Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 12, 1 Kekemapa 1988 — He Mau Nīnau Ola [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

He Mau Nīnau Ola

Some Health Questions by Kekuni Blaisdell, M.D.

TARO AS KANE AND HIAPO OF HALOA

Ninau: What is this about kalo being a kinolau of Kāne and the hiapo of Hāloa, the first kanaka maoli and eommon ancestor of all the Hawaiian people? How eome I was not taught this at the Kamehameha Schools? Pane: The Pane to your second ninau,

why you were not taught these mau mea ko'iko'i (important things) at Kula Kamehameha, will need to be given by an appropriate Kula Kamehameha official. As to your nlnau mau (first question), the term kinolau refers to the metaphors or forms of a god. Pēlā, Kāne is identified not only as kalo, but as mai'a (banana), kō (sugar eane), 'ohe (bamboo), 'awa (kava), 'ama'ama (mullet), ka lā (the sun), ao (light), kauila (lightning), fresh water, and male procreative power. I kahiko loa (in ancient times) as well as i kēia wā (today), when we kānaka maoli eat kalo as ke kalo (corm), or as poi, or the leaf as lū'au, we eat Kāne. In so doing, we acquire the mana of this great god. Pēlā, we become godly. As kānaka maoli, our close relationship to taro also may be found in what Kawena Pūku'i called "probably the most fundamental and most important item of Hawaiian literature that has yet been written." References to this epie are found in He Kumulif>o (the 2,102-line chant, thought to have been composed circa 1700) and the writings of Ni'ihau, continued from page 21 I expect that OHA will formalize the Ni'ihau position as its own position, and this trustee will advocate for them, "Leave them alone!" However, it is hoped that future meetings with the people from Ni'ihau will help bring them into full participation and communication with OHA and that OHA will be able to interact with them, as it tries to do with all our people. Some time down the road, though, the question of the present ownership of the two kuleana originally granted to Koa Kanu and Papapa may have to be answered. If either or both of them have no surviving descendants, their kuleana will pass to OHA under the Kuleana Escheat Law that OHA introduced in the Legislature at my suggestion in 1987. This law returns unclaimed Hawaiian kuleana to OHA for the benefit of all Hawaiians. OHA's other possible involvement is that 20 percent of the ineome from mineral royalties, if any, would go to OHA as part of the ceded lands' ineome. And so, even if the island of Ni'ihau continues to be veiled in mystery and intrigue to many, the Hawaiians who live there are real and their concerns will be defended by OHA.