Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 10, 1 ʻOkakopa 1989 — Nā iwi o ke kino (the bones): Mokuna ʻEha (Part IV): Malama vs.Hoʻohana [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Nā iwi o ke kino (the bones): Mokuna ʻEha (Part IV): Malama vs.Hoʻohana

Ninau: Why are you Hawaiians so upset over the unearthing and scientific study of bones buried so long ago that they cannot be individually identified? After all, did not your ancestors use the bones of people they knew as fish hooks,

ornaments ana as good luek charms? Pane: Your two ninau have several mokuna whieh 1 shall pane separately. Modern kānaka maoli who demonstrated against the Honokahua, Maui excavations of preWestern graves gave mulhple reasons for their strong opposition: • The unearthing of bodies laid to rest "in eternal peaee" is a desecration, regardless of the particular culture, whether Western, Polynesian or Asian. No laila, many non-Hawaiians also supported the outcry in the Hawaiian community. Subsequently, others spoke publicly to protect all gravesites from commercial development, such as the threatened King Street cemetery in Honolulu. • Some kānaka maoli protestors did know that their ancestors were buried at Honokahua somewhere, although they could not identify the speciric skeletal remains. Pēlā, they felt a deep personal attarhrnent to the burials and were offended by their disinternment. • The Honokahua graves were Hawaiian burials in Hawai'i being exhumed by non-Hawaiians. No laila, the action was perceived as yet another example of insensitivity and laek of respect by those with power toward us powerless indigenous people and our culture in our homeland. • Because these graves predated the 1778 arrival of the first Westerners, they represented traditional kānaka maoli practices and values whieh required reverence and mālama (protection) for these remains, as shall be detailed below. Moreover, the magnitude of over 1,000 such burials was awesome and not negligible. • The removal was undertaken by nonHawaiian tourist resort developers seeking eeonomie gain from island land. Since pre-Western Hawaiians were buried there, this was considered to be "Hawaiian land ," no matter who happened to possess the current (Western) "deed of ownership." "Hawaiian land" was being ho'ohana 'ia (used) not for landless and homeless Hawaiians, but for outsiders who would bring kālā (money) not to benefit kānaka maoli, but for the everexpanding multi-national tourist industry in allianee with the state and U.S. governments. Anallianee that continues to exploit and degrade kānaka maoli; to distort our history, culture, language, music and religions for kālā; to outnumber and displace us from, and then pollute or destroy, our lands, fishing grounds and other natural resources; and to import more foreign ills, such as crowding, crime, harmful chemicals, fast-lane automobiling, insanitation, misnutrition, stress and waste. The latter underlying reasons for opposition to the grave removals are powerful and real, yet they have been largely ignored or minimized by the dominant Western press because they underscore the persistent assault on, and injustices to, Native Hawaiians by the non-native power establishment. Your second ninau requires explanation of preWestern concepts of our ancestors whieh even many modern Hawaiians find difficult to grasp. Pre-haole kānaka maoli considered nā iwi kino to contain the immortal essence of the person

because bones endured after physical ola (life) had departed and the flesh had decayed. Koko (blood) and i'o (flesh) of the kino were haumia (defiling) while nā iwi were kapu. In the !iving, nā iwi were the link with one's kūpuna i hala and the determinant of health status. Thus, "ikaika nā iwi" meant, and means today, robust. Similarly, "the bones of the dead were guarded, respected, treasured, venerated, loved or even deified by relatives; coveted and despoiled by enemies," wrote Kawena Puku'i, the late Bishop Museum authority from Ka'ū. The veneration for nā iwi by kānaka maoli kahiko was especially evident in ritual practices attending the disposal of the remains of

Kamehameha I upon his death on May 8, 1819. Most ka po'e Hawai'i today have been told that nā iwi of the great warrior were hidden in a secret cave so that "the morning star alone knows. . . ." While this may be so, there is also evidence of at least one other version that deserves consideration. One of the pieces of evidence is an account with a drawing by the French artist Jacques Arago, in August 1819, of "the tomb of Kamehameha" at 'Ahu'ena, Kamakahonua, Kailua Bay, Kona (Fig. 1). 1 keia mahina a'e (next month), we will explore this and other mo'olelo (stories) of the mystery of Kamehameha's remains, and of nā ho'ohana(uses) of bones by the people of old.

Fig. 1. "'Ahu'ena and the tomb of Tamehameha," as depicted by French artist Jacques Arago in August 1819, three months after the death of the ruler at Kamakahonua,

Kailua Bay, Kona. The hale with entry guarded by the crossed pulo'ulo'u ("taboo sticks") was said to "contain(s) the mortal remains of the king." Bishop Museum Photograph Collection