Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 7, 1 July 1992 — Molokaʻi celebrates the birth of the hula [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Molokaʻi celebrates the birth of the hula

by Pearl Leialoha Paae

In the still pre-dawn, a caravan of vehicles i winds its way up a rutted dirt road to Ka'ana on Moloka'i Ranch. About 350 Hawaiians make the pilgrimage to Pu'u Nana, the hill of seeing. They have eome this early May morning under a full moon to honor what some regard as the very piko, the birth plaee, of the hula. Kumu hula John Ka'imikaua leads the group in meditation. "Think about what it means to be Hawaiian," he says. On this quiet morning his voice quivers, rising and falling as he chants. Members of Halau Hula 'O Kukuna'okala and Halau 'O Kapuwailani take their places and the story of the hula begins. Eaeh dance begins or ends with a ho'okupu, of kukui, ti, lehua or maile on a central, raised platform. Malo-clad dancers move to the beat of the ipu and 'ohe ka'eke'eke. Shell anklets add aeeompaniment. The women dance as if wind, stars and rolling mist were their only audience. Some seem to be journeying back centuries in time as they eome forward to offer their ho'okupu. Among them are 20 high school students from Wai'anae with their Hawaiian studies teacher Leona Kahawai'ola'a; members of the Lim family from the Big Island; and members of Halau Hula 'O Moloka'i. '

ine ceremony ends, as it oegan, witn an on. The melodious Hawaiian gives way to English, as Ka'imikaua tells of the history of this plaee as it was passed down to him from his teacher, 92-year-old Kawahinekapuheleikapokane of Moloka'i when they met in Aiea nearly 16 years ago. Perpetuating her traditions is something he's been doing for the past 13 years, bringing different groups of Hawaiians to this plaee. Her instructions included 156 chants and a genealogy stretching back to about 900 A.D., to Laka and her family, Ka'imikaua maintains. According to that tradition, La'ila'i, a gifted dancer, settled in the uplands of Ka'ana on Moloka'i. She and five generations of her family nurtured the hula as it evolved from the movement of wind in the trees and waves on the beach. News of this new dance spread. People eame to watch. But none were taught, until Kapo'ulakina'u decided to break with tradition. The response overwhelmed her. So she enlisted the help of her youngest sister who was

renamed Laka 'Ulunui La'ea. The two sisters taught all*who eame to them on Moloka'i. However, a vision of Ni'ihau began Laka on a joumey to all the islands, establishing na halau (dance schools) on eaeh. Lastly, she went to the Big Island where she taught Hopoe, who taught Hi'iaka, and that's how hula was introduced to the Pele traditions, Ka'imikaua explains. Since Ka'imikaua began telling stories of Laka and Moloka'i in 1976, they have been disputed by other hula kumu. However, Ka'imikaua is not interested in proving his traditions. "What I am doing is for the good and benefit of the Hawaiian people, to enlighten them," he told a reporter last year when Moloka'i Ka Hula Piko was inaugurated. The day-long festival that followed the mountain ceremony was sponsored by Destination

Moloka'i Association and included concerts and hula performed at Papohaku Beach Park on the west end. Hawaiian crafts, food booths and headliners such as: the Ho'opi'i Brothers, the Lim Family, Jawaiian Rainbow and Pacific Blue highlighted the event. The day of celebration was preceded by a week of mo'olelo, storytelling, at Colony's Kaluakoi Resort, and island tours of historic sites, offered to visitor and resident aiike. Some of these included visits to ancient fish ponds that fringe the south shore of Moloka'i. For last year's Moloka'i Ka Hula Piko, Destination Moloka'i received the highest Five Kahili award from the Hawai'i Visitors Bureau "'Keep It Hawai'i" program. Other Five Kahili award winners were Manele Bay Hotel and The Lodge at Ko'ele.

Kia Fronda, taro farmer and chanter from Waipi'o on the Big lsland participateed with kumu hula John Ka'imikaua in an early morning ceremony. Photo by Phil Spalding