Eia noho nei 'o Kamapua'a, ke kupua pua'a o Hawai'i. He luana iki keia i ka hakaka mau 'ana ia Pele, ke akua ahi, ka wahine 'ai honua, ke akua o na pohaku 'ena'ena. I Ka'uku ka ma'ukele, ma'o loa aku o na moku 'o Puna me Ka'u. Aia no ma Kilauea ke ahi a'a mau loa o Pele. I ke kaua 'ana mai o Kamapua'a (ke akua o ke ao, o ka ua, a me ka nahelehele no ia) me Pele (ke akua welawela, akua pulupulu ahi), ua ne'e hope 'o ua pua'a nei i ka nahele o Ka'uku ma Hilo, ka moku ko'olau. Huhu loa na'e 'o Pele i kona kauholo aku, lele 'o ia i kahi o Kamapua'a, a 'o ka ho'opuka aku la no ia o na pu'u ahi ma ko Kamapua'a 'aina uluwehi. He kupaianaha no ka ho'i. No laila, eia 'o Kamapua'a, ke noho nei me ka mana nui a ka launa'ole, puni ho'i i kona mau kinolau: 'o ia no 'o ka puna wai o kona pa la'au, na 'ama'u, a me ka ua. Aia na'e 'o Pele ma hope ona, e ho'oku pu'u ahi ana i ko ia ala hahai 'ana mai i Ka'uku!  

'O ka po'o'olelo o nei ki'i palaka ke kahea o ke mele hula no Pele a me Kamapua'a. Ua ha'i 'ia mai la ke mele e pili ana i ko Ka'uku mau pu'u ahi i ho'okumu no ke kaua kaulana o Pele laua me Kamapua'a.

me ke aloha

Sam 'Ohukani'ohi'a Gon III

Here sits Kamapua'a, the Hawaiian pig god, pausing for a moment in his conflicts with Pele, hot-blooded goddess of volcanoes. At Ka'uku on the island of Hawai'i were stands of lush rainforest, far from the districts of Puna and Ka'u, eternal fire realm of Pele at Kilauea. In the battles between Kamapua'a, embodying clouds, rain, and lush vegetative growth, and Pele, embodying volcanic power, the pig god retreated to the rainforests of Ka'uku, in the northern, windward district of Hilo, but so hot was Pele's wrath that she pursued, despite being out of her realm, and cinder cones emerged in that lush land. So here again is Kamapua'a, sitting confident among his kinolau (physical manifestations of his mana): springs flowing from the pounding of his war club, ama'u ferns, and rain. Behind comes Pele, raising the cinder cones of Ka'uku in her hot pursuit!

The title of this print is the kahea, or opening call, from a chant in honor of Pele and Kamapua'a, telling the story of the cinder cones of Ka'uku born of the renowned conflict between Pele and Kamapua'a.

with aloha,

Sam 'Ohukani'ohi'a Gon III

He kanikau aloha nou, e Kawika

I ka wao mokihana i hanu lipo

Mapu ka hanu o ka laua'e

Mapu noe ka poli o ka wai aloha

Aloha i ke kapa ?ehu kai

Huki palai, huki, lohe, noi kahuna

Noe mai la ka lehua makanoe

Noe ka lehua makanoe

Noe wiwo'?ole i ke anu

Anu i ke ala kipapa ola e

Anu i ka papa noe Po'ai'ai

'Ai kepa no ka na'au e ku'u hoa

Kau kepakepa mehe manu, ka ua

E puku'i kaua i ke ko'eko'e

E ue ka welina e ku'u hoa

Ku'u hoa i ka 'opu halau

Ku'u hoa i ka maka halana

Ku'u hoa i ka 'imi na'auao

No'eau ho'i i ka nuku manu

Ku'u hoa i ka leo 'elepaio

Ku'u hoa i ka punana puaiohi

I ke ala waiho'olu'u o Kawaikoi

Ku'u hoa i ka pi'ina Wai'alae

A hiki i ka papa 'auwai 'ale'ale

Ku'u hoa i ka ua loku a'o Hanalei

Ka'alokuloku i ka ua, ka 'ino

Aue! Aue, e ku'u hoa e!

