The Search for the “Old Hawai`i”

Hawai`i is a small place.  A single event that may cause only a ripple in a nation the size of the United States can have a major impact on a small group of islands sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  Instead of evolving in a slow, steady manner, Hawai`i’s history has been punctuated with seminal events followed by rapid change.  My “short list” of those events would include:

ca 1400:  the arrival of and takeover of the Hawaiian culture by the priest Pa`ao from Tahiti – led to the creation of an extremely class-structured society;

1778:  the arrival of Captain Cook  - rapid introduction of non-Polynesian ideas, plants, animals, diseases (which decimated the native population), weapons (which was how King Kamehameha unified the islands) and economics – destruction of the sandalwood forests;

1820:  the arrival of the first missionary families – led to the Christianization of Hawai`i and to even more rapid assumption of “western” ways;

1848:  the “Great Mahele” (redistribution of land) – resulted in the wholesale transfer of land ownership to non-native-Hawaiians and to a foreign-controlled economy;

1893: the overthrow of the monarchy by American business interests – paved the way for Hawaii’s assimilation into the United States;

1941:  the attack on Pearl Harbor and Hawaii’s entry in to World War II – resulted in a massive influx of American soldiers and to the start of the now-dominant tourist industry.

Many visitors here wonder what the “Old Hawai`i” was like.  The answer to that question depends on which and whose “Old Hawai`i” you are looking for because each of the historical events mentioned above created a “new” Hawaii – and often a different one for different groups of people.  The “old Hawai`i” that many visitors are the most interested in is the pre-western-contact Hawai`i – the one that existed before the arrival of Captain Cook.  So that’s going to be our major focus.

It is extremely difficult to find credible material covering this time period for the simple reason that Hawaiian was only a spoken language until the arrival of the missionaries.  The missionaries created the current Hawaiian alphabet and taught large numbers of Hawaiians to both read and write.  As a result, there are two major characteristics of the first Hawaiian language (as opposed to European) written accounts of pre-contact ways; they were written after European contact had already begun and they were biased towards Christian viewpoints because all of the authors were converted and no longer practiced the old, “pagan” ways.  There are actually only 4 major Hawaiian authors who wrote about pre-contact Hawaii, but their material is all well worth reading if you want information from as original a source as possible.

 Probably the most singularly valuable of all of them is David Malo’s Hawaiian Antiquities.  Malo was born in Keahou around 1793 and was closely connected to Queen Ka`ahumanu (the favorite wife of King Kamehameha I) and the royal court.  Malo had a sharp mind and a tenacious memory.  He had extensive knowledge of the traditions, legends and myths of old Hawai`i, including the mele (song), pule (prayer) and ole (chant) of the hula.  Unfortunately, in his later years, his new-found Christian faith led him to become completely intolerant of all forms of entertainment and sport.  Even though this attitude makes some of his comments questionable, Hawaiian Antiquities is still one of the most valuable resources on pre-contact Hawaiian culture.  It is also one of the first “Mo`olelo Hawai`i” (Hawaiian History) books, having been completed around 1836 (the exact date is not certain).

There is a general tendency, especially by “new age” interests, to portray the Hawaiian culture as a very unified and cohesive cultural/spiritual system.  This is simply not true.  The Hawaiians were a fairly typical (though very sophisticated) indigenous society in that customs and beliefs varied from island to island and even between different areas of the same island.  In the very first paragraph of his book, Malo states: “The traditions about the Hawaiian Islands handed down from remote antiquity are not entirely definite; there is much obscurity as to the facts, and the traditions themselves are not clear.  Some of the matters reported are clear and intelligible, but the larger part are vague.”  Any student of the Hawaiian culture needs to keep this 150+ year old statement in mind because it is still valid.

The introductory chapters of Malo’s book contain excellent information on the origin myths, actual origins and  cultural practices of the Hawaiian people.  There’s a lot of very practical information here.  Hawaiian Antiquities is arranged by topic, and sample contents include such topics as compass directions, names for and areas in the sky and the earth., rock types, plants and trees, divisions in the oceans and streams, names of the phases of the moon, etc.  Hawaiians made very fine distinctions in the natural world.  There is also a lot of cultural commentary on such areas as eating kapus, names and uses of animals, food preparation, drinks, tools, royalty, classes of people, proper conduct (morality), building construction, canoe construction, agriculture, games and sport, hula, etc.  As the editors of his book point out, Malo was greatly influenced by his conversion to Christianity and this results in occasional distortions of the facts.  Fortunately, the editor’s notes explain and clarify whenever this happens.  On the whole, Malo’s book is extremely valuable, covers a lot of territory and is still very easy to find.  It’s also heavily annotated, which makes it even more valuable.

