Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 9, 1 September 2011 — A ceremonial beginning for APEC [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A ceremonial beginning for APEC

n a recent Nu'uanu ceremony designed to set the appropriate spirit and tone for the Asia-Pacific Eeonomie Cooperation summit here in November, a group of about 60 Hawai'i leaders gathered at Mauna 'Ala to pay respect to Hawai'i's ancestral leaders. Leaders of the APEC 2011 Hawai'i Host Committee, their advisers, staff and members of royal societies along with representatives of the U.S. State Department, visited the royal mausoleum on Aug. 17 to remember and pay their respects to King Kalākaua, Queen Lili'uokalani and other ali'i of the Hawaiian Kingdom. The morning ceremony also served as a reminder to today's leaders of their duty to not only promote Hawai'i as a player on the world stage but to do so with a mindset infused with lessons from Hawaiian culture, values and the leadership of ali'i. "It was a time of great respect, a time of renewal and a time of

enlightenment for many who were born and raised in Hawai'i but have never passed through the gates," said Corbett Kalama, the host committee's Hawaiian Culture Committee Chair and First Hawaiian Bank Executive Vice President, who organized the ceremony. "In the Hawaiian culture, we often look to our kūpuna for guidance and we talk about the importance of always paying reverence and respect to those who eame before us. And there's no one more fitting than our ali'i," said Kalama, who is also a Kamehameha Schools Trustee. "For these people that will be playing a significant role in interacting with the 21 leaders of the Asian and Paeihe nations, it's important for them to have a deeper and broader understanding of our culture and people, and for us to provide a setting for that." Fittingly the ali'i were great proponents of many facets of the upcoming eeonomie summit. They

promoted sustainability and were pioneers in providing social nets for their beneficiaries' through the establishment of trusts, Kalama said. Kalama opened the ceremony with an oli kāhea, asking permission to lead the contingent onto the grounds, followed by an oli komo by the Royal Order of Kamehameha I. Inside the ehapel, Bill Maioho, the mausoleum caretaker, talked of its construction, describing eaeh of the ali'i buried there and how, upon the mausoleum's eomplehon, the iwi of the ali'i were interred there, with Kalākaua ordering that pili grass be laid on the ground to quiet the footfalls of those who eame to pay their respect. While inside the ehapel, the host committee leaders also formulated how to incorporate culture and history into four receptions planned during the November summit, Kalama said. For example, the receptions, eaeh expected to attract 500 to 3,000 attendees, will be held

at different locations on O'ahu and incorporate pū as well as sitespecific oli aloha, hula kahiko and food. As the leaders walked the mausoleum grounds, they visited both the Kamehameha Tomb and Kalākaua Crypt, where Kainoa Daines and others presented ho'okupu. Moved by the experience, Kaua'i Mayor Bernard Carvalho spontaneously presented a ho'okupu, in song, at the Kamehameha Tomb. He sang the apt "Aloha o Nā Ali'i," whieh speaks to the ali'i as our elders. Attending were, among others, Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz, Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle, representatives of the ali'i trusts, OHA Trustee Haunani Apoliona and OHA Special Assistant to the CEO Martha Ross, and Hawai'i Host Committee advisers Jeff and Tom Kaulukukui and Ramsay Taum. Tim Johns, who serves as the Host Committee Vice Chair, said the ceremony left people

"unified in spirit for making sure that we have as successful an APEC as possible." "It was good for the leaders of the host committee to be reminded of our kuleana, our responsibility, we have to Hawai'i as we showcase and as we share Hawai'i with the rest of the world." — Lisa Asato ■

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The group gathers in front of the Kalākaua Crypt, closing the ceremony with "Hawai'i Pono'ī," a song penned by Kalākaua, whieh was the nahonal anthem of the Hawaiian Kingdom. - Photo: Niek Masagatani