Aia paha 'oe i Pihea, hili

A Nohili i ke one 'aoa 'ilio

I ka nuku Ka'ala i ka poli o Kaiona

Ki'ei, halo i ka lae o Ka'ena

Maka'ika'i i ke komo 'apana

I na wahi pana i aloha 'ia

E pa'i i na ki'i o ka nani o ka 'aina

I ka 'aina aloha 'ia hoapili 'oe

He hoapili 'oe, mau a mau

A kanikau of aloha for you o David

In the realm of mokihana's deep fragrance

Wafted is the fragrance of the laua'e

Wafted like mist the essence of the beloved water

Beloved in the garment of sea spray

Drawing concealment, listening, inquiring intently

The lehua makanoe brings mist

Mist-covered (is) the lehua makanoe

Mist unafraid of the cold

Cold in the pathway of life

Cold on the flats in the Po 'ai'ai mist

So torn am I within, o my friend

The rain flies crosswise, like a bird

Let's embrace in the drenched cold

And wail our greetings o my friend

My friend of generous spirit

My friend of the face of hope

My friend in the seeking of knowledge

So skilled among the beaks of the birds

My friend of the voice of the 'elepaio

My friend at the nest of the puaiohi

On the tinted water course of Kawaikoi

My friend climbing the ridge of Wai'alae

Arriving at the water-channeled plateau brimming

My friend in the pouring rain of Hanalei

Pressing on through the rain, the storm

Alas! Alas o my friend!

Perhaps you are wandering at Pihea

At Nohili on the barking dog sands

At Ka'ala summit in the bosom of Kaiona

Looking toward the western tip of Ka'ena

Visiting on familiar rounds

To the fabled places so beloved

To capture the images of the beauty of the land

With the beloved land, joined you are

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and days of auld lang syne ? [old times long past]

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp! [buy your pint-cup]
And surely I'll be mine !
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We twa hae run about the braes, [we two have run about the hills]
and pou'd the gowans fine ; [and picked the fine gowan flowers]
But we've wander'd mony a weary fit, [many a weary foot]
sin' auld lang syne. [since old times long past]

CHORUS

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn, [We two have paddled in the stream]
frae morning sun till dine ; [from morning sun til dinnertime]
But seas between us braid hae roar'd [broad have roared]
sin' auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere ! [trusty friend]
And gies a hand o' thine ! [give a hand of yours]
And we'll tak a right gude-willie-waught, [proper goodwill drink]
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

You are The Magician

Skill, wisdom, adaptation. Craft, cunning, depending on dignity.

Eloquent and charismatic -- both verbally and in writing, 
you are clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.

The Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud. He represents the gift of tongues, also clever with the hand, and a medicine man - perhaps even a real doctor.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Here is an oli dedicated to Lono, presented during the Makahiki. My favorite line in this one is "Amoamo ke akua laau nui o Lono!" (Resplendent is the great wooden image of Lono!) As we see in the image below, when the great staff of Lono was up, the people are prepared for wildness and games of skill and strength.

[Kahuna:]

Ou kino e Lono i ka lani

He ao loa, he ao poko

He ao kiei, he ao halo

He ao ho'opua i ka lani

Mai Uliuli, mai Melemele

Mai Polapola, mai Ha'eha'e

Mai 'Oma'oku'ululu

Mai ka 'aina o Lono

'Oi ho'oku'i aku o Lono

Ka hoku e miha i ka lani

Amoamo ke akua la'au nui o Lono

Ku'iku'i papa ka lua mai Kahiki

Hapaina, kuka'a i ka hau miki no Lono

[People:]

Hiu!

[Kahuna:]             [People:]

'O Lono                Ke akua la'au

[Kahuna:]             [People:]

[Priest:]

Your bodies O Lono in the heavens

A long cloud, a short cloud

A watchful cloud, a peering cloud

An overlooking cloud in the heavens

From Uliuli, from Melemele

From Polapola, from Ha'eha'e

From 'oma'oku'ululu

From the land of Lono

Ah! Lono places on high

The star that sails in the heavens.

Resplendent is the great wooden image of Lono.

Linking the two [dynasties] from Kahiki.

Lifted, purified in the essence of Lono

[People:]

Go wild!

