Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 1, 1 January 1991 — ...and solutions for health in Hawaiians [ARTICLE]

...and solutions for health in Hawaiians

health, il!ness and restoration, or death. These three forms are the uaka (vessel or eanoe) whieh is the messenger and may connote "medicine" or cure, the taula (anchor) whieh is interpreted as the priest or medium, and the third is the faletapu or the house where the priest conducted his ritual. This type of metaphoric conceptualization for the treatment of ma'i is very similar to what the Native Hawaiian historian, Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau wrote concerning the training of medical practitioners: "In the Hawaiian school of medical kahunas [priests], the god was the foundation, and secondly eame prayers. Third eame schooling in the kinds of diseases; fourth, in the kinds of remedies; fifth in the art of killing; and sixth, in the art of saving." From such formal and also informal instruction those who heal must have the ability to "talk sensibly about sicknesses," to "mediate on problems of ill health" and to diagnose and concoct the cures. Their abiiities are recognized as a "gift from God" or one that is inherited through one's

ancestors. Unlike contemporary faith healers, a native healer works more through a process of healing than through an instantaneous act. lt is for these reasons that native healers are respected for their knowledge, but also feared because of their intimate relationship with God and the spirits. They ean be dangerous and powerful, or whatThe Rev. Dr. Abraham Akaka has seriously referred to as being "no phoney baloney." In fact, because healing is seen as a gift from God, there is no ethic for fees for service or an obligation of gifts. "The power of healing is considered to be a reward enough in itself." Even makana aloha, "gifts for service" are not asked for, resisted if they are seen as a payment for services, and monies given often turned over to churches or charities. Rather, it is the recognition that the healer is crucial to the survival of his or her people that is the true indicator of the healer's existence, experience and worth. The true source of healing power Therefore, the process of healing cannot be complete without the recognition of whenee the power to heal eame from. Kamakau termed the prayers used by kahuna in diagnosis and the usage of medicinal herbs and minerals as prayers of "remembrance" and "thanksgiving." The kahuna, when reciting these prayers, were recalling their ancestral beginnings and later giving thanks and acknowledgement to the gods associated with the healing arts. There are constant references and mythical metaphors to several gods whieh underline the stories of how healing was passed on from the gods to people. Paramount among those stories is the appearance of the god, Kamakanuiahailono, his follower, the Ka'u chief Lonopuha, and tales of their exploits in the first use of medicinal herbs. Lesser known are the stories of the goddess Haumea who used plants and incantations to help the daughter of the chief, Olopana, to ease her birth labor pains; and stories of her grandson Kio who, by refusing to mate with Haumea, began the true lineage of human beings from whieh the medical kahuna were descended. In more contemporary times, the invocation of the Christian God and personal or family spirits reinforces the cultural continuity and recognition of the cosmic creative power and force of the Christian God and of the direct personal intervention of the ancestral spirit. This duality is not seen as a contradiction of terms, it is a genuine expression of experience.

After all the mana (power) of medicines comes from God, through divine revelation such as dreams and insight, or through ancestral inheritance, and even the Bible is used during contemporary native forms of healing. But that type of mana and God implies a different domain and governance, and the need for ministers to intercede upon one's behalf. Whereas, "spirit sickness" ean be caused by supernatural beings more related to this world and by personal concerns and relationships whieh need the manipulation by a more personal form than by a Creator God. Ho'ola today The concept of a tripartite relationship of healing still dominates Native Hawaiian attitudes towards sickness and health, and the process of ho'ola still prevails today in some form or another. A little over 60 years ago, during a similar period when there was widespread eoneem about the survival of Native Hawaiians, an article on native healing practices was published in a Hawaiian language newspaper, Ke Kuokoa (The Independent), in a section devoted to the Hawaiian Homestead movement. It lamented that:

