Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 3, 1 March 1988 — Onee Active Community Ended by 1946 Tidal Wave [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Onee Active Community Ended by 1946 Tidal Wave

Makalawena Church Ruin Stands as Silent Marker

By Linda Kawai'ono Delaney Land Officer Only the ruin of Makalawena Church now stands as a silent marker for the nearby graves of its onee active congregation. Today, the unthinking route of the access road, natural erosion by the sea, and time are combining to disturb this nineteenth century cemetery. The Rev. Nomnan Keanaaina, kahu for the Mauna Ziona Church in Kona, is working with both the landowner Bishop Estate and the United Church of Christ to assure that these graves are moved to safe ground. Assisting him in doing the genealogical and historical research associated with the Church and its member families is Ruby McDonald, Community Resource Specialist for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in Kona. Efforts to contact known family of the old eongregation is a prime eoneem of disinterment and reburial planning. A genealogy chart from an oral history compiled by former Bishop Museum anthropologist Marion Kelly is included to assist in this search. If you recognize the lines as being part of your family, please eall Ruby in Kona (329-7368)

or contact the Land Officer in Honolulu (946-2642). Records on file with and translated by the Hawaiian Mission Society indicate that Makalawena was one of five district churches served by the circuit-riding Rev. G.P. Kaonohimaka. From the annual reports he submitted to the Society, we learn of the extraordinary trials experienced by the people of Makalawena. Drought killed their crops one year and forced them to either buy foodstuffs — an unlikely proposition due to the laek of cash during hard times— or to gather what they could from the abundant oeean but harsh land. Another year, "Pele opened her body" and "her stone children" threatened their homes and tested their Christian faith. Tenacious and persistent, the people of Makalawena survived and maintained the eommunity's bonds of plaee and family. However, the dislocation caused by the 1946 tidal wave meant the virtual end of the community. Kahu Keanaaina, though, wants to see the "sense of the community" continue. By maintaining the geographic and family association of the graves and their Christian heritage, he envisions an above-ground reinterment platform on the hill-

crest whieh was formerly site of Kaikalia Church. Echoing the attachments to plaee and belief, this site rests on a shoreline pu'u not far from the present graves. Pre-dating the Christian associations of Makalawena is a rich traditional Hawaiian past. Central to that experience were the pools whieh dot the length of the beach. The largest of these — Kapo'ikai— is now the home of several endangered native birds, and will probably soon be designated a National Wildlife Refuge. Although the detail of rituals associated with • See Makalawena Church, page 14

i. Now home to the koloa (Hawaiian duck) and other area to become a U.S. Wildlife Refuge.

Only a corner section of wall remains of the Makalawena Church. During the 1870's more than 250 people were registered as members of the congregation.

Genealogical Chart of the 'Ohana of Kinolau and Ha'ilau and the Hele Newa and Kahula.

• Makalawena Church, from page 13

these pools is apparently lost — what remains in stories indicate Makalawena was onee part of a spiritual cleansing and training area. As indicated in a recent "West Hawaii Today" eolumn by the Rev. Leon Sterling, even the name "Makala" — meaning to cleanse from defilement — and "wena" to glow, conjures the deep sacred nature of this plaee. Traditional trails lead to, and even through some of the pools, providing additional, strong evidence of purification rites. Other pools were probably specific bathing areas — as Rev. Keanaaina explained it, "like a furo" — where soaping and rinsing were performed in separate waters. Still other ponds were tenant bait areas, where 'opae'ula could be gathered by fishermen for use in the noted seas off Makalawena. Today the glow of Makalawena is dimmed by disuse and fading memory. But its fundamental beauty is bright. And its heirs now act with reverenee to keep what remains.