[Kahuna:]             [People:]

Oh Lono!              The wooden god–image

[Kahuna:]             [People:]

Kualonopo'ouli

'O ka po'ouli ka manu kaka'ikahi loa o Maui. Mali'a paha ma kahi o ewalu wale no po'ouli i koe ma Maui i ka manawa a makou i 'ike mua ai i ia mau manu (i ka makahiki 1988). Ua hele 'o makou kamahele i uka o Hanawi, kahi kuahiwi ho'i, a he pulupe mau 'o luna.

I loa no a ho'olohe ka makou mau pepeiao, ua lohe makou i ka leo po'ouli, pe'e 'ia i ka nahelehele.

'Aka, 'a'ole hiki ia makou i 'ike ai i ia manu, a ua nalowale honua akula na leo. He nani ia ua lohe 'ia na po'ouli mai luna loa o ke kualono, 'o ko makou uhaele iho no ia i ka 'oawa nahelehele.

He 'emo'ole, lohe 'ia hou i ka leo po'ouli, a ma ke ka'uka'u lua 'ole iho, 'o'ili mai ka manu po'ouli ia'u.  "He po'ouli ka! E 'ike mai 'oukou!"  'A'ole i li'uli'u, 'ike 'ia ka holo kiki 'ana mai o ko'u mau hoahele io'u. Kuhikuhi au i ko'u lima me he mea ala e ho'ike i kahi i haka ai ka po'ouli, a ua nana pono makou a pau i ka manu kaka'ikahi loa aku paha i ka honua.

I ke ao 'ana a'e, 'imi hou makou, he 'imi loloa, a po ke ao, 'aka, 'a'ohe na manu po'ouli. Ua ho'i makou makai a ho'ea hou i kauhale. A pela no i hea 'ia ai kela wahi uka o Hanawi, 'o Kualonopo'ouli.

Translation: The po'ouli is the rarest bird of Maui. Perhaps only around eight po'ouli were left on Maui at the time we first saw these birds (in 1988). We inventory folks went upland of Hanawi, into the mountains indeed, soaking wet above. No sooner did we listen, when we heard the po'ouli call, hidden in the shrubs. However, we weren't able to see the bird, and the voice immediately was lost. Though the po'ouli were heard from the ridgetop, we went down into the shrubby gulch. Not long after, the po'ouli call was heard again, and quickly the po'ouli bird appeared to me. "A po'ouli! Everyone look!" It wasn't long before my friends were seen rushing toward me. My hand was pointing to indicate the place where the po'ouli was perching, and we all got a good look at what might be the rarest bird on earth. The next day, we searched again, a long search, until dusk, but no po'ouli was had. We returned seaward until we arrived at the town. And for that reason, that upland place in Hanawi is called Po'ouli Ridge.

-------------------------

AFTERNOTE: Years later, the story of the Po'ouli seems destined for a sad end, as perhaps only two birds, both female, are left in 2006. With no chance of mating, the bird is effectively extinct. Yet the call of the Po'ouli will remain in my memory forever. This is a shared memory of a time only a few years ago when there seemed to be more hope for this bird, discovered only in 1971, and named by Tutu Mary Kawena Puku'i for its dark head markings (and for the kaona of its deep forest habitat).

Mai ka wekiu a ke kai hohonu
From the summit to the deep sea

Ho'olono i ka wa o ka moana
Can be heard the sound of the ocean

He moana pi'i nalu po'i a muku
A peaking ocean, waves crest-breaking

Mea 'ole no ke kamahele i ke kai
It is nothing to the traveler of the sea
 

'O ka u'i 'olino i ka ehuehu
A stalwart bright with vitality

Ehu wai aloha ka i kono ai
Revived by water of aloha that urges

'O wai no ia, ka i hiki mai?
Who is this then that has arrived?
 

'O Kau'ikonoakealoha
Kau'ikonoakealoha
 

E o mai
Give answer

He inoa no Kau'ikonoakealoha
A name chant for Kau'ikonoakealoha

Water of Käne, Water of Lono

Käne (and his brother Kanaloa) were the traditional creators of freshwater springs in Hawai'i. At the urging of Kanaloa (who needed the water to assuage his thirst for 'awa), a thrust of the spear of Käne into the ground would immediately be followed by a gush of pure freshwater in the form of a punawai, a freshwater spring. Such springs attributed to Käne and Kanaloa are found throughout the islands, the spring at Punahou being perhaps one of the more famous. It is no accident that the two major crops associated with springs, streams and wet valleys, kalo (taro) and 'awa, are both sacred manifestations of Käne.

