This may look like a lush tropical landscape, but there are ZERO native Hawaiian species in this image. Except for the avocado tree (a 20th century introduced food crop) buried under an aggressive philodendron, all of the visible species at this site are highly invasive. Philodendron, running bamboo, and thunbergia have created an almost sterile biome lacking in diversity. Left alone, they will kill the avocado tree. There are virtually no understory plants, resulting in significant erosion of topsoil. The only fungi are molds.
A healthy biome comprises diverse species which fill many niches. The Urban Kīpuka Project will explore ways to re-create ecosystems with healthy diversity for small urban/suburban environments.
Hawaiʻi has the unfortunate distinction of being “the extinction capitol of the world.” Many of our native birds are gone due to habitat loss and introduced diseases and predators. Many of our plants have been bulldozed away by development.
LeiManu Design‘s Urban Kīpuka Project seeks to find ways that individuals can create kīpuka, oases of native plants, in their own yards to provide habitat for native flora and fauna. We believe that if each of us creates a kīpuka, we can slow, if not stop, the rampant loss of native and cultural plants, and the native animals that inhabit them.
‘Alalā released on Hawaii Island in 2017 appear to thrive
MEDIA RELEASE
The eleven young ‘Alalā living in the Pu‘u Maka‘ala Natural Area Reserve on the Island of Hawai‘i continue to thrive, showing increased natural behaviors, foraging on native plants, and even challenging the occasional ‘Io, or Hawaiian Hawk. Conservationists are cautiously optimistic about the birds’ continued success in native habitat and are working together with researchers at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo to analyze vocalizations of these rare birds. Foraging and other social behaviors are also being studied to determine if historically seen activities are increasing now that the group has access to the surroundings in which they evolved.
“When the only existing ‘Alalā were living in the protected aviaries at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center, we saw fewer types of alarm and territory calls in the population and the frequency of alarm calls was greatly reduced.” said Alison Greggor, Postdoctoral Associate, San Diego Zoo Global.
“We are beginning to observe behaviors that appear to be responsive to the changes and threats available in natural habitat and we are working on evaluating this scientifically to see if the birds’ rich behavioral repertoire is being recovered now that they have been reintroduced into the forest.” said Joshua Pang-Ching, Research Coordinator of the San Diego Zoo Global’s Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program. Some of these behaviors include foraging on native fruits, searching for insects within bark of native trees, and interacting with ʻIo, which is their natural predator.
The eleven ‘Alalā were released into the reserve in September and October 2017. They represent what conservationists hope will be the beginning of a recovered population of the endangered crow species on the island. “ʻAlalā are important seed dispersers of native plants, and also were dominant voices of the soundscape of Hawaiian forests and forest bird communities. The presence of ‘Alalā, back in their habitat, is a benefit and revitalization for ecosystem health of managed State lands and reserves, such as Pu’u Maka’ala Natural Area Reserve” said Jackie Gaudioso-Levita, Project Coordinator of the ‘Alalā Project.
The ‘Alalā, or Hawaiian Crow, has been extinct in the wild since 2002, preserved only at the Keauhou and Maui Bird Conservation Centers managed by San Diego Zoo Global’s Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program. Scientists hypothesize that the possible changes in vocalizations may represent the kind of behaviors necessary to the species’ survival now that they have been returned to their native forest home.
Kaʻahele Hawaiʻi, the oldest Hawaiian Culture and Arts site on the web, sends aloha to everyone participating in the 2018 Merrie Monarch Festival!
While enjoying your time here and visiting our astonishing wahi pana, please stay safe and heed warning signs and safety barriers. Please enjoy this moʻolelo on why: KunaMoʻo and the Wailuku River.
Reposted from my old blog for nā kamaliʻi, “Hula Girl Leinani.”
Today is the day we celebrate the life of Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana‘ole!
Although he was reared to someday be the King of Hawaiʻi, once Hawaiʻi became an American territory, he did everything he could to make life better for Hawaiians as American citizens. He was our first representative to Congress! Because of that, he is called “Ke Aliʻi Makaʻāinana,” “The Prince of the People.”
His other nickname was “Prince Cupid,” because when he was a baby he was very cute and looked like pictures of baby Cupid. Even after he was a grownup, people still called him “Prince Cupid!”
I which I could have met him. He was a very interesting and exciting person! He love to ride with the paniolo, the cowboys, and was an expert horseman. Enjoyed lots of different activities, including golf, and even learned to fly an airplane!
