Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 6, 1 June 1994 — Hoʻokuou for Kahoʻolawe [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hoʻokuou for Kahoʻolawe

Stories and photos by Jeff Clark r

/■ / reason for the ceremony is for mahalo," Kekuhi Kanaka'ole Kanahele told those gathered on Kaho'olawe the night of • • I May 7 to prepare for traditional rites to be held the following morning. "Mahalo to the people that we see here and those A we cannot see - the animate and the inanimate." In a few hours the gathering of just under 1 00 Hawaiians and supporters, awakened by blows of the pū, headed into the sea for hi'uwai, or ritual cleansing. Then, dressed in traditional malo, klhei, or klkepa, they assembled atop the bluff on the north side of Hakioawa Bay and chanted to the sun and to nā 'aumākua. 'Awa was shared on Kahualele, the mua (a heiau-like structure) dedicated in August 1992 by the late Parley Kanaka'ole. The rest of the morning saw a series of processions to various sacred and significant sites in Hakioawa: ho'okupu were given at a shrine to the oeean god Kanaloa, a men's mua/heiau, the pā hula (hula platform) near the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana's base eamp, and a lele wahine up ma uka. The nephews of George Helm and Kimo Mitchell received and placed offerings of lei at two memorial plaques established along the coastline in 1987, the 10-year anniversary of Helm's and Mitchell's deaths. In the words of PKO leader Noa Emmett Aluli, "They made the ultimate sacrifice" in striving to end the bombings that so desecrated the sacred 'āina (they were lost at sea paddling a surfboard between Kaho'olawe and Maui).

"It was George's dream to re-green this island," Aluli said, adding that it is up to their survivors, especially the youth, to make that dream eome true. "You take what he said to heart - you a keiki o ka 'āina, just like me," Aunty Dotty Tao, a veteran of Kaho'olawe accesses and PKO work details, later told a non-Hawaiian kama'āina. The day's ceremonies weren't complete until 10 kāne lawai'a (fishermen) 10 times ritually held their breath underwater amid the crashing waves, even as the first boat arrived and paced offshore to ferry participants back to Maui. The rites ended as they began, with the sounding of the pū and the pahu, and the group call-and-response chant "I Kū Wa." Then a cheer went up, and the people set their sights on their next task: now that the island is home, it's time to concentrate on nursing her back to health.

Unele Les Kuloloio The evening of Saturday, May 7, after the participants had made it to Kaho'olawe across several miles of oeean from Mākena, Maui, Unele Les Kuloloio said of the gentle sea, "The gods are definitely with us." Kuloloio runs the show when it comes to getting on and off the island. "Logistics" is what he calls his forte - he coordinates the watery ballet of boats, passengers, water jugs, and ukana (cargo, enclosed in either taped buckets or trash bags), while his son Manuel and Dan Holmes skim about in twin Zodiac inflatables and the charter Prince Kūhiō and Bobby Luuwai's Punalele, T.H. bob in the nalu offshore.

When asked how he felt to stand on Kaho'olawe now that it is no longer the property of the United States Navy, he said, "Never sink in yet. I think I'm dreaming." To somehow lend the moment a dose of reality, he ground his bare heel into the land and let out a eaekle. "This is history," he said.

(Above) Lei were plaeeel at the plaques memorializing George Helm and Kimo Mitchell at a site picked by the late Unele Harry Kunihi Mitchell, the spiritual leader of the Protect Kaho'olawe Ohana. Said Ke'aiaka'i Kanaka'ole, "To the warriors who fought before me - your fighting was not for nothing."

(Above) Ho'okupu placed on the Kahualele ahu. (Left) This lele wahine, or women's raised altar, was one of the sites at whieh chant and ho'okupu were offered during ceremonies on Kaho'olawe.

Atwood I. Makanani poses in front of Kahualele. He led the building of the mua ha'i kupuna at the request of the late Parley Kanaka'ole.