The strong association of the god Käne to kalo was the basis for a strict gender association: only men could work the kalo fields. Similarly, 'awa was considered a drink primarily for men, both as a therapeutic treatment for sore muscles, and for ritual use dedicated to family 'aumakua (guardian ancestors). 'Awa was one of the preferred offerings to 'aumakua on a daily basis. One recorded chant, meant for presentation by the male head of the family in the pre-dawn morning demonstrates this clearly:

E ala ua ao, ua malamalama              
Arise, it is day, brightening

Ua hele kanaka aia i luna                   
People are moving there above

…

Nau i hoai kau pu'awa                     
It is my task to prepare your 'awa

Pu'awa uli, pu'awa kea                   
dark 'awa, light 'awa

Moa kane, moa wahine                   
a rooster, and a hen

…

Mai kahikiku a kahikimoe               
from the zenith, from the horizon

Mai Kahiki-kapakapa-ua e Käne   
from Kahiki-kapakapa-ua, O Kane

Eia ma ka pule ka waioha              
Here in this prayer is the earnest

Kanaenae ia 'oe e ke akua, e ola no e! 
supplication to you o god: grant life!

In contrast, Lono was seen as the god of the winter rains, and presided over the seasonal cultivation of uala (sweet potato) and ipu (gourd) in the drier arable lands. The season of Lono is ho'oilo, the Hawaiian "winter" or wet season, and is marked by the Makahiki, the start of the traditional Hawaiian year. Only during this time of year was cultivation of the rain-dependant crops of the drylands possible, and sometimes the window for cultivation was very narrow. Extreme measures for the capture and holding of limited winter rainfall in the ground was practiced. Labor-intensive mulching of the ground surface with leaf litter (or even rocks if leaf litter was lacking) was practiced, and with every impending rain, the mulch would be moved aside to allow the raindrops to strike the earth and be absorbed, then quickly replaced to hold the moisture in. In this way, even so very arid areas could be made to support life.

So important were these rains that heiau dedicated to the generation of rain and to careful observations of the heavens and weather patterns were to be found in these regions. These heiau ho'oulu ua (temples to generate rain) were the sites at which kahuna could evoke rain in famine times, as recorded in these lines from a chant to Lono that not only call rain, but demonstrate the direct link of rain to uala:

Ulu nakaka kawahawaha ka honua                  
Spreading shaking fissures in the land

Ulu ka 'ai hapu'u, e Lono                                
Growing is the edible tree-fern, O Lono

'Ohi malo'o kupukupu                         
Gathering dried kupukupu fern

'Ohi a'a na 'uala o na pali                                
Gathering roots of sweet potatoes of the cliffs

Pali ku kawahawaha ka ua                               
Steep cliff that furrows the rain

Ka ua ha'ule mai                                              
The rain that falls hither

Ha'ule lani ka 'uala...                                          
Sweet potatos fall from heaven...

Thus the waters of the earth and of the sky were acknowledged as the source of sustenance of life in ancient Hawai'i. As the gift of gods, water was not considered a commodity to be bought or owned, but a profoundly sacred part of the natural/supernatural landscape in which people and all other living things resided. Whether a mahi'ai (farmer) was from the lush wet valleys in which kalo was grown, or from the drier leeward areas where uala was the main staple, both looked to Käne and Lono as the prinicipal duo tied to water:

E Kane! E Lono! Na akua mahi'ai
Ho'ola i ka 'aina
A poho ka 'ai
A ulu kupukupu
A ulu lau po'o'ole
A 'o ka nui ia o ka 'ai
Au, e Kane a me Lono
'Amama, ua noa

O Käne! O Lono! Gods of the farmer
Bring life to the land
Until surfeit is the vegetable-food
Until growth sprouts-exceedingly
Until the growth of leaves is endless
Until there is plenty of vegetable-food
Yours to grant, o Käne and Lono
Completed, the prayer is freed

FOR MORE INFORMATION: There is a wealth of traditional knowledge and practice recorded in the 1972 book "Native Planters in Old Hawai'i: Their Life, Lore, and Environment" by E. S. Craighill Handy and Elizabeth Green Handy, in collaboration with Mary Kawena Puku'i. Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum Bulletin 233.