"Here we are living in the modern world, but we have not taken notice of the value of the knowledge our ancestors had of medicines, and we regret it very mueh. The medicinal priesthood was closely related to the agents of God, who are today the ministers, the leaders of all the priests. Several of these ministers have followed in the ways of their predecessors, and thus has eome the saying, "When the high priest has completed his work, then the medicine of the practitioner begins.' . . . Our ancestors who have departed into the night were full of knowledge and skill. They searched for and found the very understanding of the principles of healing the sick, and of the various types of illnesses revealed through the process of using different cures. Not only did they subscribe to these treatments, but they also tended the sick, prescribed steam baths, whieh are widely talked about and practiced by families today, but they also prescribed purging. . . As we look upon our lives today, and remember the dim past, we will see how dynamic this kind of healing is, because the medical school that stands with its door open to both the light and the darkness, that is, the future and the past, is one that is found also in the mountains, the ridges, and the hil!s and the valleys down to the sea. These were the places where our elders found their medicines without having to buy them, so unlike today when we have to go to the drug store to buy the medicines prescribed by licensed doctors. "This process was even more flexible than today because one did not have to pay the practitioner. Cure or not, one has to pay the doctor today, and for some patients the doctor might or might not know what is ailing you. He will treat you by trying out some medicines, but the greater part of the problem is that there is no real consultative process to discover the symptoms of the illness. This has led to wrong prescriptions. "It has been reasoned that we should be sending young Hawaiians to leam to become doctors. It is also good for our elders to teach their grandchildren the secrets of native healing so they ean benefit families and friends. This transmission of knowledge seems to have ceased as more and more Hawaiians are seeking to get rich fast like the old trading days, about a hundred years ago when people sought and amassed money only to bury it in the ground for worms to eat . . . "What would you do in the forest if you do not know of the great wealth that is there for you to treat the aches of your body? . . . Therefore, it is to

our benefit, as Hawaiians, to recognize again the practices of our ancestors. Happy is the family who lives in poverty and a friend arrives to share his skill in healing . . . So was the healing of our ancestors . . . We must awake and surge forward for a new Hawai'i, the homestead lands of the Territory of the Hawaiian Islands." Restoring the concepts of ola and ma'i Although the fundamental concepts still exist, there have been tremendous changes in the health care practices of Native Hawaiians, particularly the sense that healing is a consultative and social process. How will new programs and large sums of funding affect how we perceive ola and ma'i? Western medicine is greatly acknowledged as being superior for the treatment of true illnesses, but what will heal those other forms of ma'i? It may be possible to change, some might say destroy, a people's perception of their belief and experiences of health care so that they may be able to survive, but there would no longer exist any true people who would be able to tell the stories, sing their songs, or dance their dances as they had known them. There would be no Native Hawaiians to speak of. Whatever the health care strategy, plans and programs for and by Hawaiians must recognize the concepts of ola and ma'i, and the relationships that are integral to both. Restoring these concepts in health care will boost other efforts to restore a more positive self-image to Native Hawaiians and in the larger community. How these concepts will affect the attitudes of non-natives in the health profession and in the wider community towards Native Hawaiians and services provided for Native Hawaiians, is yet to be seen. For now an understanding of the dynamics of Hawaiian healing should inspire and influence how we all begin to evaluate and plan for the health care of ourselves and others. References Chun, Maleolm Naea "Hawaiian Medicine Book, He Buke Laau Lapaau," Bess Press, 1986 Kamakau, Samuel Manaiakalani, "Ka Po'e Kahiko, The People of 01d," trans. Mary Kawena Pukui, ed. Dorothy B. Barrere, Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication 51, Bishop Museum Press, 1968 Parsons, Claire D.F. (ed.) "Healing Practices in the South Pacific," The Institute for Polynesian Studies, 1985 Pukui, Mary Kawena "'Olelo No'eau, Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetic Sayings," Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum Special Publication 71, Bishop Museum Press, 1983 "Eia mai kekahi mau laau kupele a na kupuna", "Ke Kuokoa," November 11, 1926

"The ho'ola . . . involves diagnosis and consultation of the patient and his or her fami\y ..."