Prince Kūhiō flying a plane.
This hula is about Prince Kūhiō. It is about him and how he and his riding club were so beautiful as they galloped by on their horses. Kumu Leilehua translated it for us.
“He Inoa Nō Kalanianaʻole”
He inoa nou e Kalanianaʻole
O ka hui holo lio o ka ʻehu kai
ʻAkāhi o ka nani ua ʻike ʻia
I ka holo kaʻinapu aʻo nā lio
Ua like me ka wai ānuenue
Ka pipiʻo i ke alo aʻo Kaʻala
ʻKa lihilihi ʻula o ka pāʻū
E puleleo haʻaheo la i ka makani
Hea aku mākou ō mai ʻoe
ʻO Kalanianaʻole la he inoa
***
In the name of Kalanianaʻole
And the riding club of the sea spray
Never before has such beauty been seen
As the graceful prancing of the horses
They are like the rainbow
Arching over the face of Mount Kaʻala
The red fringe of the skirt
Waves proudly in the wind
We call out to you
Kalanianaʻole is your name
Recycled glass jewelry fused with 22 carat gold can be personalized.
Pacific Islands Shipping & Trading was created in 1996 as a way to homeschool my daughter. She made hula implements and sold them, and ran the business under my guidance. After she moved away from home, the business went into hibernation, but it is back now as an on-line store on Etsy!
Your purchases from Pacific Islands Shipping & Trading are helping to re-build Kaʻahele Hawaiʻi. The oldest Hawaiian Culture and Arts website on the internet, it’s had its ups and downs, but I think it still has value. As I find and update the old files, they will be added to the site. I’ll also be adding new material, as long as the sales can keep us on-line!
The old Honto-no-Hawaii website is now closed, so I have moved favorite posts and articles from it to here. This is one:
Some people know I recently had surgery on my foot, and that I will go back for surgery on the other one. This was to treat arthritis in my feet which had gotten so bad as to prevent me from dancing hula. With frozen toes and severe pain, I could not keep my balance while dancing any more.
Nurse Phoebe takes good care of Kumuʻs leg!
Aue!!!! One of the causes of the bad arthritis is my great enjoyment of tasty Hawaiian food! This also caused another problem. . .DIABETES!!!!
So, now I must pay the price and lose some 50 pounds and become a vegetarian (mostly).
But you know me! Always up for the adventure! An opportunity to learn and study!
REAL traditional Hawaiian food is based on complex carbohydrates and vegetables with a little bit of fruit and meat/fish/fowl: Sweet potato greens, taro leaf, seaweed, sweet potatoes, taro, yams, fern shoots, and small portions of fish were the mainstays. At major feasts, dog, wild birds, and pork – lean, not feedlot raised – were shared.
A relative of morning glory, sweet potatoes are nutritious and delicious, easy to grow, beautiful, and great in stir fry!
All those high-fat-high-sugar tasty things we are used to are FEAST foods – to eat at celebration times, like the birth of a new chief, Makahiki, etc. The only problem I had with Hawaiian food is that I ate like it was a FEAST day EVERY day!!!
Did you know that statistics say 2/3 of deaths in Hawai`i are caused by nutrition related disease? Iʻm interpreting that as 2/3 of the time we could be healing ourselves through healthy eating, instead of taking lots of medicines which create their own side effects and other problems!
As a kumu, it is important for me to set an example for my students to follow. If I want my students to be healthy, then I must get healthy as an example for them!
February 2014 workshop students make ho`okupu for their ho`ike at Ka`auea
So, on to healthy eating! Maika`i no!
Dr. Terry Shintani, a classmate of my dear friend Dr. Sneha Sood, is the creator of “The Waianae Diet,” also known as the “Shintani Diet” and the “Hawaiian Diet.” In this diet, he helped a group of people from Waianae to return to traditional eating practices. After using this diet, they were able to reduce or stop their use of many medications such as insulin.
Here is an interesting video in which he is speaking. He discusses the difference between a real health care system and the current “disease care system.”
My lunch the other day was SOOOO ono, I wanted to share it with you:
Ono low-cal lunch!
Sweet peppers stuffed with quinoa, celery sticks and peanut butter, with two slices of tofu. He piha au! Iʻm stuffed!
Aloha `oe three-choice with half-noodle-and-half-fried-rice plate lunch!
Aloha mai nā veggies!
Maybe not traditional Hawaiian, but cool, crisp, refreshing, and satisfying on a hot day.