Please Do Not Feed the (Hawaiian) Bears!

They exist somewhere between the small and very small and you probably have been feeding them!

When you go hiking in a mossy forest in Hawaii, you might not ever notice that you are surrounded by bears -- native Hawaiian bears. Even if you take a hike through the cinder desert floor of Haleakala you would not escape them, although they would almost certainly escape you. What kind of bears are these?

They are waterbears, in the phylum Tardigrada. What do they look like? Imagine a blimp-like, armor-plated, extraterrestrial bear with eight plump legs, each ending with long, curved claws. Where its head would be, there is an eyeless snout. They are quite bizarre in appearance, and they represent an obscure but important group of animals that are referred to as meiofauna.

When we think of animals, we usually first think of macrofauna (macro = large, fauna = animals): the io (Hawaiian hawk) soaring over us in Kohala, the naia (dolphin) riding the bow-wave of  double-hulled Hawaiiloa off the leeward coast. Scientists will quickly point out that there is a huge unseen world of microfauna – animals too small to be seen with the naked eye. These also receive some press, since microorganisms of various kinds can cause disease. So we pay attention to the Leptospirosis warning signs along some of our more urban streams, or wonder if our fast-food lunch was cooked well enough to kill the E. coli it might otherwise harbor.

But between the macrofauna and the microfauna is a third category: the meiofauna.  These are animals that can be seen with the naked eye – barely! The term meio is derived from the Greek meion, meaning "smaller," and so are aptly described as "smaller" than macrofauna. Meiofauna are defined as small invertebrates, such as those found in the interstices between sand grains. Some meiofauna experts are quite specific about what they consider meiofauna (vs. microfauna or macrofauna). One definition requires that a meiofaunal animal's maximum width be 1 mm and that it be retained on a mesh size of 42 micrometers.

The majority of meiofauna species live in marine habitats, and many are known to live between the grains of sand at the beach.  While it might be an unsettling thought to consider that thousands of species of living things are infesting our beaches, the reality is that these creatures help keep the beaches clean, since they are largely detritivores, consuming organic remains and pollution that constantly washes in from the ocean, or is produced by humans and animals on the shore. They also provide food for the many small fish and other organisms of the shoreline, providing one of the lowest and therefore fundamentally important levels of the food chain.

Waterbears are one of the prime constituents of the meiofauna, and are found everywhere from the sea floor to alpine deserts. In the cinder deserts of Haleakala, for example, dry Rhacomitrium mosses form a gray fringe between the larger boulders of 'a'a. Within those mosses live over 30 different species of waterbears. When the moss is wet, some of the waterbears feed on the moss, piercing the cells with the snouts and sucking the contents. Others are predators, preying on small invert­e­brates, piercing and sucking the fluids of their victims.

When conditions are dry, some waterbears do an amazing thing: they also dry up, but they enter a state of suspended animation called anhydrobiosis (literally: living without water). They are contracted into a nearly dehydrated state, and they can persist this way for months or years, resisting extremely low temperatures and other harsh conditions. One can hardly think of a state more conducive to surviving a long voyage in the cold upper atmosphere. Haleakala's waterbears probably arrived through the jet stream, swept up there from some other cold dry desert.

Over 500 species of waterbears has been described from all over the world, but over half of these are marine species, found between grains of sand at the shore. Haleakala's 30+ species represents over 10% of the world's terrestrial waterbear fauna, making Haleakala the most waterbear-rich site yet found on the planet. Lucky you live Hawaii!

PAU

For more information on waterbears and meiofauna, there are a number of interesting sites on the WWW. Did you ever imaging there might be a MEIOFAUNA HOME PAGE?! Yes indeed, and it is maintained by The International Association of Meiobenthologists. Before venturing there, though, you may start with a visit to the "Waterbear Appreciation Headquarters" at http://www.q7.com/~vvv/tardigrade/

Kahoolawe, the kino (physical form) of Kanaloa, is both a symbol of the abuse of human actions as well as the great potential for healing and cultural resurrection. The island has gone from an overgrazed sheep and cattle ranch, to a bombarded target for everything short of atomics in the US military arsenal, to a site of unprecedented expense in cleanup of dangerous unexploded ordnance (which demonstrated how poorly such cleanups meet the promise of rehabilitation), to a site dedicated to restoration of both the natural and cultural life of the island.

