Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 6, 1 June 2022 — Nā Menehune: He Lāhui 'I'o nō [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Nā Menehune: He Lāhui 'I'o nō

J KA NA'AUAO O NA KUPUNA > THE WISDOM OFTHE KŪPUNA '

Na Kalani Akana, Ph.D. He lāhui 'i'o nō ka po'e Menehune. Ma kekahi hana helu kanaka i ka makahiki 1820, ua hō'ike 'ia i ka luna helu kānaka aia he 65 mau kānaka Menehune e noho ana ma Wainiha, Kaua'i. 'A'ole lākou he po'e 'e'epa e like me nā po'e peke 0 nā kānaka 'Eulo. He lāhui kuoko'a nō lākou. Wahi a Katherine Luomala , he lāhui 'oko'a nā Menehune i hiki e mai i Hawai'i ma mua o nā kūpuna Hawai'i no Tahiti a no Nu'uhiwa. He po'e poupou,'ilikou, a no'eau i ke hana kūkulu. Ma Kahiki, ko lākou kulāiwi, kapa 'ia lākou 'o lākou nā Manahune a he mau kānaka lawelawe nō lākou. 'Ilihune (hune) ko lākou mana; no laila mai ka inoa kapakapa 'o Manahune. Ma Hawai'i nei, ua lilo ka puana 'ana o Manahune a lilo i ka inoa hou, Menehune, ka po'e kaulana i ka 'oihana kūkulu. 'O ka loko i'a 'o Alekoko ma Niumalu kekahi o nā hana kupanaha a ka Menehune. Wahi a ka mea ha'i mo'olelo kaulana o Kaua'i, 'o Fred Wiehman , 'o ka hiki 'ole a nā ali'i 'o 'Alekoko me Kalālālehua ke mālama i ke kapu Menehune ke kumu o ka inoa 'o 'Alekoko. 'O ia kapu Menehune 'o ia ka ho'opāpā 'ana e 'ike maka 1 ka hana a nā Menehune. Ma muli o ka hana kuli o ka hana kāpili a kūkulu i ke kuapā, ua nīele a ki'ei hālō nā ali'i 'elua i ka hana a nā Menehune. 'O ka nānā hewa nō ia a 'Alekoko me Kalālālehua, ua kū pau ka hana a nā

Menehune. Kauoha ke ali'i Menehune iā lākou e ho'okū i ka hana, holoi i ka lima ma nā 'ale o ka loko wai, a ho'i i kauhale. Ua koko ko lākou lima no ka mea 'a'ole pāhe'ehe'e nā pōhaku. He mau pōhaku nihoniho a 'a'anapu'u no Wahiawa, Kaua'i mai. Ua kūmaumau nā Menehune mai Wahiawa ā hiki i Niumalu, ma kahi o 'iwakalua mile, a hāpai li'ili'i aku, hāpai aku i nā pōhaku nui i laila i ka pō'ele'ele o ka pō. Ma Niumalu, ua kā a kālai 'ia na pōhaku nihoniho e hiki i nā limahana ke kāpili pono a pili likiliki nā pōhaku kekahi i kekahi. He mea kupanaha nō kēlā hana ma Hawai'i a puni. 'O ke ali'i kaulana o ia lāhui Menehune 'o Ola. Kaulana nā hana kupanaha a Ola ā hiki i kēia lā. 'O Kīkī-a-Ola ka 'auwai nui ma Waimea i kūkulu 'ia me nā pōhaku i kālai 'ia i pōhaku palahalaha. 'O Hālau-a-Ola kekahi ulu lā'au koa a Ola. Ma laila i kua 'ia ai nā kumu koa a i kālai 'ia ai i wa'a. Ua hele 'o Kuini 'Emalani i o Hālauaola ma kāna huaka'i māka'ika'i i Kilohana, kēlā wahi nānā ma ka pali 'ale'o o Hā'ena. Iā ia ma Alaka'i ua hehi 'o ia ma luna o ke Kīpapa-a-Ola, he ala hele i hana 'ia me nā kumu hāpu'u i hina a ho'okīpapa 'ia ma luna o kēlā aina ma u a 'olokele o Alaka'i. Ma ka mo'olelo o Hawai'iloa na Kamakau, ua hiki mai kēia ali'i holo moana 'o Hawai'iloa a ua kapa 'o ia i ka mokupuni mua āna i kipa ai ma kona inoa a me kekahi a'e ma ka inoa o kāna keikikāne 'o Māui. Ma ia mau mokupuni 'o ia i hui ai me kekahi mau kānaka ha'a a poupou, he mau mamo a Kalani Menehune. 'O kēia mau po'e nā mamo a Lua Nu'u (Kānehoalani, Kūmāmenehune) e like me Hawai'iloa. Wahi a Beckwith , 'o Luanu'u a me Me'ehakulani (Me'ehiwa) nā mākua 0 nā Menehune. No laila, he 'ohana loa ka po'e Menehune i ka 'ohana Hawai'i. He lāhui 'i'o nō lākou. He mau kūpuna nō ho'i lākou. ■ Kalani Akana, Ph.D., is a kumu of hula, oli and 'ōlelo Hawai'i, and a research analyst at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. He has authored numerous articles on Indigenous ways ofknowing and doing. To read this article in English, go to kawaiola.news. 1 Joesting, E. (1987).Kaua'i, The Separate Kingdom. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press and Kaua'i Museum Association, p. 20-22. II Luomala, K. (1951): "The Menehune of Polynesia and Other Mythical Little People of Oeeania". Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin Vol. 203; Kraus Reprint, Millwood, N.Y., 1986 III Wiehman, F. (1997). More Kaua'i Tales. Honolulu: Bamboo Ridge Press. lv Beckwith, M. (1976). Hawaiian Mythology. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.

Nō pōhūku o kū 'ouwūi nui o Kīkī-o-Olo i kōloi o kōpili 'io e nō Menehune. - Ki'i: Courtesy