A hui hou!
Mother Marianne Cope in her youth. Image from Wikipedia
“Beloved Mother of Outcasts”
By Leilehua Yuen copyright 2011
Saint Marianne is beloved in Hawai`i for spending the last 30 years of her life ministering at Kalawao and Kalaupapa, on the island of Molokai, to those with Hansen’s Disease (leprosy). She died on the island in 1918 at age 80 and was beatified in St. Peter’s Basilica in 2005.
Childhood
Saint Marianne, born Barbara Koob on 23 January 1838, was baptized the following day in a Catholic church in what is now SE Hessen, West Germany. She was the daughter of farmers Barbara and Peter Koob. In 1839, the family, including Barbara’s siblings, emigrated to the Utica, New York, in the United States, where they became members of St. Joseph’s Parish. In 1848, at age 10, Barbara received her First Holy Communion and was confirmed there. In the 1850s, the Koob family became naturalized citizens of the United States.
In her writings, Mother Marianne described experiencing at an early age the call to a religious life. However, her vocation was delayed nine years because of family obligations. When her father became an invalid, she was oldest child at home, so after completing the eighth grade she went to work in a factory to support the family. It was not until her younger siblings were old enough to provide for themselves that she felt free to enter the convent.
A Calling to the Serve the Sick
At age 24, in the summer of 1862 she was able to embark on her calling. Barbara entered the Sisters of Saint Francis in Syracuse, N.Y. and, on November 19, 1862, she was invested at the Church of the Assumption. She soon became prominently known as Sister Marianne. One year later she was professed as a religious.
Sister Marianne served as a teacher and principal in several beginning schools in New York State. Intending to spend her life devoted to schoolwork, she soon received a series of administrative appointments. As a member of the governing boards of her religious community, she participated during the 1860s in the establishment of two of the first hospitals in the central New York area, St. Elizabeth’s in Utica (1866) and St. Joseph’s in Syracuse (1869).
Far in advance of their time, both of the hospitals she helped found had unique charters. They were open to the sick without distinction as to a person’s nationality, religion, color, or moral character. Unlike other hospitals of the time, even alcoholics – then considered “morally debased” – were allowed to receive treatment. These two Franciscan hospitals were among the first sixty registered hospitals in the entire United States.
In 1870, a new career called her, now Mother Marianne, when she became nurse-administrator at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse. As the first hospital opened to the public in the city of Syracuse, St. Joseph’s owed much of its creation to her, as well as its survival. She became an innovator in its management in order to provide better service to patients.
Sanitation and Patient’s Rights
Mother Marianne also was instrumental in establishing standards of sanitation long before the importance of cleanliness was recognized by the scientific community. She was insistent on advocating practices such as washing one’s hands before ministering to the patients. This insistence would be critical years later when she developed patient care protocols at the hospital for the patients of Kalaupapa and Kalawao in Hawai`i.
When the College of Medicine in Geneva, N.Y. moved to the fledgling Syracuse University to become the College of Physicians and Surgeons, one significant factor in the choice of location was that Mother Marianne had accepted the medical students for clinical instruction at St. Joseph’s. Far ahead of her time in furthering patients’ rights, in her negotiations with the Medical College she insisted that it was the right of the patient in each and every case to decide whether or not he or she wished to be brought before medical students. Mother Marianne also was frequently criticized for accepting “outcast” patients such as alcoholics. Such patients were frowned upon for hospital admittance by the medical profession at the time. Because of her insistence on such reforms, Syracuse became one of the most progressive medical colleges in the United States.
Such innovative and progressive practices were to stand Mother Marianne in good stead when she was asked by the Kingdom of Hawai`i to develop a system for the care of the leprosy patients at Kalaupapa. Her experience in hospital systems, nursing techniques, and pharmacy work would prove invaluable.
A Call to Hawai`i
By 1883, Mother Marianne was Superior General in her religious community in Syracuse. While opening her mail one day, she received a letter asking for a capable leader to begin a system of hospital nursing. When she found out that the main challenge was to minister to leprosy patients, her response was, “I am not afraid of any disease….” Her devotion to Saint Francis of Assisi who cared for the sick poor confirmed her resolve that the call to Hawai`i was God’s Will.
Six sisters were chosen from among the thirty-five volunteers of her community. Mother Marianne accompanied them to the Islands to help them get settled in their assignments.
