Kupuna Gladys Brandt
to be honored
over 3 days

Cultural and religious rites will
memorialize the beloved educator

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By Sally Apgar
sapgar@starbulletin.com

Gladys Kamakakuokalani 'Ainoa Brandt, the revered Hawaiian kupuna and educator who died last week at the age of 96, will be mourned and honored in three days of cultural and religious ceremonies beginning Monday at Kamehameha Schools and ending Wednesday evening with services at historic Kawaiahao Church.

Brandt, who will be memorialized for her many contributions to the Hawaiian community, which include freeing the kapu on standing hula and fighting for other Hawaiian rights, will also be paid rare ceremonial homage for her alii status as one descended from the ancient chiefs of Kalaniopu'u. Organizers said yesterday that some rituals that will be performed have not been used since the 1920s.

The series of services will begin at 4:30 p.m. Monday when she will be honored in Kamehameha's Bernice Pauahi Bishop Chapel. That ceremony is open to students, parents, alumni, teachers, staff and former employees of Kamehameha.

Brandt had lifelong blood ties to the school founded in 1894 to educate children of Hawaiian ancestry. Her mother, Esther, was in Kamehameha's first graduating class of women and her father, David, taught tailoring at Kamehameha's boys' school. She was raised for several years as the hanai daughter of Ida May Pope, the first principal of Kamehameha's girls' school. During that time, she was the only girl to attend the boys' elementary school.

Fittingly, Brandt later became the last principal of the girls' school and its first native Hawaiian head. She oversaw the merger with the boys' school and later became the director of the high school. While there, she ended the kapu on standing hula.

"The Kamehameha family needs to take time to recognize her contributions," said Neil Hannahs, a graduate and employee at Kamehameha who had known Brandt since high school when he was a brash student and she was a disciplinarian principal.

Hannahs said Brandt was "a rebel in her own time" and that "lifting the kapu on standing hula set in motion other activities and efforts that spread and freed us and expanded our culture."

Tuesday evening, Brandt will be honored at the building bearing her name: the Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, 2645 Dole St.

Brandt served for six years on the UH Board of Regents and during that time she fought hard against political and financial odds to have the center built.

Beginning at 5 p.m., at least 15 different hula halau will perform for four hours beginning at the center's hula mound.

Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, director of the center, has invited the university and Hawaiian communities to pay tribute. She said: "We honor the woman who freed the kapu on standing hula at the Kamehameha Schools, and by doing so, advanced the restoration and renaissance of one of our most important and valued forms of expression."

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, a traditional vigil will be held over her ashes at Kawaiahao Church in keeping with her alii lineage. Brandt was the highest ranking member of the Hawaiian society, Hale O Na Ali'i O Hawaii. At the church, leaders of the group will receive her ashes and greet her by a wailing chant traditionally offered at the death of a chief. All members of the society are asked to attend wearing capes and full regalia.

Hailama Farden, state president for the society, said this is the first time their chapter has held a funeral for someone of Brandt's rank as iku nahalani (advisor to the regent).

"We are pulling back some of our old rituals that we haven't used since the 1920s, " said Farden.

Her remains will be placed in the sanctuary where they will be watched over throughout the night by society members who will hold feathered kahili, an emblem of the alii. They will hold both black and white kahili.

Anyone who wishes may pay respects.

Farden said the use of black and white kahili is taken from when Kamehameha II's wife died in England, where there were no kahili. Kamehameha placed black feathers at her feet and white feathers at her head. When Prince Kuhio died in 1922 the society used white kahili.

Between 5 and 6 p.m. Wednesday, a preservice hookupu will be offered by six organizations closely affiliated with Brandt: Kamehameha, the Center for Hawaiian Studies, the Prince Kuhio Hawaiian Civic Center, the Hawaiian immersion schools known as 'Aha Punana Leo, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Hui Hanai, the auxiliary to the Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center.

At 6 p.m., her remains will be handed to the kahu who will conduct "a simple Christian service."