Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 7, 1 July 2005 — FEATHER LEI by the book [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FEATHER LEI by the book

Mother-daughter lei hulu masters release a detailed how-to guide By Sterling Kini Wong

Aunty Mary Louise Kaleonahenahe Kekuewa - one of the last Hawaiian feather lei masters - loves to recount how, for 20 years before she opened her shop on Kapahulu Avenue, she drove all over O'ahu teaching people the art of making lei hulu. "I used to paek up all my materials into the trunk of my car and just go," she says with a glowing smile. "Lrom Nānākuli to Waimānalo, I went everywhere: eom-

munity centers, parks, people's homes." Linally, in 1991, her daughter Paulette Nohealani Kahalepuna convinced her that they should open a feather lei store together, whieh was eventually named Nā Lima Mili Hulu

— * ^ — No'eau ("the skilled hands that touch the feathers"). "Paulette said, 'Ma, they should eome to us to learn, not you go everywhere,"" Kekuewa recalls. Today, Kekuewa and Kahalepuna ean be found in their shop every Monday through Saturday, fashioning new feather pieces or teaching students. Recently honored with a Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce 2005 'Ō'ō award, they are two of the most respected traditional feather artisans in Hawai'i. Now, with the release of the mother-and-daugh-ter team's revamped instructional book, Feather Lei As An Art (Mutual Publishing, $15.95), aspiring feather lei makers everywhere ean benefit from their knowledge of this beautiful craft. The revised book is a significant upgrade from the original version, a black-and-white pamphlet made independently in 1976. In contrast, Feather

Lei features color photographs that complement the step-by-step instructions for making both traditional round feather lei, called wili poepoe, and contemporary flat lei, humu papa. Brought with voyagers from throughout Polynesia and refined here in the islands, featherwork played an important role in traditional Hawaiian society. Because of the amazing amount of time and skill required to create such items as the ahu'ula (capes), mahiole (helmets) and kāhili (feather standards), featherwork adornments were reserved for high-ranking ali'i. These sacred items were only worn during

ceremonial events and battle. But with the proliferation of western culture and religion in the 19th century, the cultural prominence of most of the various types of featherwork, like many other Hawaiian traditions, began to fade. The making of feather lei, however, is one of the exceptions. On a recent day at the family's store - the only one of its kind in the state -

Kekuewa explained the status that a feather lei conveyed during the early 20th

century. She brought down an old lauhala (pandanus leaf) hat that was hanging on a wall. Wrapped around the hat's base was a contemporary-style lei made from kolohala (pheasant) feathers. "During my father's time, anybody who was somebody wore one of these," she said. While interest in feather lei waned somewhat

since then, enthusiasm for the art form seems to be picking back up with the revival of other aspects of Hawaiian culture. All the while, though, the

practice of feather lei making has had to evolve in order to survive. With so many of the native birds that were onee the source of feathers either extinct or endangered, lei makers have turned to ehieken, duck, pheasant and other introduced birds for feathers. Yarn has replaced traditional cordage, usually made from olonā, because it is no longer produced in the amounts needed. Making a feather lei is a delicate and timeconsuming process. According to Kahalepuna, a typical 30-36-ineh neek lei ean take between 20 and 80 hours, depending on how dedicated you are. The price of the finished product reflects the required effort: a high-quality feather lei ean fetch up to $9.50 per ineh.

"j Kekuewa said she never realized what she was getting into when she first started to work with her mentor, Leilani Lernandez, in the mid-1950s. By 1970, she was traveling around the state teaching. I Kahalepuna made her first feather lei for a high school project in the early 1960s and has since continued to carry on her mother's featherwork -I legacy.

Kahalepuna eoncedes that while someone ean make a feather lei from

following the book alone, readers ean only get so mueh from the text. "We didn't expound on the cultural values too mueh in the book - that you get from us. To fully capture the essence of feather lei making, you have to sit down with a kupuna," she said, gesturing to her mother, "and learn from her." t j

Mary Louise Kaleonahenahe Kekuewa and her daughter Paulehe Nohealani Kahalepuna demonstrate featherwork techniques at their Kapahulu shop. Photo: Sterling Kini Wong