Arriving in Honolulu on 8 November 1883 aboard the SS MARIPOSA, the bells of Our Lady of Peace Cathedral rang out in greeting and crowds gathered on the wharf to see the sisters.
Much Work to be Done
In 1884, at the request of the government, she set up Malulani Hospital. It was the first general hospital on the island of Maui.
Soon, however, she was called back to the hospital in Oahu to advocate for the leprosy patients at the Branch Hospital in Kaka`ako who were subjected to abuse by the government-appointed administrator. She demanded he be dismissed, or the sisters would return to Syracuse. He was dismissed and Mother Marianne was given full charge of the overcrowded hospital. Her return to Syracuse was delayed when her leadership was declared by government and church authority to be essential to the success of the mission.
The work continued to increase. In November 1885, after she convinced the government it was a vital need to save the homeless female children of leprosy patients, the Kapiolani Home was opened. The unusual choice of location for healthy children to live in a Home situated on leprosy hospital premises was made because only the sisters were willing to care for the children of leprosy patients.
Meeting Father Damien
In January of 1884, Mother Marianne met Father Damien for the first time. He had come to O`ahu, apparently in good health, to attend a chapel dedication at the hospital she was to head.
While leprosy patients had not been sent to Kalaupapa for some time, with the1887 “Bayonet Constitution,” officials decided to close the O`ahu hospital and leprosy patients were again exiled to the Molokai peninsula. They would need a hospital there. Once again, the government of Hawai`i called on Mother Marianne.
In 1888 she notified the Hawaiian government that, “We will cheerfully accept the work…” she courageously responded upon her reception of an official appeal from government authority asking for someone to found a new home for women and girls at the Kalaupapa settlement. “Our hearts are bleeding to see them shipped off,” she wrote to Damien at Molokai.
She would finally fulfill the calling she had heard all those years ago in Syracuse. Arriving at Kalaupapa several months before Damien’s death, she consoled the dying priest by assuring him she would provide care for the patients at the Boys’ Home at Kalawao, on the opposite end of the settlement from where she was stationed.
Two weeks after Father Damien’s death on 15 April 1889, she was officially chosen at a Board of Health meeting in Honolulu to be his successor at the Boys’ Home.
After dedicating over 30 years of her life to caring for the people of Hawai`i, Mother Marianne died of natural causes on 9 August 1918.
Her compassionate care earned her the affectionate title of “beloved mother of outcasts.”
Her Legacy Continues
The legacy of Mother Marianne continues. In Syracuse and Utica, the Franciscan Sisters continue to run medical centers.
In Hawaii, the sisters are well known for founding St. Francis Hospital in 1927, which developed into two medical centers. Following the transfer of these centers to Hawaii Medical Center, in 2007, the sisters continue to have a wide ranging Health Care System shifting its focus from acute care to meeting the growing needs of Hawaii’s senior population.
At Kalaupapa, Molokai, the sisters maintain the continuity of their comforting presence to the very few Hansen Disease patients living there today. Franciscan sisters work at several schools and minister to parishioners in the islands.
But perhaps her most important legacy is the most simple – cleanliness. Farmers know that sanitation is essential for healthy animals. Through her sharp observations, Mother Marianne deduced that similar standards of cleanliness applied to hospitals could prevent the spread of disease from patient to patient.
In the days before bacteria had been discovered, Mother Marianne insisted that all nurses and physicians wash their hands between patients. She implemented standards of strict cleanliness for clothing and surfaces throughout her hospitals. As she and her sisters worked closely with the leprosy patients day after day, year after year, neither Mother Marianne, nor a single one of her nurses contracted the disease.
Mother Marianne is not only the “Beloved Mother of Outcasts,” but the mother of modern hospital nursing and patient care.
So, I thought that I would avail myself of the amazing voice recognition technology which came pre-loaded on my Apple MacBook Pro. In my fantasy, I would sit back with a nice glass of wine and tell stories to my computer, which would provide me with a document file I could later edit into scintillating stories of my island home. It was a little more challenging than that, as evidenced by the selection I have quoted below.
The editing was so challenging, I ended up simply typing in the story. (You can get it now for only 99 cents!) But I have hopes that some day my laptop will be able to understand my storytelling. And, perhaps I will learn who is the Forest CEO!
