ʻWhat did Queen Emma of Hawaiʻi look like?

ʻ Emalani in Pictures – A work in progress

Here I am sorting my digital collection of ʻEmalani images, trying to arrange them chronologically, to find provenance of them all, and to start including a little history.

With Dr. & Mrs. Rooke. Original photo at the Bishop Museum.
https://digitalarchives.hawaii.gov/item/ark:70111/1z99

Emma and Alexander Liholiho were married on June 19, 1856

Alekanetero ʻIolani Kalanikualiholiho Maka o ʻIouli Kūnuiākea o Kūkāʻilimoku (Kamehameha IV)
and
Queen Emma Kalanikaumakaʻamano Kaleleonālani Naʻea Rooke

1862 image by Henry L Chase , Front Street, Honolulu

1865

Carte-de-visite depicting a full-length portrait of Emma Kalanikaumakaʻamano Kaleleonālani Naʻea Rooke, then Queen Dowager of the Kingdom of Hawaii. She is standing and faces three-quarters left. Her hands are together in front of her, left hand over right. She is wearing a Western style dress, with a light coloured headdress and a veil. On the left of the photograph stands a table with books on it. A curtain is hanging behind the table.
Provenance: From an album of ‘Royal Portraits’ compiled by Queen Victoria
Royal Collection Trust

1866

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Queen_Emma_of_Hawaii,c._1859%28colored%29.jpg

After her European tour, Queen Emma arrived in New York in August of 1866. This image was published by Edward and Henry T. Anthony & Co

Carte de Visite by Bradley and Rutholfson, San Francisco, October 1866.
This is the image most commonly mis-identified as Mary Ellen Pleasant, due to it being used by Helen Holdredge in her book on Mrs. Pleasant.

Carte de visite of Queen Emma which has been altered and identified as Mary Ellen Pleasant.

What I think is especially charming about how she signed this *carte de visite*: “On sea,” which is how we would say it in Hawaiian. She then corrected it to “at sea,” the English phrasing.

186?

Although this image is sometimes identified as the wedding of ʻEmalani and Liholiho, Kamehameha IV, it is not. The image is a montage of several members of the Hawaiian royalty based on their photos. While many of their lifetimes did overlap, this is not an accurate representation of a specific moment in time. The image of ʻEmalani is based on a photo of her wearing widow’s weeds, therefore the image of her is post-1863, the year her husband died. In it, she is wearing the same gown as in the *carte de visite* below. The images must, therefore, be at least a year prior to 1870.

1871

1880

This stately image was made by Andreas Avelino Montano, a Colombian from California. He came to Hawaii and was active from 1876 to 1883 as a photographer and portrait painters for Queen Emma and other fashionable aliis. He had a skill for portraying Hawaiian women. His studio at 87 Fort Street in Honolulu became known as Hale Paʻikiʻi (photographer house). He tutored the painter Charles Furneaux. He married Mary Jane Fayerweather, a quarter Hawaiian and three quarter Caucasian woman, sister of Julia Fayerweather Afong, and widow of Benoni R. Davidson. Although she was five years his senior they had four children: Emma, Rose, Maggie and Harry. He later retired photography and became a rancher.

https://jenikirbyhistory.getarchive.net/amp/media/queen-emma-of-hawaii-photograph-by-h-l-chase-pp-96-4-008-174482

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Henry_L._Chase

https://www.alexautographs.com/auction-lot/queen-emma-of-hawaii-s-annotated-photograph-album_6567D96713

https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/345998106526136-queen-emma-of-hawaii-signed-photograph/?cat=322

Regarding “haole”

In response to a question about “haole” being modern slang, or a traditional Hawaiian word:

The word “haole” is actually a fully Hawaiian word pre-dating the arrival of Capt Cook. Its etymology is lost in time. What linguists do agree on is that it is not a compound word. Polynesian linguistic shifts do not support the words “hā” and ” ‘ole” morphing to “haole.”

Also, the word is found in chants which predate Capt. Cook’s 1778 arrival.

PAUMAKUA
Westervelt records in “Hawaiian Historical Legends”:

“…
PAUMAKUA was one of the great voyagers among the ocean-rovers of over eight hundred years ago. Fornander in his “Account of the Polynesian Race” says: “One of the legends relates that Paumakua, on his return from one of his foreign voyages, brought back with him to Oahu two white men said to have been priests A-ua-ka-hinu and A-ua-ka-mea, afterwards named Kae-kae and Ma-liu, from whom several priestly families in after ages claimed descent and authority.” These persons were described as:

“Ka haole nui maka ʻālohilohi
(A large foreigner, bright sparkling eyes)
A āholehole maka ʻaʻā
(White cheeks, roguish staring eyes)
Ka puaʻa keokeo nui maka ʻulaʻula!
(A great white pig with reddish eyes).”

In the later years of Hawaiian history, two of the most prominent high priests in all the islands were among the descendants of these foreigners.
…”

KUMULIPO
The word also is found in the Kumulipo:

“…
Line 505 – Hanau ke Po’ohaole, he haole kela
…”
“…
born was the stranger’s head, that was strange.
…”

KUALIʻI
In the genealogy of Kualiʻi (born around 1710), the chant states:

“…
Hoʻokahi o Tahiti kānaka, he haole
…”
“…
only one people in Tahiti, foreigners.
…”

The word began referring more commonly to North Americans during the overthrow of the Monarchy.

