Malcolm Chun, who has translated old Hawaiian documents of native plant remedies, holds the flower of Awikiwiki, top.
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medicinal rootsThe last book in a translated
series reveals natural remedies
used by native Hawaiians
Anyone growing up in the islands knows to run to the patch of aloe in their back yard whenever they get a burn or cut that needs tender loving care.
Even today, aloe vera seems to be one of the most widely known local remedies to have survived the modern world's influx of alternative "cures." The squishy white noni fruit and kava bush have also gained wide reputations for their healing qualities.
There was a time when someone's back yard, including the mountains and wild pastures beyond, was the common man's pharmacy, says Malcolm Naea Chun, a translator of Hawaiian historical documents and a cultural specialist at the University of Hawaii-Manoa College of Education and the Department of Education Pihana na Mamo program.
"Native Hawaiian Medicine": By the Rev. David Kaluna M. Ka'aiakamanu, translated by Malcolm Naea Chun (First People's Introductions), 94 pages, $15.95
"I used to watch my grandfather prepare his own medicine," Chun said. "He went into his back yard ... which was their pharmacy." But the older generation is gone now, he said. "Very few wanted to listen to them. Only now it (the use of herbs) has become very popular."
With the growing interest in alternative medicine, a lot of people are looking into traditional Hawaiian healing, giving credence to the adage "What was old has become new again."
Almost 20 years ago, Chun discovered a treasure trove of native plant potions that could have easily been thrown out with the trash. The original records of these remedies were written in longhand and stashed in an old cardboard box in the Office of Hawaiian Health.
His main reason for translating these documents was not to publish recipes for people to try, but to "show how earlier generations used these plants," he said. "It's been a fascinating journey and an adventure to rediscover what they discovered, what they (the native Hawaiians) were like.
"If no one translated them and put it into historical perspective, then this is lost. That box could've been burnt, and a unique part of Hawaiian history would have been lost forever.
"But it takes more than just learning the language to translate them (the documents)," Chun said. "You have to know the culture to get an understanding of what the writer meant. People today would find the language secretive, esoteric and boring. But it's our culture, and if we don't understand it, it will be lost forever."
THE PUBLICATION of Chun's three-volume series, based on work by three authors, releases "primary source material, never published before for the general public.""Native Hawaiian Medicine Vol. III," written by the Rev. David Kaluna M. Ka'aiakamanu, of Kipahulu, Maui, from 1917 to 1921, is the last in Chun's translated series. It is the culmination of work that he began on an old-fashioned typewriter in 1990.
Ka'aiakamanu was a kahuna who had a reputation for being a "qualified expert" on Hawaiian people, customs and his native land, Chun said. His work "is quite rare and unique, and for me a great privilege to be able to translate and make it available."
Chun, who has worked with native plants since 1974 at the Lyon Arboretum, tried to make some of his own medicine from the descriptions when he was working on his first volume, but it was too hard to accumulate the quantity of plants required.
"And what I do have (in plants), I don't want to kill. ... You need a lot of them for the prescriptions," he said.
Kalo (taro) was not only a staple food of the Hawaiians; the entire plant was used for medicinal purposes. The cooked and salted leaf was used for "all illnesses," including a "very strong fever."
A poultice made from the stalk of the leaf was used for cuts, bruises and broken bones, according to Ka'aiakamanu's records. With the introduction of Western illness, the plant was considered a lifesaving medicine, used for pneumonia and ulali (measles).
Taro and sweet potato were also used as a buffer to form something like a pill because they made the bitter medicine buried within the little balls more palatable and easier to swallow, Chun said.
The awa plant, also known as kava today, was used to relax the body and for losing weight. According to original documents, the plant was "greatly desired ... (used) to be intoxicated and relaxed to go to sleep. ... This plant is like the (opium) ... the food of the angels."
The leaf bud and tap root of Awikiwiki were used to treat skin rashes and hives.
BUT EVEN BACK then, Ka'aiakamanu warned that "it is not a good thing to (abuse it) constantly (for) it can be bad ... it will damage a healthy body."Chun said the recent boom in the use of kava pills for relaxation is a misuse of a medicine that was culturally used for religious purposes.