Long long ago when the world was young the gods and goddesses still walked the earth among us a beautiful young woman named Nicola then in the Shores of Poona. Her name was lehua she had a sweetheart his name was bullshit no not bullshit old heat Live were had a face is round and shining as the moon up back as straight as the poly and Harris it tumbled down like a waterfall she was beautiful indeed okay headed back OPI had a chest brawl is a canoe Armes this is the tree branches Bath Street as Evening would draw near okay I would play his nose food for her enticed by the melody the pool go outside to join him romantic walks in the forest Wednesday another woman to note on here she was goddess of the volcano she made herself as beautiful as she could and approaching invited him to join her the only and neither Saunder Burger having eyes only for link cool and ears only for Lakewood voice I leave withdrew into the forest another day when I’ll be on label off were out walking I Approached him making herself even more beautiful Holy off that mortal creature in my anything you desire I am phone to leave for she is my bride my love could not live without her so if would do nothing for me to have anything else I want but she is all that I desire Nicholas Kelly skin down low anger Rage she stands here began to tremble just don’t forget about who’s the crap you leave behind coming to me what You refuse the love of losing atomic clocks began to flow towards or he’ll leave her behind and come to me and I shall see if you’ve a lot oh he I simply hopefully for most self but he is simply a health leave for all the tight as lava began around on his legs label up and held her of burning cake only help hire small spirits of the Forest CEO is in the mighty days gathered around week and sorrow over what was happening to the stencil couple thing new they could not withstand hello they could not contradict and get this I need to do something to save to gathered together thanks nothing Steven phone is turning arms in his leg stiff and body stiffened he looked up to leave well before was completely turned into a tree’s over there and his witty arm has he had his last of the first summit change is a beautiful blossom that he carried to this day
Ok, Iʻm finally going to write it. I am NOT OK with the “hula-hula girl” costume.
“Halloween as a holiday has a history of being focused on inversion of power,” says professor Susan Scafidi of Fordham University. She is the author of Who Owns Culture: Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law. “It’s about turning the daily world on its head.” People dress up as celebrities, cops, politicians, and other powerful figures, and it’s funny! But when you dress up as a culture that you are currently oppressing, or have subjugated in the past, you’re not inverting anything, you’re just kicking them when they are down — or, as Scafidi says, “reinforcing current power structures in an offensive way.”
So, you realllllllly like hula, and you reallllllllly want to be a hula dancer for Halloween. Here is my suggestion. Learn something. This applies not only to hula dancers, but to any “ethnic” costume.
Let’s look at the word “costume.” Generally speaking, a costume is what you put on when you pretend to be someone or something other than who or what you are. When I dance hula, I am not in a costume. I am wearing regalia.
“Hula is like a breath of life exquisitely embodied and expressed in patterns of movement and sound.” Image by Kaleo Wheeler.
“Regalia” is special attire you wear for a specific purpose. Hula comes from a sacred source. Hula regalia, like the regalia of a minister or priest, is not used for common, everyday things. It is reserved for special, even sacred, occasions.
A generic costume, based on stereotypes of ethnicity, is inappropriate. The “Hulahula Girl,” the “Drunken Irishman,” the “China Doll,” all portray people from the viewpoint of the top of the power structure.
Instead, opportunities for learning and growth can come when a person finds an exemplary individual and chooses to portray that person. Take Back Halloween! is a wonderful website with great suggestions!
In short: Halloween (All Hallows Eve) is the eve (evening before) All Hallows Day (aka All Saints Day). Many old traditional calendars (the Hawaiian and Jewish among them) begin the new day at dusk, not midnight. We still remember this tradition in the celebration of Christmas Eve and Halloween.
Many years ago Halloween, Samhain, and Calan Gaeaf, were conflated. In earlier times, people dressed as Aos Sí (later deemed demons, goblins, etc. by the Christian church), and went about from dusk collecting offerings. The offerings were given in hopes of a safe passage through the dangers of winter. After the conflation, the costumes began to evolve.
Up into the early 20th Century, ghoulish and generally creepy costumes were the norm. Soon, in the US, costumes included Indians, Romini, and other marginalized people who were demonized by the dominant culture. By the mid-20th Century, costumes started including cartoon characters from the new-fangled TV shows.
Today, Halloween costumes are pretty much “anything goes.” But we CAN improve public discourse and dialog through our costumes, and still have fun!
Have a happy and safe All Hallows Eve!
Kumu Leilehua
Welcome to the new format for the oldest continuously published Native Hawaiian website on the internet! We are editing and updating our hundreds of pages, so it will take a while, but we look forward to being optimized for all of the new gadgets out there so that we can bring you our favorite stories, articles, and information!
