Hawaii’s
Back yard
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi
Bishop Museum programs
give life to artifacts by linking
them to historical figures
One of the most enthralling tales passed down through the generations revolves around Liloa, king of the Big Island in the 1400s. Once, while he was journeying from his home in Waipio Valley to attend the consecration of a heiau (temple) in the hamlet of Koholalele near Hilo, he came upon a beautiful woman named Akahiakuleana bathing in a stream.
Smitten, Liloa asked her to lie with him. Akahiakuleana was married, but she consented, recognizing he was the king. It was her fertile time, and both realized she would likely conceive. Liloa told her if she bore a girl, she could name the child as she wished, but if it was a boy, she was to name him Umi.
'Ola Na Moolelo' ('Living Stories')
Place: Polynesian Hall, Bishop Museum, 1525 Bernice St.Time: 1:30 to 2 p.m. on weekdays. The museum itself is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Admission: $14.95 for adults; $11.95 for youths ages 4 to 12, seniors 65 and older, and military personnel; free for children under 4 and Bishop Museum Association members. Kamaaina rates are $7.95 for adults and $6.95 for youths, seniors and military. Ola Na Moolelo is included in the price of admission. The 45-minute "Behind the Scenes" tour follows the "Ola Na Moolelo" presentation at 2 p.m. Cost for this tour is an additional $15, and participants must be at least 12.
Call: 847-3511
E-mail: webmaster@bishopmuseum.org
Web site: www.bishopmuseum.org
"How will I be able to prove that the child is yours?" Akahiakuleana asked.
Liloa gave her his malo (loincloth), his niho palaoa (whale tooth pendant) and his laau palau (fighting club) and said: "These things will prove that Umi is our child. When he is grown, give these to him."
Years later, as Liloa had directed, Akahiakuleana brought the items to Umi and told him it was time for him to go to Waipio to meet his real father. She dressed him in Liloa's malo, hung the niho palaoa around his neck and put the club in his hands.
When he reached Liloa's house, she said, he was to climb over the fence and enter through a private door. "If you see an old man and someone waving a kahili (feather standard) over him, you will know that is your father."
Umi traveled to Waipio, and when he came to Liloa's house, he did what his mother had instructed him to do. When the king's guards saw that he had climbed over the fence and gone through the private entrance, which was forbidden, they gave chase, intending to kill him.
The youth ran to Liloa, who immediately recognized the niho palaoa and malo the boy was wearing. "What is your name?" Liloa asked. "Are you Umi?"
"Yes," Umi replied. "I am your son."
And thus, father and son were united.
BISHOP MUSEUM
Chiya Hoapili and Noelani Tachera tell the story of Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma during Bishop Museum's Ola Na Mo'olelo program.
WHEN SHE WAS a little girl, Nohea Torres listened, enraptured, as her aunt told her this story and others about Umi, who became a great warrior chief. She heard them again in her Hawaiian studies classes in high school and college, but they did not make an impact on her until she joined the Education Department of Bishop Museum two years ago.
"I watched the 'Ola Na Moolelo' ('Living Stories') presentation on Umi and saw some of his belongings on display, including his ivory pendant named Nanikoki, and his ulu maika (bowling) stone," Torres says. "Then it all came together for me, and I realized the stories that I had grown up with were real."
Torres, who is now the museum's marketing/public relations coordinator, began researching all the Hawaiian tales she remembered, and was amazed to find many related to artifacts in the museum's collections that she never knew existed. "They were links to the past that had a huge impact on me," she says. "They made me realize the stories I had heard were not fairy tales. The people actually lived; their adventures actually happened."
Held weekdays, the half-hour "Ola Na Moolelo" programs focus on four different topics: "Umialiloa" (Mondays and Fridays); "King Kalakaua" (Tuesdays); "Mystical Heroes," including Maui, Pele and Kamapuaa (Wednesdays); and "Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma" (Thursdays). Dressed in period costumes, the museum's education cultural specialists make the dramatic presentations using props such as photographs, books and a tea set. A question-and-answer session follows the presentation.
"What's wonderful about 'Ola Na Moolelo' is that it brings so much more meaning to the objects in the museum's collections," says Torres. "For example, take Umi's ulu maika stone. Queen Liliuokalani wrote a note on it that reads, 'This ulu maika belongs to Umi.' Imagine! Umi actually used this very same stone to play ulu maika more than 500 years ago!"
Kaei kapu o Liloa, Umi's sacred sash, also is housed at the museum. According to the authoritative Hawaiian Dictionary by Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert, Liloa made the sash for Umi out of olona fiber, human and fish teeth, and rare i'iwi (scarlet honeycreeper) and o'o (black honey eater) feathers in the late 15th century.
The sash was carefully preserved and handed down within Umi's family line to Kamehameha the Great, who also wore it. In fact, this is the sash that is seen on the famous statue of Kamehameha that stands in front of Aliiolani Hale in downtown Honolulu. "It's all chicken-skin stuff," Torres says.
KALAKAUA'S "Ola Na Moolelo story" is told by museum staff members representing Queen Kapiolani, his wife, and Liliuokalani, his sister. They talk about his passions, travels, inventions and reign from 1874 to 1891, taking the audience through the events that led to the Hawaiian monarchy's demise in 1893, when Liliuokalani was on the throne.
"The king revived the hula, chants and many other aspects of the ancient culture," Torres says. "Perhaps even more important, the Hawaiian people regained a sense of pride in the old ways under his rule. Remember, they had experienced the increasingly strong influence of Westerners for more than 50 years, and Kalakaua inspired them to look back to the wisdom of the past."
For the segment on King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma, participants journey back in time to the Hawaii of the mid-1800s. These two beloved alii were concerned about the decline of the Hawaiian population due to Western diseases and solicited donations for the construction of Queen's Hospital, named in Emma's honor. Since its opening in 1860, the facility, now known as the Queen's Medical Center, has grown to be the largest private hospital in Hawaii, well known and respected for its research and programs in cancer, cardiology and neuroscience.
Following "Ola Na Moolelo," visitors are encouraged to go on the "Behind the Scenes" tour to view treasures related to the day's story. For example, after Thursday's presentation on King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma, they will be able to see the poi bowls the royal couple used as children, an ipu (gourd drum) used by their court chanter, and Emma's ivory brush set and container.
"In terms of time, the 'Ola Na Moolelo' programs are relatively short, but the impressions they leave on your mind and soul last for a very long time," Torres says. "My hope is that they will do for museum visitors what they have done for me -- that is, bring Hawaiian history to life."
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based free-lance writer and Society of American Travel Writers award winner.
