HAWAIIANS RECLAIM THEIR CULTURE TO KEEP IT ALIVE

Today, The Grandma is reading an interesting report about Hawaiian culture while The Stones are resting after some days of hard work studying English grammar.

For the past three centuries Hawaiian culture has been attacked by the cultures of immigrant groups from places such as China, Japan, the Philippines, and, of course, the U.S.

As early as the 1820s, cultural conflict led to the prohibition of the hula, which is a way of dancing and chanting in praise of the Hawaiian gods, among them Kane, the creator; Lono, god of harvests;and Ku, the god of war, regarded by Christian missionaries as pagan. By the time Hawaii became a state in 1959, its culture had been seriously eroded.

Many Hawaiians were angered as they had to prove that they had at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood to  receive  land  grants.  This  lead  to  an insurgent  movement  in  favor  of  land  for  all  Kanaka Maoli, Original People, no matter how little native blood they had.

Hawaiians resented the fact that in the new state the language continued to be forbidden in schools, and were enraged at the high crime rates and poor health standards.

Although  the  Hawaiians  never  lost  their  voice,  only  in  the  past  two decades  have  people started  paying  close  attention  to  them.  Today  the  old term  'part  Hawaiian'  is  considered derogatory,  and  of  the  1.2  million people  living  in  the  islands,  almost  250,000  identify themselves as 'native Hawaiian', wholly or in combination with another ethnic group.

More information: The Culture Trip

The 1970s saw four main expressions of the Hawaiian cultural renaissance: the recovery of the island of Kaho’olawe, the return of voyaging, the 'Battle of the Bones', and the revival of traditional hula.

The U.S. military had been using the small island of Kaho’olawe as a bombing target since 1941,  despite  the  fact  that  it  contains  some  2,000  archaeological  sites.

In  the  late  1970s  the bombing  provoked  anger,  demonstrations  and occupation  of  this  uninhabited  island,  which since 1990 has been set aside for the preservation of Hawaiian culture. The  1970s  also  saw  the  revival of  voyaging  in  the  ancestral  way,  sailing  the  Pacific  intraditional canoes.

Hawaiian voyaging had ended in the 14th century but the art of navigating and  the  ancient  methods  of  reading  the  stars  still  existed  on  remote Pacific  islands.  Pius Piailug,  'Mau',  has  brought  back  the  art  of  crossing the  Pacific  following  the  stars,  and  aproud  culture  of  voyaging  that teaches  discipline  and  self-steem  has  grown  up  around Hawaiian canoes.

The so-called 'Battle of the Bones' erupted in the mid-1980s when a Ritz-Carlton hotel was proposed at Honokahua on a burial ground. Protests were so strong that in 1989 the planned hotel was moved back to preserve the sanctity of the site, and new laws were passed to prevent buildings from desecrating ancient Hawaiian sites.

Hula is a symbol of the Hawaiian people. It is a performance of storytelling, chanting andstamping, by one person or in groups. It is entertainment as well as a formal way of greeting visitors  and  of  praising  events  and  places.  It teaches  Hawaiian  language,  history,  genealogy and spirituality. To most natives, hula was life, so it was not surprising that mothers used to teach hula to their daughters before they could walk.

More information: Cultural Survival

 

The history of the United States is a history
of settler colonialism-
the founding of a state based on
the ideology of white supremacy,
the widespread practice of African slavery,
and a policy of genocide and land theft.

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

HULA, THE POLYNESIAN DANCE IN THE HAWAII ISLANDS

The Stones and The Grandma continue their staying in Honolulu. They are still at the hotel, confined, waiting for thepermission of the local authorities to go out.

It is a great and luxurious hotels with a lot of activities to do and enjoy. Tonight, the family has discovered what Hula is, its history and its cultural signification.

Hula is a Polynesian dance form accompanied by chant (Oli) or song (Mele, which is a cognate of meke from the Fijian language). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians who originally settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visual dance form.

There are many sub-styles of hula, with the main two categories being Hula ʻAuana and Hula Kahiko. Ancient hula, as performed before Western encounters with Hawaiʻi, is called kahiko. It is accompanied by chant and traditional instruments.

Hula, as it evolved under Western influence in the 19th and 20th centuries, is called ʻauana, a word that means to wander or drift. It is accompanied by song and Western-influenced musical instruments such as the guitar, the ʻukulele, and the double bass.

Terminology for two main additional categories is beginning to enter the hula lexicon: Monarchy includes any hula which were composed and choreographed during the 19th century. During that time the influx of Western culture created significant changes in the formal Hawaiian arts, including hula. Ai Kahiko, meaning in the ancient style are those hula written in the 20th and 21st centuries that follow the stylistic protocols of the ancient hula kahiko.

