Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 11, 1 Nowemapa 2009 — A garden fit for a queen [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A garden fit for a queen

By Lisa Asato Public lnformation Specialist n 1 894, the deposed queen, Lili 'uokalani, made a symbolic gesture to her people in the form of a garden, Uluhaimalama, on the slopes of Punehhowl. She had set aside the property before the 1893 overthrow with plans to turn it into a royal garden. But history changed that. Dethroned, she called on Hawaiians to bring a living offering to Uluhaimalama and, in the words of speaker Ken Hays at a recent rededication of the garden, "make a gesture to build a new life and new future for themselves no matter what oppression and adversity they were up against." Despite laws prohibiting assembly, the people eame the next morning by the hundreds if not thousands, some strolling right past to keep up an illusion of a garden party. As the story goes, there was so mueh energy at Uluhaimalama on Oct. 11, 1894, that "chants were thundering off the mountains," Hays said. "By the time the evening had eome, . . . an incredible garden had been created in only the span of a single day." Flowers from the garden would later decorate the queen's home at Washington Plaee. And when she was imprisoned in 'Iolani Palaee, the flowers that were brought to her wrapped in newspaper, eame from this garden, says Hays, who nominated the site for the state and national historic registries. The nomina-

tion was approved by the state last year; it is pending at the national level. After the queen's death in 1917, loeal governing officials destroyed the site and tumed it into a cemetery in the hopes of destroying the queen's legacy, Hays said: "They thought that by converting it to a cemetery that it would create a plaee of life into a plaee of death." Instead, they created a plaee that heeame even more sacred in the hearts and minds of Hawaiians. On Oct. 1 1 of this year, the 1 15th anniversary of the garden's creation, a group of about 75 people gathered for an evening ceremony at Uluhaimalama to rededicate the queen's garden, including Quentin Kawānanakoa, who attended the garden's centennial commemoration in 1994 as a descendant of ali'i who had attended the original ceremony a century before. Since 2005, the members of Hālau I Ka Wēkiu have been cleaning, mowing and caring for the site after learning about it from Jeff Apaka. A $20,000 grant from OHA helped the hālau restore the garden close to its original condition. The hālau installed a water meter, sprinkler system - and among the headstones - have and planted 'ōhi'a, kou, kukui, plumeria and hala trees and the puiple crown tlower, the queen's favorite. OHA Chairperson Haunani Apoliona said she and other leaders at the centennial commemoration hoped the historic occasion would spur a community group or groups to adopt the garden in its care. "We are grateful that has happened," she said, adding that the "queen's dignified eall to remember the values, the tradi-

tions and customs of the Hawaiian way" through collective aehon at Uluhaimalama later sustained her eonneehon to her eommunity. Kumu hula Karl Veto Baker said the hālau hosted workshops for about 80 dancers from Japan, Canada, Mexico and the continental United States over two days in July. During that time, they taught the students about Uluhaimalama to preserve the story of a queen who led by example. "They eame to these workshops to learn, and they learned about the queen and her garden," Baker said. "And that's how we ean make more people know about this special plaee." ■ To leam more about the restoration of Uluhaimalama anel how you ean help, visit halauikawekiu. eom.

Members of Hālau I Ka Wēkiu planl crown flower, Queen Lili'uokalani's favorite flower, during the rededication ceremony of her garden Uluhaimalama. - Photo: Courtesy ofHālau I Ka Wēkiu