Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 5, 1 May 2013 — Keeping the gods close [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Keeping the gods close

Kalo (taro), 'uala (sweet potato) and 'ulu (breadfruit) were staple foods that supplied starchycarbohydrate calories and a variety of vitamins and minerals in the diets of our kānaka maoli (Hawaiian) ancestors. Large land areas throughout Hawai'i were devoted to kalo and 'uala cultivation, back then. Kalo required lots of fresh water to eool and irrigate the water-filled kalo fields and, in contrast, 'uala grew

in dry fields that were watered naturally by the rain. Our Hawaiian ancestors believed that kalo was kino lau (body form) of the god Kāne, 'uala was kino lau of Lono, and 'ulu was kino lau of the god Kū. Two other plant foods, banana and coconut, provided flavor variety and nutrients to our ancestors' diet. According to the late botanist Dr. Isabella Abbott, the banana originated in central India and was predominately an 01d World, Asian plant known to Egyptians and Assyrians in 1 100 B ,C. Bananas probably eame into the Pacific from eastern Malaysia. In Polynesia, the mai'a (banana) plant and fruit are known as kino lau of Kanaloa, god of the oeean and marine life. Other kino lau of Kanaloa are 'uhaloa (shrub used in herbal medicine), he'e (octopus) and mūhe'e (squid).

Mo'olelo (traditional stories) credit the gods Kāne and Kanaloa with bringing the banana, bamboo and black 'awa to Hawai'i from Kahiki (Tahiti). These two gods were also credited with planting the original mai'a plants, according to Abbott. Three kapu (laws, rules) governed use of mai'a: first, the fruit was offered in the heiau (pre-Christian places of worship) and other houses of the gods; second, specific varieties could substitute for a human sacrifice to Kanaloa or Kāne; and third, according to tradition, Wākea (sky father) named three varieties, pōpō'ulu, iholena and kaualau for Papa (earth mother). Thus, these banana were appropriate food for all women, while all other varieties were kapu, Abbott found. Mai'a was not cultivated in fields, instead, a few plants were grown in moist places around the lo'i (wet-land fields), near homes and, sometimes, in mauka gulches. Abbott explains that the mai'a is an oversized herb; its "trunk" is actually layers of leaf sheaths and the stem, or corm, is underground. Only two varieties of eoeonut trees (kumu niu) grew in old Hawai'i, reflecting fewer uses or perhaps a later arrival to Hawai'i. Coconut cordage ('aha) and a grater were unearthed from one of Hawai'i's earliest settlements in Waimānalo, establishing its early roots in Hawai'i. Two varieties of coconut, niu hiwa (dark green husk with a black shell nut) and niu lelo (reddish yellow husk and yellowish shell) grew in old Hawai'i. Niu lelo was used to make cordage and niu hiwa was mainly for wai niu (eoeonut water) drinking purposes. Niu is kino lau of Kū, thus, traditionally it's planting was done only by men. Kumu niu and its fruit were kapu (prohibited) in the diet of women, but its leaves and trunk were free to be used. Hawaiian women were expert cordage makers but were not permitted to make 'aha from niu husk. Abbott found no evidence that coconut was added to foods in old Hawai'i, as is done by other Polynesian groups. She speculated that even if kūlolo or haupia were part of the diet in old Hawai'i, it could only have been food for men. ■

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By Claire Ku'uleilani Hughes, Dr. PH„ R.D.