Samuel Kamakau is another Hawaiian author who published similar, though more extensive, material.  He was raised on O`ahu and Maui and formed a small group of Hawaiian scholars who attempted to document the “old ways” before they completely disappeared.  His material was published in several Hawaiian-language newspapers between 1866 and 1871.  Mary Kawena Pukui (whom we will hear a lot about in part II of this series) translated his columns into English beginning in 1931 and the collected material was published by the Bishop Museum Press in three volumes between 1964 and 1991.  All three volumes are currently available.

Like Malo, Kamakau was heavily influenced by his conversion to Christianity.  He creates some major distortions of early Hawaiian beliefs in an understandable effort to make his culture’s beliefs “fit” better with Christianity and not seem so “pagan.”  Fortunately, these instances are fairly obvious, but they are not noted as well by the book’s editor as they are in Malo’s work.

 Kamakau’s first volume, The People of Old, focuses primarily on spiritual beliefs, magic and sorcery, and it is very interesting material. Some of the other topics covered include the different degrees of “chief” status (he mentions eleven types and levels), Kanawai (chiefly edicts), Kane altars (Pohaku O Kane, which are used for seeking personal forgiveness), prophesy, medical practices (including remote diagnosis) and medium possession.  On the whole, this volume of Kamakau’s trilogy covers different types of subject matter than Malo’s book, which makes it interesting to read them together.  Like Malo’s book, The People of Old is organized by topic – each topic takes the form of a chapter. 

One of Kanakau’s more interesting comments is that a lot of the “traditional” Hawaiian medicine was actually developed after the arrival of Europeans because pre-contact Hawaiians had very little disease of any kind.  Hawaiians rapidly developed a detailed medical classification system that recognized (and named) most common western diseases and also differentiated between illness that were caused by infection (and were therefore transmittable) and those that were not.  Kamakau also mentions that ancient Hawaiians were very adept at blocking lava flows, primarily through offerings of sacrificial pigs.  He states that “It was a time, perhaps, when the fires had ears and would listen to the words of men.”  He also notes that many areas that are now covered by lava had never known the “desolation of lava flows” in older times.

John Papa I`i read Kamakau’s newspaper articles, and was so stimulated by them that he wrote his own memoirs, (between 1866 and 1870) which were published in 1963 by the Bishop Museum under the title Fragments of Hawaiian History.  Due to his hereditary position, I’i was trained from an early age for service in the court of a chief and was fully schooled in the “old ways.”  John I`i was born in 1810.  At age 10, he was brought to Honolulu and placed in the care of his uncle, who was an attendant of King Kamehameha I.  He was educated under Hiram Bingham and served in various appointed positions of the Nobility and in the Hawaiian legislature.  Though he was also a Christian convert, he retained a profound respect for his ancestor’s culture, in contrast to Malo.  His statements about the “old ways” are therefore believed to be highly accurate.

Because of his focus on the royal court and the chiefs, a lot of I`i’s material centers on the lives and practices of the chiefs, as opposed to the maka`ainana (commoners).  A great deal of the first chapters of Fragments focuses on King Kamehameha I, his family and the other members of the royal court.  Therefore, the flavor of I`i’s book is very different than that of either Malo’s of Kamakau’s books.  Much of the material here is a personal description of events as opposed to cultural commentary; Fragments reads much more like a series of memoirs.  Some of the same information (that is in the previous two books) is revealed, but from a much more personal, participatory and political perspective.  His material also covers the era of the Hawaiian Kingdom to a much greater extent than it covers the pre-contact period, so I`i represents an altogether different “old Hawai`i.”  The first half of the book takes place in Honolulu and the second half takes place after King Kamehameha has moved back to Kona on the Big Island (about 1812).  The contrast between the “city” and “country” styles of living is especially interesting, as is his focus on the royal court.

While the focus of Kamakau’s “The People of Old” was primarily on spiritual beliefs, the focus of “The Works of the People of Old” is decidedly more practical – it’s about the language, routine activities and craft skills of the Hawaiian people.  “Works” is divided into 5 major (and many smaller) parts: “Physical Features and Calendar,” “Cultivation,” “Fishing,” “Crafts” and “Places of Worship.”

The sophistication of the Hawaiian culture is sometimes surprising and you get a good example of it as Kamakau goes through the ways in which Hawaiians named, described and related to the elements of their physical environment.  For example, the names of the compass points varied, depending on which island and on which side of the island you lived.  Compass directions would take on local names based on local features because things like rainfall vary tremendously over small distances.  This is due to local geography and is common in  island environments; there is not nearly as much need for that kind of differentiation in a continental environment.  Hawaiians even had many divisions and names for the horizon and the sky.  In fact, all natural features had extensive sets of names.  Interestingly, names of land division units  (maka`aina, ahupua`a, etc.) that became quite common (and are still found today) were not used at all initially and only came into common use as the population in the islands increased.  Kamakau’s descriptions of the divisions of time and the reasons for them are especially interesting (and complex) and the reasons behind the names of the months are fascinating.