I have been to the island many times, sometimes with camera, notepads, and biodiversity checklists, and at others with malo, kihei, and hookupu, to contribute to both the science of its natural restoration, as well as participate in its spiritual and cultural rebuilding. Part of my being is not awakened unless I am physically back on the island. It is the power of wahi pana on the spirit, and it touches any who are not completely lost to such things.

Here is a tidbit from Bishop Museum archives on Kahoolawe:

"When J.F.G. Stokes visited Kahoolawe in 1913, he found a fishing shelter and a shrine at the base of a sea cliff on Kamohio Bay. On one of the terraces in the Kamohio Bay shrine was a fence of wooden sticks, behind which stood a wooden image and several upright, waterworn akua stones. In front of these and on adjoining terraces were forty-seven bundle offerings, a unique find in Hawaiian archaeology. These bundles, wrapped in kapa cloth, contained a variety of items enumerated in a subsequent report made by another archeologist years later. Among them were plants (awa,  kukui nuts, lehua leaves, ferns, maile), fishbones, feathers, artifacts (fishhooks, octopus lures, coral files), seashells, pieces of coral, and other materials. Similar bundle offerings were probably made at other fishing shrines throughout the islands but were not preserved in the usual exposed, open-site conditions. This site also yielded several unique, carved, sea-urchin spine images."

Of those spines, only one was complete (above), with detailed head features. I have seen this finely carved spine, and the three others found with it, only roughly carved in comparison, with no facial details. Because this kind of carved spine has to date only been found on Kahoolawe, it became for me a symbol of my connection with this island, and my dedication to the recovery of its native ecosystems, and its role as a natural and cultural reserve.  I began working with spines to learn how the material behaved when carved, and then how to shape them into individuals such as Stokes encountered at Kamohio.

I share some of these individuals with you here:

Each of them has a name, from left to right: Ku-moo-wai-a-Kealialalo (Ku moo-water-of-Kealialalo), Ku-i-ka-lae-o-ka-ule (Ku at the point of Ka-ule), Ku-kilo-lua-i-Kamohio (Ku-double-sentry-at-Kamohio), Ku-i-ke-ana-a-Kanaloa (Ku-in-the-cavern-of-Kanaloa), Ku-lealea-konane (Ku-enjoying-konane), Lono-i-ke-ao-huelo-loa (Lono-in-the-long-tailed-cloud), and Ku-i-ke-ao-popolo-hua-mea (Ku-in-the-black-red-cloud). 

OLI ALOHA

Mai Puu Ohelo ka Maunaiheleia
From Puu Ohelo blows the Maunaiheleia wind

Kaa huli, kaawili i ke alo ao Lapamoku
Turning and swirling on the face of Lapamoku

Pa hamohamo eulu i ka ulu lama
Brushing the canopy of the lama trees

I ka uka kilo moana o Kainalu e
In the uplands of Kainalu overlooking the sea

A he aina hooulu i ke kuauli
A land on which to grow dense forest

He lei kulaiwi i ka poohiwi o Makekao
A native-made lei adorning the shoulders of Makekao

Me he ua kilihune, kalana ehu lehua
Like misty rain the floating lehua seeds

Alana hoola, niho peku, e ulu e
Healing offering, sprouting vigorously, growing

Ulu pooole na akoakoa ao ka manae
Vigorously growing are the coral buds of the east end

Kiai ia e na laau kula ao Pauwalu
Guarded by the trees on the kula of Pauwalu

Ku mai Puu Mano, he niuhi
There stands Puu Mano, a tiger shark

Akua hanai ia ma Ipukaiole e
Shark god tended to at Ipuka iole

Kikaha ka iwa i ke ale moana
The iwa soars long on the winds of the open sea

Hu lea ka ikena i hoike ia
Excitement comes at the sight, for what is revealed

I ka nahele noe i ke kulihi loa
In the cloudy forests of the great dividing range

Loaa ka makana o ka imi loloa e
Found is the object of the long searching

Loaa ka leho lei la i ka hee
Found is the cherished cowry by the octopus

Milikaa ke awe i ka mea ui
The tentacle caresses the beautiful shell

Na ke aloha e kono e hui olua
Love demands that you two be brought together

I laila, e pili ai, a moeole ko olua po, e!
Thus, joined you must be, and sleepless indeed are the nights!

