Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 3, 1 March 1987 — Kaniakapupu and Restoration Day [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kaniakapupu and Restoration Day

By Clarence F.T. Ching Trustee, O'ahu

I must first thank those of you who supported me in the recent elections and repledge to you and all other Hawaiians that I will seriously and conscientiously do everything in my power to fulfill the obligations I undertook when I was administered the oath of office. It is with a kind of

conflicting pride that I celebrate Ho'olako 1987 — the Year of the Hawaiian. While this is going on, our people continue to suffer from high rates of infant mortality, diseases such as cancer, heart disease, institutionalization (prisons, mental hospitals, etc.) and malnutrition. And, in spite of all of our problems, there is an optimism that things are coming together. Why is it that this year is the Year of the Hawaiian and not some other year? Why is it that the Year of the Hawaiian must end when 1987 ends? Why can't it eontinue as the Time of the Hawaiian? Hopefully, in the future, 1987 will be looked at as the year when Hawaiian things eame together, when we emerged from backstage to become a self-determining and self-governing people — a major force in this state. Everything Hawaiian that is good must and ean be restored. It was on July 31, 1843, that Admiral Richard Thomas, on the plain between Honolulu town and Waikiki (now called Thomas Square), hauled down the Union Jack and hoisted the Hawaiian flag, thus restoring the monarchy. And on the same afternoon, King Kamehameha III led a procession from the site of the flag ceremony to Kawaiahao Church where he proclaimed "Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono." Restoration Day became the most important of Hawaiian holidavs.

īn 1847, on the fourth anniversary of Restoration Day, the major celebration took plaee at Kaniakapupu, the King's Summer Palaee in Nu'uanu. The day began with the royal procession that moved up Nu'uanu Avenue from downtown and included 300 infantrymen, the King and his Queen, Kalamā, many dignitaries, 1,000

horsewomen and 2,500 horsemen. What a parade! The luau held at Kaniakapupu for 10,000 people must have been a very successful anniversary of that important day. In the wake of the present debate for a new state holiday based on the birthdate of Martin Luther King Jr., my suggestion is that Restoration Day be revived and that we Hawaiians celebrate it as our national holiday. Some may ask, why do this when Kuhio Day and Kamehameha Day are already Hawaiian holidays? And what about all of the other holidays?

i You may be aware that a Constitutional Convention of the nation of Hawai'i is taking plaee among a group of Hawaiians and if the people accept this "new-old" nation of Hawai'i, there will need to be "new-old" Hawaiian symbols that must accompany the process. We must have a flag, national anthem, seal and motto. The

State of Hawai'i may already be doing us a favor by proclaiming our symbols in the form of its state flag, state seal, state song and state motto. Most non-Hawaiians, and a lot of Hawaiians, don't even realize the gravity of what they are uttering when they sing Hawai'i Ponoi, or when they repeat the motto given us by King Kamehameha III. We sometimes even fail to note the fundamental, almost sacred connotations of the motto. One of the activities that I am involved in during my non-OHA life is being chair of Malama Kaniakapupu — a committee that was organized to preserve Kaniakapupu. To me and a few others, Kaniakapupu, whieh sits on ceded lands, whose walls have been invaded by foreign (exotic) trees, and grossly neglected by the State of Hawaii that supposedly administers ceded lands, is a symbol for present day Hawai'i. The foreigners have eome with their greed, diseases and fast foods and have caused a great pilikia for us. Remember when Hawaiians just laid down and died because they did not want to continue to eope with the invader?

Malama Kaniakapupu nas plans to rid the area ot many of the exotic trees and to replace them with native trees and shrubs — a Hawaiian forest. The remaining walls will be stabilized, maybe even restored. Archaeological surveys will be done to answer a lot of questions and to preserve the information for posterity. Attempts will be made to restore the endangered tree snails (pupu), from whieh Kaniakapupu gets its name. And as one kupuna (Homer Hayes) said, Kaniakapupu should be a pa — a gathering plaee for Hawaiians — because of the wonderful feeling of time and space that one ean experience there. There seems to be a kind of time warp at Kaniakapupu where some have "experienced" the mana of those who have lingered there before and it seems that the echoes of that luau of 1847 ean still be heard in the distance. Kaniakapupu ean be, and should be, one of the important symbols of the nation of Hawai'i and Restoration Day (July 31)canbecomeourfirst national holiday. I ean see the day when thousands of Hawaiians and others will congregate at Thomas Square (a plaee that is more than just a city park) to celebrate a re-enactment of Admiral Thomas' flag ceremony. It would be our Independence Day. For the last two years, I have been at Thomas Square with other Hawaiians on July 31. I will be there again this year.

Office of Hawaiian Affairs Oahu Trustee Clarence F. T. Ching looks at a section of the remaining walls at Kaniakapupu. Mounted plaque gives brief description.