books, the homework, many different things, it is difficult, I almost gave up.

If we do not do this work, the Hawaiian language will die, become extinct.

The children who attend immersion schools, if they contest or follow with children in English Language classroom settings, their progress is the same.)

Ua noho kēia mau haumāna mai ka papa ʻehiku mai ke kīnohi ʻo ke kula kaiapuni.

I ka makahiki ʻo 1999, iā lākou e hoʻopuka ana, ʻo lākou ka mua loa e hoʻopuka ana ma ke aʻo ʻana mai ma o ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi wale nō.

(These students from the seventh grade class have been at the immersion school since its inception.

In the year of 1999, upon their graduation, they were the first ever to graduate while speaking only the Hawaiian Language.)

Ma Ka hoʻomaka ʻia ʻana ʻo Ke Kula Kaiapuni e ka DOE, ua hoʻomaka kekahi mau mākua i ka Pūnana Leo i ka makahiki 1985.

He wahi no ke aʻo ʻana i ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi wale nō, no nā kamaliʻi.

(During the establishment of Immersion Schools by the DOE, some parents started the Punānā Leo in the year 1985.

An establishment for learning through the Hawaiian Langauge exclusively, in honor of the children.)

Kumu: ʻO kēia ka honua poepoe (this is the round earth) Keiki: ʻAe (yes) Kumu: Hiki iā ʻoe ke noho i lalo a hiki i nā keiki a pau.

(You may sit down, the rest of the children may as well) Keiki: Liʻiliʻi wale nō ʻo Hawaiʻi!

(Hawaiʻi is small!)

Kumu: Aia ma waena ʻo ke kai Pakīpika.

(It is in the middle of the Pacific ocean) Announcer: ʻO nā pēpē a kākou e hānai ʻia nei ma o ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, ʻo ia nō ke ola ʻo ka ʻōlelo.

No laila, ua hoʻomaka ʻia nā kula Pūnana Leo i ʻumi makahiki aku nei, me ka pahuhopu, e hoʻoikaika ai, e hoʻōla ai ka ʻōlelo ma o nā keiki, ma o nā ʻohana, a he mea kāhāhā!

No ka mea ma mua ʻaʻohe keiki, ʻaʻohe keiki ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, nā poʻe kūpuna wale nō.

(These babies that we are fostering in Hawaiian Language, that is where the language thrives.

So then, the Pūnana Leo was started ten years ago, with the intention of strengthing, and helping the language live thorugh the children, the families, and it is astonishing!

Because previously there was no child, no Hawaiian Language speaking child, it was only the elders.)

Keiki: I hoʻokahi pū ka manaʻo, i hoʻokahi puʻuwai.

(In one consciousness, in one heart.)

I kēlā mau makahiki liʻiliʻi, ʻapo koke lākou ma ka aʻo ʻana i ka ʻōlelo.

A pono mākou e hoʻomau i ka ʻōlelo ʻana, mai ʻōlelo haole ma ke kula, no ka mea maʻaneʻi ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi wale nō.

Pono lākou hoʻohana kēlā i nā lā a pau.

(In those short years, they quickly grasped learning the language.

We continued to need to state, do not use English in this school, because here they speakly exclusively in Hawaiian Language.

They need to persist in this manner every single day.)

I kēia manawa, nui nā keiki mamake e hoʻokomo i kēia kula, akā ʻaʻole hiki no ka mea ʻaʻole lawa ke kālā.

ʻAʻole hiki ke kula.

I kēia manawa, he kanakolu keiki i loko ʻo kēia kula, akā e hoʻokomo makahiki pākahi ʻumikumakolu wale nō.

No laila, he mea nui, he mea makemake mākou e hoʻokomo nā keiki a pau, akā ʻaʻole hiki.

Inā makemake ke keiki e hele mai, hiki ke hele, akā i kēia manawa, ʻaʻole ke kula, ʻaʻole lawa ke kumu, ʻaʻole lawa nā limahana e hana ma loko ʻo ke kula.

(At this time, there are many children who wish to enter this school, however, they cannot because there is not enough funding.

The school simply cannot.

At this time, there are children in this school, however every grade year thirteen more are added.

So then, we have a great yearning for all children to come, however it is not possible.

If the child wants to come, they should come, however at this time, the school is not [ready], there aren’t enough teachers, there aren’t enough workers within the school) Kumu: Mai ka aʻa, mai ke kumu, mai ka pua?

(From the roots, from the trees, from the flower?)

Mele mau nā kula ma nā mokupuni a pau, i nā kumu ʻole hiki ke ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, akā ʻo nā kūpuna e kōkua mai ana i nā keiki a hoʻomau i ka hā ʻo Hawaiʻi.