When Eric & Steph first asked whether I'd be able to oli for them at their wedding, my first thought was that it was going to be a challenge, because I felt I did not know enough about either of them. I knew Eric from work at The Nature Conservancy, but I had only a vague awareness that he had a girlfriend on Molokai that he thought the world of that she was from a kamaaina family from the manae side, at Kainalu, and that the wedding would take place on Molokai.

I told him that we should talk more about it, over lunch, and that I needed to learn more about them, more about where they were getting married, where they met, what is important to them, how they think of each other...etc.

Eric told me he'd talk to Steph about it and get back to me. What I didn't know was how rich a trove of information I'd get when they got back to me. I got a 100 years of genealogies, from Scotland to Hawaii; i got placenames and aumakua stories: Puu Ohelo, Lapamoku, Kainalu, Makekao, Pauwalu, Puu Mano, Ipukaiole. I learned that the wind of Kainalu was the Maunaiheleia, and that Puu Mano and Pauwalu allude to a story of a shark kupua. It took quite a few very enjoyable lunches!

I got very clearly a love for land and sea and a shared goal of restoring the health of the land and sea, both for their own sakes and for the good of future generations.

I learned that Eric and Stef met in Australia, in the rain forests of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, and that of the two, Eric was the more travel-prone, like a seabird on the winds of the Pacific.

I learned that Eric identified with the hee, the octopus, because in his words, they're good at fitting in, assimilating. Stef added that they are also versatile and very smart. Eric pointed out that the coral reefs of Manae are particularly good, and liked the idea that they are in better shape because the forests are more intact above.

I learned that the Dunbars spent many years ranching, but now are devoted to reforestation of the lands of Kainalu, a renewal of life for native plants. But then I learned that the wedding would take place up on the slopes of Kainalu, in sight of the native forest at the apex of the ahupuaa, but also with a view to the sea, that it would take place just mauka of Puu Mano and on the edge of  the gulch facing Lapamoku ridge. Having never been there, I had to ask several times about the setting, and I felt, being an outside wedding, it would be important to weave the setting into the chant.

After that, it was up to me to sleep on all this, and allow the ideas to come.

What emerged quickly was the Maunaiheleia wind coming down from Puu Ohelo, turning and moving along the face of Lapamoku ridge, brushing the canopies of the lama trees on the ridges of Kainalu that overlook the sea. Thus the first verse of the oli came to be, almost verbatim.

But little did I know that Maunaiheleia is Stef's inoa Hawaii, and that, with her father, she would move down the ridge from the direction of Puu Ohelo, making that verse doubly true, and mildly prophetic. So when her name was announced in full, Stephanie Fraser Maunaiheleia Dunbar, my jaw nearly dropped and I got a wave of chicken skin.

2^nd verse a land being restored to kuauli, a native lei on the shoulders of Makekao. Like fine rain the seeds of the ohia lehua float down and bring renewed life. The kaona here being the redhaired scots establishing like a red-flowered lehua tree, and after a hundred years, coming to fruition.

3^rd verse points to the sea, and the healthy growth of the coral buds of manae. And because the coral is the first living thing mentioned in the Kumulipo, using the traditional couplet out of the kumulipo, the coral is guarded by the trees on land, on the slopes of Pauwalu. Pauwalu alludes to Puu Mano, and as mano is the aumakua of Stef's family, sharks would have been cared for by her ancestors at the fishpond of Ipukaiole.

4^th verse is for Eric: the soaring bird wandering over the sea; seabirds indicate rich fishing, and cause excitement when seen, but this is kaona for the great attraction and excitement that comes over Eric when he sees his beloved. Indeed since they first met on the great dividing range, their joining has been their destiny. Stef is the great prize won after long searching.

5^th verse is pure kaona, the octopus can't resist the cowry's beauty and is caught by love's spell as he caresses the beautiful shell. The last two lines are out of traditional Hawaiian hoao chants: Aloha demands that the couple become one, therefore they must, and there will be no sleeping on the honeymoon!

So there it is, the oli aloha for Eric and Stef, given with aloha on the occasion of their wedding, honoring all the fine people and places on the slopes of Kainalu overlooking the sea. May all your fondest wishes come true!