There are also two main positions of a hula dance: either sitting (noho dance) or standing (luna dance). Some dances utilize both forms.

In the 1890s and early 1900s, hula dancers and Hawaiian musicians toured the U.S. mainland. This advertisement appeared in an Ohio newspaper in 1921.

More information: Kaimi

Hula dancing is a complex art form, and there are many hand motions used to represent the words in a song or chant. For example, hand movements can signify aspects of nature, such as the swaying of a tree in the breeze or a wave in the ocean, or a feeling or emotion, such as fondness or yearning. Foot and hip movements often pull from a basic library of steps including the kaholo, kaʻo, kawelu, hela, ʻuwehe, and ʻami.

There are other related dances (tamure, hura, 'aparima, 'ote'a, haka, kapa haka, poi, Fa'ataupati, Tau'olunga, and Lakalaka) that come from other Polynesian islands such as Tahiti, The Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand; however, the hula is unique to the Hawaiian Islands.

Hula kahiko, often defined as those hula composed prior to 1894 which do not include modern instrumentation, such as guitar, ʻukulele..., encompasses an enormous variety of styles and moods, from the solemn and sacred to the frivolous. Many hula were created to praise the chiefs and performed in their honor, or for their entertainment. Types of hula kahiko include ʻālaʻapapa, haʻa, ʻolapa, and many others. Today hula kahiko is simply stated as Traditional Hula.

Many hula dances are considered to be a religious performance, as they are dedicated to, or honoring, a Hawaiian goddess or god. As was true of ceremonies at the heiau, the platform temple, even a minor error was considered to invalidate the performance. It might even be a presage of bad luck or have dire consequences.

Dancers who were learning to do such hula necessarily made many mistakes. Hence they were ritually secluded and put under the protection of the goddess Laka during the learning period. Ceremonies marked the successful learning of the hula and the emergence from seclusion.

Hula kahiko is performed today by dancing to the historical chants. Many hula kahiko are characterized by traditional costuming, by an austere look, and a reverence for their spiritual root.

Hawaiian history was oral history. It was codified in genealogies and chants, which were memorized and passed down. In the absence of a written language, this was the only available method of ensuring accuracy. Chants told the stories of creation, mythology, royalty, and other significant events and people.

The‘Ōlelo No’eau, Hawaiian saying or proverb, ‘O ‘oe ka lua’ahi o kāu mele, translates loosely as You bear both the good and the bad consequences of the poetry you compose.

The idea behind this saying originates from the ancient Hawaiian belief that language possessed mana, or power derived from a spiritual source particularly when delivered through oli (chant). Therefore, skillful manipulation of language by haku mele (composers) and chanters was of utmost reverence and importance. Oli was an integral component of ancient Hawaiian society, and arose in nearly every social, political and economic aspect of life. The instruments used are:

-Ipu—single gourd drum

-Ipu heke—double gourd drum

-Pahu—sharkskin covered drum; considered sacred

-Puniu—small knee drum made of a coconut shell with fish skin (kala) cover

-ʻIliʻili—water-worn lava stone used as castanets

-ʻUlīʻulī—feathered gourd rattles (also ʻulili)

-Pūʻili—split bamboo sticks

-Kālaʻau—rhythm sticks

More information: Go Hawaii

Traditional female dancers wore the everyday pāʻū, or wrapped skirt, but were topless. Today this form of dress has been altered. As a sign of lavish display, the pāʻū might be much longer than the usual length of tapa, or barkcloth, which was just long enough to go around the waist. Dancers might also wear decorations such as necklaces, bracelets, and anklets, as well as many lei (lei poʻo), necklaces, bracelets, and anklets (kupeʻe), and other accessories.

A skirt of green kī (Cordyline fruticosa) leaves may also be worn over the pāʻū. They are arranged in a dense layer of around fifty leaves. Kī were sacred to the goddess of the forest and the hula dance Laka, and as such, only kahuna and aliʻi were allowed to wear kī leaf leis (lei lāʻī) during religious rituals.

Traditional male dancers wore the everyday malo, or loincloth. Again, they might wear bulky malo made of many yards of tapa. They also wore necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and lei.

The materials for the lei worn in performance were gathered in the forest, after prayers to Laka and the forest gods had been chanted.

Modern hula arose from adaptation of traditional hula ideas (dance and mele) to Western influences. The primary influences were Christian morality and melodic harmony. Hula ʻauana still tells or comments on a story, but the stories may include events since the 1800s. The costumes of the women dancers are less revealing and the music is heavily Western-influenced.

More information: Hawaii History

Hula is the art of Hawaiian dance,

which expresses all we see,
smell, taste, touch, feel, and experience.
It is joy, sorrow, courage, and fear.

 

Robert Cazimero