(All of the schools across Hawaiʻi sing, even those who teachers who do not speak Hawaiian, but it is the elders who help the children and help the breath of the Hawaiʻi live.)

Wai niu me ka heʻe, wai niuniu me ka heʻe a ma hope hoʻokomo.

He ʻaha kēia, he ʻaha kēia?

(Coconut water with squid, coconut water with squid then put them in.

What is this, what is this?)

Keiki: Lūʻau.

Mea nui ke kūpuna, no ka mea ma ka nānā ʻana iā ia hiki ke hāhai iā ia.

I kona ʻano, kona aloha, kona mālie a pēlā aku.

ʻO ia hoʻi, he mea maikaʻi nā kūpuna ma ke kula no ka mea loaʻa ke keiki, loaʻa ka mākua, a me ke ʻano he Hawaiʻi pono e loaʻa kekahi kūpuna.

Lākou ʻekolu ma ke kula, ʻaʻole haumāna wale nō, aʻole kumu wale nō.

Kohu mea he ʻohana kēia.

ʻAʻole kohu mea, he ʻohana kēia!

(The elders are important, and watching them is important following them too.

In their mannerisms, in their affection, and in their calm manner and so forth.

That is to say, elders are good at the schools because ther are children, there are parents, and in the righteous Hawaiian manner there are elders.

The three at the schools, not just students, not just teachers.

Itʻs like this is a family.

Correction, it is a family!)

Lākou ke nānā mai iaʻu, he ʻano kūpuna maoli au no lākou.

So, hauʻoli lākou, inā ʻaʻole au hele mai ke kula hoʻokahi lā, kekahi lā aʻe hele mai, “ʻō, pehea ʻoe, ma hea ʻoe i hele?” Kēlā ʻano nīnau maila.

“ʻŌ, haʻo mākou iā ʻoe, no ka mea, kū i ka makaʻu ua haʻalele ʻoe.” (When they look at me, they see me as their own grandparent.

So, they are happy, if I do not come to school for a day, the next day I return, “Oh, how are you, where did you go?” Those types of questions.

“Oh, we missed you, because, we were afraid that you left.”) Paʻa pono mai.

Mai hana, okay?

(Grasp it tightly, don’t okay?)

Aʻo au iā lākou i ka hana pono, ʻo ia hoʻi, nā mea pono e like me ke aloha aku aloha mai, laulima aku laulima mai, kēlā ʻano.

I lōkahi ka noʻonoʻo ʻana kēlā ʻano.

Kēlā ka mea nui a kākou, hiki ke ʻike aku, ʻike mai me ka maikaʻi.

(I teach them properly, in this way, the righteous things like love for ane another, help each other, those kinds of things.

Thing with integrity, those things.

Those are the things that help, it is clear to be seen how good it is) Keiki: I ka pōʻai.

(the circle) I kēia makahiki, ua noi ʻia nā kula kaiapuni.

Ke holomua nei lākou me nā haʻawina like ʻole, no laila ʻaʻohe ʻo mākou hopohopo.

He mea haʻaheo wale nō.

(This year, the immersion schools have been questioned.

They are moving forward in all types of work, so we do not fret.

We are simply proud.)

ʻO nā kumu mua, ʻO ia hoʻi nā mākua.

No laila, ua hoʻomaka au i kēia papa no nā mākua i hiki ʻole ke ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.

(The first teach is the parent.

So, I established this class for the parents that can not speak Hawaiian Language.)

Makaʻu lākou e ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, makaʻu lākou no ka mea ʻaʻole makemake e ʻōlelo i ka hewa.

Akā nō naʻe, ua ʻōlelo au iā lākou, ua haʻi au iā lākou, mai hopohopo.

Hewa kākou a pau.

Hewa au.

(They are afraid to speak Hawaiian Language, they are afraid because they do not want to say the wrong thing.

Never the less, I tell them, I told them, do not worry.

We are all incorrect.

I am incorrect.)

Keiki Singing rainbow Song: ʻUlaʻula, melemele.

.

(Red, Yellow) He mea ʻole inā hoʻouna ke keiki i ke kula, Kula Kaiapuni wale nō a ʻaʻole mākou e ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, mea ʻole kēlā.

(It is meaningless if we send children to the school, to the Immersion Schools and we are unable to speak Hawaiian, it is meaningless.)

ʻŌlelo ʻia, inā hana like ma ka hale a ma ke kula, he mea hoʻoikaika no nā keiki.

E holomua ana lākou.

