I was lucky enough (actually I played hooky from work) to be able to attend two culturally inspiring events yesterday. The first was the HECO Grow Hawaiian Festival at the Bishop Museum. Admission was free for Hawaii residents and there were all kinds of booths highlighting endemic produce and traditional Hawaiian practitioners.
I bought that cutie on the left....
...Print making...
...Some woven items, a few I wanted to by...
My dad would have loved this booth. It was ran by the good people at Hakipu'u Learning Center.
They were allowing visitors to make their own nose flutes and pu's. A small group was gathered together practicing melodies and listening to stories of classic songs involving the nose flute. I decided to make a pu since I've always wanted one and I already have a couple of nose flutes under my dads care. The Pu was more commonly used in traditional Hawaiian life. As the Conch shell was more rare and hard to come by. It sounds almost the same and simply uses a dime shaped hole on one end and hollow opening on the other end.
On the other side of the tend was Mr. Umi. We googled him and he's a Lua master! He was with his assistant and they displaying some traditional Hawaiian tools and lua weapons. Aside from that, he had prepared materials for purchase and real time instruction to make them.
I purchased the materials to make both of these items. A Niho multi-use cutting tool(I forgot the name of it) and a swordfish dagger or A'u Pauoa. This task took all day for me although Mr. Umi guessed it should have taken about an hour. I am a very bad sander even with the use of power tools. Mr. Umi kept hawking my work. He used the illustration that most traditional tasks use the movement of Hina or Ku, and was using the wrong one. After a long day of elbow grease I completed my Niho tool at the praise of Mr. Umi. I was able to get most of the work done on my A'u Pauoa but I will need to finish the sanding and polishing on my own time.
Oh look Kaleo Paik even stopped by with her daughter and grandchildren!
I had to get help from Mr. Umi a couple of times for the stuff I wasn't confidant at like drilling the slot for the shark tooth.
...and here are the finished products...
I realized I was running out of time for the next event I had to rush off to. But not before paying a visit to the Hawaiian Hall to see some of my favorite artifacts! Hercules was the volunteer manning the entrance and we shared stories about our hand held items. He was admiring my sword like dagger and I asked him about his walking stick. He said it was actually a banyan vine. It was a late Kapuna's of his that willed it down to him after he passed...
Feels like those good old "Museum Monday" posts ey ;)
After that I jumped in the car and shot over to the pali at Kaniakapupu, Kamehameha III's Summer Palace. A fellow classmate of mine at Papa Olelo Hawaii, Kamana'o told me about it. He was hosting a gathering of seers mostly under the name of Universe Light Workers of Hawaii. They were a multicultural group of all sorts of ethnicities. Some of them mentioning such practices of Reiki and others told me of movements of the Chi. Kamana'o himself is a practicing kahu healer.
I was curious to see what would come of this gathering at Kaniakapupu. Once I arrived I got settled in the midst of the group and simply observed and took in what was going on. I was suprised and excited to realize that the guide for the day was Dr. Baron Ching. He is a kahu healer and also a caretaker of Kaniakapupu withing the ili of Honuakaha.
Dr Baron Ching is full of knowledge concerning the entire Nuuanu Valley. He was overly enthusiastic to share legends of the area leading up to the time royalty was here in the valley. When gods came and left their marks on the land. Still to be seen today. Battles of the Mu and Wa peoples. Then the coming of the heiau designed by the gods for Ali'i said to have been descended from them...
Dr. Baron Ching and Kamana'o did opening chants to ask for a welcoming entry. Both at the beginning of the path leading there and then at the actual entrance to Kaniakapupu.
Other members of the group added to the chants and prayers of entry the site and left gifts at the monument stone on the ruin's porch.
Dr. Baron Ching has been doing clean ups and actually has been replanting endemic plants associated with the area. Like this young Awa, although some visitors have been taking them before they can grow...
I'm not gonna lie when I say that some of the people on this trip had some "unconventional" vibes with appreciating this special place...
Dr. Baron Ching brought the house structure to life as he explained how all of the contemporary rulers of the island may have been to this spot at a certain point in time. Starting with Kamehameha the Great when he came and stopped here during the battle with Kalanikupule, and ending with Liliuokalani during her childhood at the royal school here. Kamehameha was said to have evoked the Mamala Hoa here and spared some of Maui's forces after their defeat at the Pali. Kamehemeha III spent the most time here. Possibly contemplating the constitutions and the Mahele. After Kauikeaoule passed at the age of 43 in 1853. The house site became dilapidated and fell to misuse as all traditional hale will do. His old bedroom would have been in the north west corner where the group is standing in the image below.
This would have been his bedroom window. Over looking the detached kitchen...
Here is the precontact edge sharpening stone found inside the separate heiau structure. It was very exciting to see Dr. Baron Ching point it out. Just like he did on the youtube video that I learned about years ago. Like I always do now when taking my own guests here myself.
The three tier stone enclosure area just Pali side of the house is supposedly a Lono Heiau for healer Kahuna. Another theory is that the flat top section could have been a lua training center used to teach Kauikeaoule Hawaiian martial arts. Lastly it was used to entertain the party of 10,000 countrymen during the celebration of Restoration Day. The pit below was dug up during Bishop Museum's 98'-99' field study of the area. It was found to be filled with plaster, coral, and then coal. It is said to have been like a natural wine cellar dug into the earth for the party...
Dr. Baron Ching had us walk further up above the Kaniakapupu structures for a short time and pointed out a cinnamon tree and had us smell the leaves....
Cinnamon
Sweet Potato
He mentioned how the whole area were ancient lo'i watered by ingenous dikes leading to Kaniakapupu from streams at the Pali. These Lo'i would be the highest elevation in the whole Pacific basin at a level of 1000ft.!
A bit more modern but still historic are Kalakaua's 1885 construction of an iron lined water line channeling water down the valley to about the area of Nuuanu Reservoir 2. Where Kalakaua had Honolulu's first hydroelectric power plant constructed to power Iolani Palace.
Dr. Baron Ching shared closing a beautiful speech of his interpretation of aloha and being "rich" by being able to give as much of yourself as possible. Because that is how to live and without asking for reward. Kamana'o offered a prayer to heal the members there metaphysically and then transferred the healing to the aina itself. all in all it was a beautiful day with a whole bunch of people that opened my eyes and mind to some new aspects in life.
Dr. Baron Ching even gave me a ride home after and we had a nice conversation of other Wahi Pana in the area. Which I will soon be following up on. Aloha!
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