Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 2, 1 February 1987 — Based on Creation Chant "Kumulipo" [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Based on Creation Chant "Kumulipo"

New Terms Suggestedfor Early Hawaiian History

By Maleolm Naea Chun and Matthew Spriggs Editor's Note: Chun serues as Cultural Officerfor the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Spriggs is an Associate Professor of Archaeology at the Uniuersify of Hawaii, Manoa. Archaeologists over the last 30 years have been devising names for the various periods of early Hawaiian history as revealed by research on oral traditions and archaeoIogy. One of the most recent attempts ean be found in Dr. Patrick Kirch's book, Feathered Gods and Fishhooks; An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory, published by the University of Hawaii Press. Similar to previous efforts Dr. Kirch has adopted a set of terms derived from earlier archaeological studies of historical changes in Europe and the Americas. His sequence is as follows: 1. Colonization Period (300-600 AD) 2. Developmental Period (600-1100 AD) 3. Expansion Period (1100-1650 AD) and 4. Protohistoric Period (1650-1795 AD). New information and interpretations available since the publication of Kirch's book allow us to revise slightly his Hawaiian sequence. Perhaps it is time togiveHawaiian terms to these periods of Hawaii's history whieh would consider the developmental sequence from a Hawaiian perspective of history. Such a suggestion is in keeping with the format developed from 19th century when Hawaiians were being trained to record history into written records at the Lahainaluna Seminary. After considering the traditional materials available we are suggesting the following terms be adopted, whieh either eome from or are based upon the creation chant called "Kumulipo". The accompanying quotations are actual lines from the Kumulipo chant and are used as descriptions of the period. We are using the transactions of Martha Beckwith, who was raised in Makawao, Maui and was assisted in translating the Kumulipo by David Malo Kupihea, Pokini Robinson, and Mary Kawena Pukui. We believe that it is fitting to folbw the heritage of Hawaiian oral literature, its poetic expression and eomplex means of eommunieahon, to describe the following five wa (periods of time). I. 0-600 AD KA HIKI 'ANA ("THE COMING") Kumulipo, line 605 'Ahinahina wale kanaka e kaka'i nei 'Wave after wave of men moving in company' The latest archaeological evidence now suggests that Hawaii may have been settled as early as the time of Christ, probably from the Marquesas islands. II. 600-1100 AD NA 'OIWI ("THE NATIVES") Kumulipo, line 643 'O kanaka lele wale, O Kanaka nei la 'Man spread abroad, man was here now' During this wa (period) a distinctly Hawaiian culture developed from its East Polynesian roots, and at its end settlements were found scattered along the coasts of all major islands, particularly in the most favoured windward areas. III.l 100-1400 AD KA PO HE'ENALU ("THE NIGHT OF THE SURF WAVES") Kumulipo, line 593 A ka Po he'enalu mai i hanau "Born in the time when men eame from afar' (lit: 'the night of surf waves coming and giving birth') In traditional mo'olelo (history), this is the "migration period" of two way voyaging between Tahiti and Hawai'i whieh brings new lineages, material culture and eoncepts. In particular, a new religious system was introduced by the priest, Pa'ao that used human sacrifice, feathered gods, and the chiefly symbols of the feathered malo and pulo'ulo'u (kapu symbol). Between 1100 and 1300 AD a great number of new settlements were established, many of them in previously uninhabited drier leeward areas. In the windward areas where settlements had previously tended to cluster on the coasts, there is evidence of habitation throughout the interior portions of the valleys. Population growth would appear to have been very rapid during this period and the next. IV. 1400-1600 AD NA LAU PALAIALI'I ("The sprouting leaves of the chiefs")

Kumulipo, line 281 'O ho'oulu i ka lau palaiali'i 'The sprout that shot forth leaves of high chiefs This wa is defined most strikingly by the development of large-scale dryland garden systems in the inland areas of the leeward sides of the islands. On the island of Hawai'i, the Kona field system behind Kealakekua, eonstructed largely during this period, covers over 140 mr % > -w» mah ' t i

square kilometers, and the Kohala field system behind Lapakahi State Park covers some 57 square kilometers. Many fishponds were also built during this time whieh represents a major period of agricultural and aquacultural development. In traditional mo'olelo we first hear of multi-district poliheal units representing at times the unification of whole islands under ali'i nui (paramount chiefs), such as Kapaealakona of O'ahu at about 1440 AD, Ahukiniala'a of Kaua'i at about 1420 AD, and Pi'ilani of Maui, just before 1600 AD. V. 1600-1795 AD KA MULI LOA ("THE YOUNGER LINES") Kumulipo, line 703 'O ka ewe O kana muli i muli ai 'His descendants would thence belong to the younger line' The traditional mo'olelo are most detailed for this wa, often describing the overthrow of ali'i nui by those of more junior lineages, famous examples being 'Umi and Kamehameha. Military campaigns extended beyond individual islands culminating in 1795 with the unification of most of the Hawaiian archipelago by Kamehameha after the battle of Nu'uanu. Hawaiian culture as described by the early European explorers eame into being during this wa. After 1795, the isolation of Hawai'i was increasingly broken and foreign influences eame to play a growing part in its history, culminating in the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. Hopefully, the usage of these terms may present historians, scholars, teachers and those involved in the recording of Hawaiian traditions with an alternative form of describing the past from a Hawaiian perspective that has taken into account modern scholarship.

Halawa Valley was famous for its extensive taro fields. Pictured is one of its lo'i walls.