(It has been said, if the manner of work is the same at home and at school, then it will strengthen the child.

They will progress.)

E like me kāna wāhī me hihia ʻo Kamoaʻe Walk i ke aʻo aku ʻana i ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi me ke ʻano like ʻole.

(In the same surprising manner of Kamoaʻe Wok, teaching Hawaiian Language happens in all sorts of ways.)

It’s time now for Hawaiʻi Public Radio’s Hawaiian Language Newscast-Ke Ao Lama.

I nehinei, ua loaʻa ke kino make ʻo kekahi wahine.

.

.

(Yesterday, the body of the deceased woman was found) I koʻu manaʻo he mea nui kēia, he kuleana nui kēia i loaʻa iā mākou nā Hawaiʻi, ke hiki ai iā mākou ke hoʻolele i ka nūhou ma ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.

(To me this is important, it is a large responsibility that has been bestoweed upon us Hawaiians, that we are able to report the news in Hawaiian Language.)

In 1993, our house, and general major of the Hawaiʻi Public Radio decided to give it a try.

He thought the idea sounded good, and he said we could put the idea together and see if we can get it started.

He was even good enough to get it started without any sponsorship.

So we first went on the air January 31st, 1994.

Although the news cast is only five minutes long, it takes hours to put it together, to begin with a handful of University of Hawaiʻi students, graduate and undergradute students sit down and collect the news stories from the morning paper, from the AP radio wire, decide what’s going to be on the news.

Instead of translating the story literally into Hawaiian, they read the story digest it and what the stories all about, what the meaning is, and then rewrite it into the Hawaiian Language.

Then the whole mass of stories, five, or six, or seven, or eight stories each day are edited and Kamoaʻe Walk does all the editing.

Which is nice because he spends a lot of time working with the old Hawaiian Newspaper and has more of a feel for media use of the Hawaiian Langauge.

ʻO ia kekahi hana a mākou, ʻo ia hoʻi ka haku ʻana i kekahi mau huaʻōlelo hou.

Kēlā me kēia lā, e pono ana hoʻi iā kākou e haku i kekahi huaʻōlelo hou.

He mea maikaʻi kēia no ka mea, ma kēia haku ʻana ua hiki iā mākou ke hoʻākea i ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.

I kēia mau lā ua hiki ke kūkākūkā e pili ana i kēia mau mea me nā hua ʻōlelo ma mua.

(Another thing we do, it is the creation of new terminology.

Everyday, we need to create new terminology.

This is a good thing because, in this creation we can expand Hawaiian Language.

These days we can discuss things related to the new terminology from the words of the past.)

ʻAʻole hiki iā mākou ke kū me ka haʻaheo, a noʻonoʻo He Hawaiʻi Au, inā ʻaʻole i maopopo leʻa ka ʻōlelo ʻo nā kūpuna, ko mākou mau moʻolelo, ʻo wai lā mākou ka poʻe Hawaiʻi.

Inā ʻaʻohe ʻōlelo he ʻaha lā?

ʻAʻole he Hawaiʻi.

A manaʻo ʻiʻo, ʻo ia nō ke kahua ʻo mākou.

(We can not stand proud, and think We Are Hawaiian, if we do not know our ancestral language, our people’s stories, who we are as a Hawaiian people.

If there is no langauge, then what?

There is no Hawaiʻi.

Realize that truly, that is our foundation.)

[Kumulipo being chanted] ʻO ke au i kāhuli wela ka honua, ʻO ke au i kāhuli lole ka lani, ʻO ke au i kūka‘iaka ka lā, E ho‘omālamalama i ka mālama, ʻO ke au o Makali‘i ka pō, ʻO ka walewale ho‘okumu honua ʻia, ʻO ke kumu ʻo ka lipo, i lipo ai, ʻO ke kumu o ka Pō, i pō ai, ʻO ka lipolipo, ʻo ka lipolipo ; ʻO ka lipo o ka lā, ʻo ka lipo ʻo ka pō, Pō wale ho--‘i, Hānau ka pō, Hānau Kumulipo i ka pō, he kāne, Hānau Po‘ele i ka pō, he wahine.

(At the time when the earth became hot, At the time when the heavens turned about , At the time when the sun was darkened, To cause the moon to shine, The time of the rise of the Pleiades, The slime, this was the source of the earth, The source of the darkness that made darkness, The source of the night that made night, The intense darkness, the deep darkness, Darkness of the sun, darkness of the night, Nothing but night The night gave birth Born was Kumulipo in the night, a male Born was Po‘ele in the night, a female.)

Spectrum Hawaiʻi has been funded in part by The Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and The Arts.