White banners billowing in the breeze sketched a fine calligraphy on the deep green backdrop of Makua Valley yesterday as a small band of people observed the end of the Makahiki season.
KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Solomon Enos carried a kii, a symbol of Hawaiian culture and the practice of peace, yesterday after ceremonies at Makua Valley marking the end of the Makahiki season.
Dedicated faithful revive
ancient Hawaiian traditions in
contrast to a military presenceBy Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.comThey brought ti-wrapped samples of the bounty of the land -- taro, awa, banana, breadfruit, kukui nuts, water from Waikane and kalua pork -- to three ahu or altars in acknowledgment of Lono, the ancient god of agriculture and fertility.
The deep Leeward valley is one of several settings where efforts are being made to revive the Hawaiian tradition that honors the spiritual link between mankind and the land. The group led by Momi Kamahele and William Aila takes the restoration of the cultural practice very seriously. Only people who attended weekly meetings for months to memorize chants and practice the rituals were allowed to participate in this second Makua Makahiki.
In early Hawaii, the Makahiki was a designated festival time after the harvest season when wars were put on hold, sporting competitions were organized between villages, and chiefs traveled from village to village to collect their tribute or taxes from the common folks.
"We practice this because of what Lono symbolizes in our culture, in terms of peace, in the wealth of the land," said Kamahele, a Hawaiian studies teacher at Leeward Community College. "It feels good when you do something to preserve and to heal. When I chant it is a powerful expression of that feeling."
KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kumu Momi Kamahele of Ka Ohana O Makua stood in front of an ahu with offerings.
However powerful the ancient Hawaiian symbolism was, it was upstaged by the contrast with Makua Valley, present and future. The season of peace was being wrapped up in a place being used to prepare American military for war. Makua has been an Army firing range since a 1942 presidential order allowed eviction of the former residents. The solemn white-clad procession wound past a sign warning "Danger High Explosives," an Army observation tower and Army vehicles in camouflage paint.
Everyone present, including the soldiers at the gate, was fully aware of the contrast. Yesterday was one of the access days allowed twice a month to members of Malama Makua advocacy group in a court resolution of its suit to oust the firing range. Many in the group were there the previous week as observers during "live fire" exercises involving helicopters and howitzers.
Pat Patterson, who enters the valley every access day, said she sat in on a recent Army briefing of 200 soldiers at the range. "They were told 'a pile of rocks is not just a pile of rocks' and 'even if you don't share that religion, at least respect it.' They did a rather good job of it." She said identified cultural sites in the valley have been marked off limits to the modern warriors with sandbags and concertina wire.
About a dozen invited observers, required to stay more than 600 feet away, watched as Aila stood at a recently constructed stone altar to receive and place the ho'okupu "accepting the gifts on behalf of Lono." It was a role that an ali'i or royal person would have taken since they "represented the gods in the management of people," he said. But there is no written handbook for rituals that faded from use about 160 years ago following the arrival of westerners. "These rituals are half from the writings of the first generation of Hawaiian writers and the other half come from genetic memory, things you feel in your gut are right," he said.
The rites ended as three men took a small outrigger canoe filled with gifts into the ocean and set it adrift, symbolic of ending Lono's season for another year.
KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Walterbea Aldeguer walks with others of Ka Ohana O Makua back into Makua Valley after special ceremonies, both in the valley and on the beach, marking the end of the Makahiki Season. The valley has been used for live-fire training exercises by the Army since 1942.
Seen at seaside, the banners evoked a note of history. It was the Makahiki season when Capt. James Cook sailed into Kona aboard the first western ship to reach Hawaii. Writers have speculated that the warm welcome he received from the early Hawaiians had a lot to do with the vision of white sails and the serendipity of the peaceful season.
The Makua Makahiki observance is not just playing at old times. "The idea of having people connect back to the land is very important for the future generations," Aila said. "Young people, especially living in a city, don't have a sense of place, a sense of being. That's why they get involved in drugs and alcohol, and even littering the land, because there is no reason not to do it. We disrespect the land, we disrespect our gods, our elders, ourselves. We are here because of that connection to the land.
"The worst thing I hear is when modern people say 'Hawaiians used to do' in the past tense as if Hawaiians have mystically gone away. Hawaiians are here and are learning about their culture. They exist today and will continue to exist tomorrow."
Kamahele said that it would be inaccurate to characterize the rituals as worship of Lono. "I don't think we worship, it is more of a petition to the akua (god) to help us with akua's treasures. Lono stands for peace, that the land is bountiful and the land needs care.
"In the Hawaiian culture, there is no word for religion, it was not a separate thing," she said. "Spiritual practice was part of all of life. You prayed when you worked, you prayed to give thanks for food. Hawaiians always prayed."