Sometimes translating Hawaiian can be challenging because you first have to determine if the person is actually using the word with its Hawaiian meaning, or if the person is using the word with its Pidgin meaning.

In Hawaiian, I was taught never to say ” ʻōkole” in polite company, because it can mean “anus.” In pidgin, the word generally refers to the buttocks.

Wehewehe.org Hawaiian Language Dictionary

When I was a girl, the following were in common use, with no pejorative meanings:

Hawaiian – Native Hawaiian.

Hapa [HAH-pah]- Part Hawaiian. Distinguished as hapa-haole, hapa-Keponi, hapa-Pākē, etc.

Kanaka [kah-NAH-kah] – Native Hawaiian.
(kuh-NAAK-uh and NAAK-uh were highly perjorative)

Kamaʻāina [kah-mah-ah-EE-nah / kah-mah-AI-nah] – Non-Native Hawaiian person born in Hawaiʻi or very long time resident who was adopted into Hawaiian culture.

Malihini [mah-lee-HEE-nee] – Visitor or new resident.

Maoli [maOH-lee] – Native Hawaiian.

Sometimes, people will become upset that “haole” is not capitalized the way Kepani or Pākē is capitalized. Like “hapa,” “haole” is not an ethnic group. It is a description. One would not capitalize “continental” in describing someone, though one would capitalize “French.” If one wishes to say “hapa-Pelekane” (Hawaiian-British), then, certainly “Pelekane” is capitalized.

Getting my Hā on

Up at four this morning to practice what I am calling “Hā Walea,” a technique of mindful breathing I am working on.

We have been working so much over the last several years, and not being mindful of our health, that unhealthy habits and practices have grown. Over the past decade I have developed type II diabetes, and stage two hypertension.

I sleep under such tension that my dentist tells me I grind my teeth all night. I’ve actually shattered some of my teeth and had to have them pulled!

Over the past year I have managed to get my diabetes under control through exercise and dietary changes.

The blood pressure (averaging around145/103) has not come down so easily. It has taken adding a third component to get my BP down.

I’ve tried many techniques, but none really worked for my lifestyle. But one early morning I could hear Aunty Nona’s voice, “Dahling! Remember your basics! when you have difficulty, always go back to your basics! Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.”

So, I began working on my hā, breathing the way she taught us for hula. So simple! Why did I ever mislay that?

I still let myself stress, but I am getting better.

This am, I awoke with a BP of 136/88, which is just below stage 1 hypertension. After a 20 minute session of Hā Walea my BP is now 119/78, right at the top of normal. No medications.

If you would like to join me in this journey to hula back to health (Or as one friend calls it “Leilehua’s Ol Fut Remedial Hula”) I would be honored.

Participating in Hā Walea and warmups is free.
Gather 11:00 am Mondays in the lobby of the Naniloa. This class is on hold until after the Christmas holidays. It will resume 9 January, 2017.

Reading List now up!

So many people have contacted me asking for reading lists on various Hawaiian subjects that I have finally started putting some on-line. The starter list is here. More will be added!

ʻUniki

I recently had a request from a student I have not seen in twelve years. She would like to ʻuniki with me. Out of the blue, with no communication for twelve years, she wants to ʻuniki.

You do not simply show up to a kumu and ask to ʻuniki. ʻUniki is something which is earned after years of diligent study. And even among those who put in the time and effort, not all will ʻuniki.

Dr. Amy Stillman has some very wise words in her essays on haumāna and kumu:

Teachers cherish what they have learned from their teachers. They hold their knowledge close, because it is special. It is shared when students are ready and receptive. This is why an ´uniki ceremony is an ultimate achievement. The student has earned the teacher’s trust. The teacher trusts that the student will care for what has been taught. The teacher trusts that the student can discern what is appropriate and what is inappropriate. The teacher trusts that the student understands why things are done they way they are. The teacher knows that his or her teacher’s teachings will continue. So the teacher sends the student off on their own. They are free to create. What they must never do is disrespect what they have been taught, or betray the teacher’s trust.

My own opinion – if one asks to ʻuniki, one is not ready.

Esthetic of Hawaiian Art

In some ways, the traditional Hawaiian esthetic reminds one of the Art Nouveau movement. Both Hawaiian and Art Nouveau designers believed that all the arts should work in harmony to create a Gesamtkunstwerk, a “total work,” in which form, function, line, pattern, color and texture were ideally melded together into a harmonious expression. Traditional Hawaiian culture takes this esthetic a step farther, insisting that the spiritual qualities of the work also be in harmony with its tangible expression.

Items from skirts, to water gourds, to homes, to canoes were conformed to this esthetic before their physical creation, with appropriate prayer and sacrifice made from the first impulse of creation.

For example, the creation of a water gourd began well before the plant was harvested – with the spiritual cleansing and filling of the farmer as he prepared his digging stick to loosen the soil. Each phase, from preparing the ground, to planting the seeds, to guarding the crop, to harvest, to decorating, to final cleansing had to be carefully observed. “What use,” the traditionalist thinks, “to have a beautiful object if it is spiritually unclean?”

And how much more pleasurable to have a beautiful gourd which delights the eye which sees it, and the hand which touches it?

Above is an ipu pāwehe, a modern gourd I cured in the manner of the “tattooed gourds of Kauai.” Every detail to make it a fine water gourd was attended to. Even the shell stopper was selected because the pattern on the shell resembles the pattern I incised and dyed into the rind.