In his chapter on cultivation, Kamakau confirms how important sweet potatoes were and how many different ways they were raised (we tend to think of the Hawaiian diet only in terms of fish and poi).  Sweet potato planting was usually a festive occasion and also a group effort.  Planting in wet areas seldom involved any ritual (it was always successful) while planting in dry areas always involved rituals to a special god (a pig form of Kane called Kanepua`a) because it was not a “sure thing” at all!   Kamakau gives interesting examples of prayers and chants used for the planting of both sweet potatoes and poi.  There are also interesting comments about bananas, which the Hawaiians believed were planted by the gods (since bananas were already there before the Hawaiians arrived in the islands).

Awa (kava) was often grown around the borders of other fields.  It was especially important (and is becoming so again) in the Puna district of the Big Island.  (Note: If you want to learn more about kava, you can start at http://home.hawaii.rr.com/yee/hkc/)  Based on Kamakau’s descriptions, awa grown in the past seems to have been more intoxicating than that grown today.  Or maybe it was the comparative lack of other intoxicants (like alcohol) that made it seem stronger.  He also describes an intense medical purgative cleansing routine that utilized kava that I’ve never heard of before.

In his chapter on fishing, Kamakau states that an area with many fish ponds was considered a “fat land” and that there were many varieties of fish raised at many locations throughout the islands.  Taro patches were also sometimes used to raise fish.  For catching fish, the Hawaiians used many types of lures, line configurations and nets. Kamakau covers fishing extensively, including comments on unusual fishing methods.  Hawaiians also commonly caught crab, eel, lobster, octopus, turtles and sharks.

In his crafts chapter, Kamakau covers house construction extensively, as well as other well-known Hawaiian crafts such as the of making tapa, canoes, fishnets, etc.  He also laments the passing of the “old skills,” which is interesting because Cook’s visit wasn’t even 100 years past yet.  His last chapter contains some very interesting information on heiaus (temples), including a description of the very involved ritual process of obtaining the logs for the carving of heiau images and a description of the process of dedicating a heiau.

“Tales and Traditions of the People of Old” is quite different from Kamakau’s first two volumes because it is essentially a collection of stories from many sources – none of it is material that he wrote himself.  As a result, there are a lot of intriguing contradictions between the individual tales.  This third volume is a good book for people who are interested in mythology and Hawaiian genealogies.  The notes at the end of each chapter give references to similar information in material from the authors that we looked at in part I and it would be an interesting project to compare the information from these various sources.

One of the more fascinating stories is about the arrival of the priest Pa`ao from Tahiti (which changed Hawai`i forever).  Pa`ao is described as being driven out of New Zealand (an interesting error) by his brother.  There are many stories about island landmarks and even a Hawaiian version of the story of Adam and Eve.  Many of the tales involve genealogies of Hawaiian chiefs.  In discussing the origins of the Hawaiian people, Kamakau says that there was a lot of misinformation around because later generations of Hawaiians took the stories too literally  - they did not understand the kaona (hidden meanings) in them.

Kamakau also gives the ancient names of each of the Hawaiian islands in this volume – something that I have not seen before.  The Big Island’s name was “Lono-nui-akea,” and according to Kamakau, some of the islands (like O`ahu) are now named after individual families!  

The fourth author that I would like to introduce you to is Kepelino Keauokalani.  He was born in Kailua on the Big Island in about 1830; his mother was a daughter of King Kamehameha (which isn’t unusual, by the way).  Kepelino converted to Christianity in Kailua as a member of the Catholic Church, which was unusual at the time.  Of all of the accounts that we have looked at, his is the most “Christianized” and subject to questions about accuracy. Not withstanding that, there is still valuable information in this compilation of his writings, which was published as Kepelino’s Traditions of Hawai`i by the Bishop Museum as Bulletin #95 in July, 1932.  Unfortunately, it’s basically unavailable outside of libraries in Hawai`i.  This publication was never re-published, and it is very difficult to find.  I finally found a copy via the Internet from a book dealer in New Mexico, but it took me almost a year to find it.

A very unusual feature of this book is that it is dual-language.  Pages on the left side are in English and pages on the right are in Hawaiian (Kepelino wrote in Hawaiian).  It is one of the very few older publications where you can read English and Hawaiian side-by-side, so it is also a valuable language resource!

The first part of this book is a fascinating re-creation of many of the major stories of the Bible, complete with the creation, the flood, etc.  It is another example of a Hawaiian author’s attempt to reconcile his culture’s “paganism” with Christianity, and is more extensive than most.  Kepelino even goes so far as to state that Hawaiians were of the “race of Israel, the Semitic.”  In one very interesting section, Kepelino comments on chanting and the hula, describing the various forms and saying, “All of it is sinful.  Eyes, hands, feet and body ensnared the onlooker.”  And “Hawaiian chants were all bad, even the name chants.  They were all filthy.”  This vehement dismissal of the beautiful dance of Hawai`i demonstrates the degree to which the missionaries convinced Hawaiians that the “old ways” were evil.