"Kava is a gift from the gods. Prayers were used in the preparation of kawa; it was like communion, not popping a handful of pills or drinking a huge bowl of it," as some do today. It was also used in a social setting, accompanied by pupu (appetizers), which regulated the abuse of the drink, he added.
Most of Western or modern medicines are "derivatives of plant materials" offered in synthetic versions. But traditional medicine endures, even if in small populations, because it is "a cultural bond for native people," Chun said.
Modern medical practice is also "too clinical," with too little empathy between doctor and patient, he said. A common complaint is "My doctor doesn't listen to me," he said. "In traditional medicine you sense that the patient is not just an object being told what to do, that he takes part in his treatment plan.
"Traditional medicine is very patient-oriented because the healer needs to have as much information from the patient and to work with the patient to reveal all of the symptoms," Chun said.
Sometimes, the root source of a patient's cold is the stress and anger that weakened his resistance to germs or viruses. The big difference between traditional and modern medicine is that ancient healers considered the patient's whole being, not just the physical symptoms -- a holistic approach with some applied psychology, he said.
"Modern medicine is only beginning to realize that there's a much bigger picture" than that presented by physical symptoms, Chun said.
The Hawaiian healers "had a power that was in a different set of ethics and values ... of giving, rather than receiving. They had a sense of humbleness."
Their ethics and desire to heal outweighed any desire to make a profit or gain a reputation. Most of them would have taken a bag of rice as payment or give whatever money they were paid to the church, Chun said.
While translating the documents, "I talk to the dead," Chun said. "I go back to these old materials, and they talk to me through their writings.
"A lot of younger Hawaiians want to connect to their ancestors through the language and reject the written word because they think the oral tradition is the most important thing. But this written word is just as important, more (so) because it's frozen in time and because it's genuine," he said.
Only 1,500 copies of Vol. III of "Native Hawaiian Medicine" have been printed. They sell for $15.95 at Bishop Museum and most Borders bookstores statewide. Vols. I and II are sold out.BACK TO TOP |
Forgotten plant
Here is an excerpt from Malcolm Naea Chun's "Native Hawaiian Medicine Vol. III," as translated from an original work by the Rev. David Kaluna M. Ka'aiakamanu, of Kipahulu, Maui, from 1917 to 1921:
good for growth
Kanawao ('Ula 'ula wahine)
This is a forgotten plant that was once familiar to the ancestors of the Hawaiian people from the old days. There was a lot of goodness and benefits to this plant, from the increasing of the population and the caring for girls to getting a healthy life. Look at the explanations for a boy and its true nature. If a girl was desired, then the medicine is eaten two times, in the morning and in the evening for five days with two eggs. Do not eat on the first days of Ku.It was the way of increasing the population in Hawaii during the old days. ... Look at how the numbers of Japanese, Chinese and Filipinos have increased in immigrating in Hawaii. They are not good at settling, but they do take care and know how to increase their numbers.
The stem is reddish (ha'ula'ula) and the flower is crinkled. The stem grows in tall and straight. If extreme care is taken when eating this plant, there will be rewards and the illness cured. This is a plant eaten by the 'i'iwi polena of the mountains and the yellow-feathered o'o of the mountains of 'Ola'a (La'a). This is a very good medicine for its nectar from the flowers.
This plant can be mixed with several other plants to become a beneficial medicine for 'ea (thrush) and pa'ao'ao (latent childhood disease with physical weakening). In fact, it is not good to only prepare this medicine without the understanding of the patient, for it is from that point that the patient will be saved. Look with careful understanding, otherwise it might become perplexing (hihia).
'Auhuhu (Tephrosia purpurea)
It is a wild plant growing everywhere and it can be planted near the sea. This is a lethal plant. It can kill a pig, cow and a human being. This is the plant prepared in the koheoheo 'apu (a poisonous potion).The 'auhuhu, when mixed with the 'awa, becomes lethal. If this medicine is made and pounded and its juice is applied on the pu 'upu 'u me 'eau (itch mange, lumps) then there is no death, because it is used only externally.
The little whitish flowers of the 'auhuhu can be brought to be fed to babies. The mother chews them and feeds it to the child. There will be no death, because the flower is tasty, then the baby's health and well-being will be gotten. It is a purgative for the baby with good results.
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