Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 1, 1 January 2004 — MAKAHIKI [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MAKAHIKI

'Hawaiian New Year' celebrations revived

By Naomi Sodetani After three centuries, Makahiki has returned to sacred Pu'uloa, now known as Pearl Harbor. On a sunny day in early December, eight canoes converged on a beach fronting Hiekam Air Station. One of the paddlers, a muscular young man in a white kīhei, gracefully hefted a long wooden staff, an image of the god Lono carved on its top end. Over the "arms" of the image were draped long strands of fragrant maile and white kapa billowing like clouds, symbolic of one of the essences of Lono the Creator — the winter rains that fertilize new growth. As a contingent of hula dancers stood at the shore's edge to greet the canoes, an airplane zoomed overhead, the ear-numbing roar competing with the dancer's chanting. Meanwhile, U.S. warships glided in and out of the port, their presence contrasting with the practitioners' rituals honoring the season of peaee. The "Hawaiian New Year" has, in recent decades, been celebrated by several Hawaiian communities, including Moloka'i and Kualoa, and by loeal Boy Scout troops in organized cultural games. The Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana has observed Makahiki rituals on the island for more than two decades; this November, they prayed in gratitude for Kaho'olawe's return, asking Lono to heal the bombscarred 'āina. And since 2001, Makahiki observances have also opened access to other sacred places that have been gated for generations — the military installations at Mōkapu, Mākua, Pu'uloa and Moku'ume'ume (Ford Island).

Kapono Aluli Souza, the bearer of the akua loa image at many of these events, became a fervent Makahiki convert three years ago. The lomilomi practitioner, who hails from the noted Aluli-Farden elan of artists, musicians and civic leaders, says he wondered: "How eome we celebrate everybody else's New Year, but not our Hawaiian New Year? Ours is way cooler — we get to party for four months, for god's sake!" Following 9-11, the 28-year-old Kailua resident decided to explore the role of the ancient tradition in modern times. Wrestling with the difficulty of finding inner peaee amid a world in turmoil, Souza undertook a four-month huaka'i (procession) around O'ahu, helping to organize Makahiki events in various ahupua'a. In ancient times, the rising of Nā Huihui o Makali'i, the Pleiades star constellation, marked the beginning of the season of peaee following the harvest. All warfare ceased and the most rigid kapu were lifted, while prayers of praise and thanksgiving were offered to Lono and other deities. During this time, the Lono staff was carried around the island from district to district, with the people in eaeh paying tributes to the ruling chief and demonstrating the prosperity of their ahupua'a in the form of crops, crafts, featherwork, stone implements and woven mats. Sporting competitions between villages were also organized to display the prowess of an ahupua'a's champions. Last month, Makahiki returned to Waikīkī in conjunction with a traditional longboard surfing competition (see story below). Other celebrations will be held

through February at Kualoa, Punahou School, Mōkapu Elementary and Windward Community College. The O'ahu Council of Hawaiian Civic Clubs spearheaded the effort

to bring Makahiki back to the shoreline lands of Kapu'aika'ula, whieh encompasses Hiekam and the See MAKAHIKI on page 18

Above: Akua loa staff-bearer Kapono Souza leads the makahiki procession to shore at Pu'uloa. Below: John Keola Lake's hōlau and royal society members offer ho'okupu to Lono to weleome the season of renewal and peaee. Photos: chris usher

MAKAHIKI from page 9

island of Moku'ume'ume. In 2002, the military consulted with OHA and the eouneil, among other groups, to discuss the building of military housing at Moku'ume'ume and other areas. As a result of the discussions, permission for the Hawaiian community to practice Makahiki rituals heeame part of a cultural interpretive plan for the area. After the paddlers landed at the Pu'uloa Makahiki this December, the dancers performed and a long procession of Hawaiians presented gifts of the land and sea pleasing to Lono: 'ulu, kalo, 'awa, hanana, coconut, kukui, fishing nets, woven lauhala mats. Maj. Shirlene Ostrov, a young Hawaiian officer wearing Air Force blues offered ho'okupu and "a ho'ola, a cleansing chant, that calls on the gods, chiefs and people of this land," explained kumu hula John Keola Lake, who guided cultural protocol for the observance. Lake remarked on the young officer's dual loyalties of being rooted in her culture while serving a second homeland. "We can't forget that many of our men and women, too, are in the military," he said, adding that Makahiki allows for such seeming contradictions to coexist. Souza agrees. "Makahiki is a kind of spiritual detox, a safety valve that brings back halanee to eaeh person and to a community," he says. "Man, the ancient Hawaiians were so genius - they knew, gotta have halanee. 'Cause you know what happens if everybody sits on the same side of the eanoe, right? Going huli!" ■