by Lucia Tarallo, copyright 2019
…Ke Koa…The Warrior…”During the months of warfare, aside from the Pu’ali, all able bodied Ali’i males, dabbling in the usage of weaponry from childhood, willingly filled the ranks of warriors when called. The professional Koa, whose primary meaning translates into “brave, bold and fearless,” were products of a well-oiled military might evolving beyond any modern preconception of stone-age capabilities. Contrary to the popular belief that island folk led an idyllic and peaceful lifestyle invariably filled with aloha, the ability to make war, paomoni, had escalated from what appears to be a near peaceful sixteenth century calm to one whose island rituals were then dominated by constant conflict over territories; usurpation providing the privilege. As time neared the turn of yet another millennium, war had intensified to a pitch that insured a genocide so pernicious that it left the door open in 1819 to a political coup that fostered a completely altered image among future historians of the Ali’i Mo’i Kane’s original reason for being.” ~Lucia Tarallo, Sons of Wakea: Men of Ancient Hawai’i…Drawing by Rocky K. Jensen…
Lucia Tarallo is an historian and artist with a focus on pre-European-contact Hawaiian culture.