Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 1, 1 January 2002 — Puʻupueo of Mānoa [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Puʻupueo

of Mānoa

The mana 01 the pueo (owl) is mighty, indeed, Several sites around O'ahu are home to the pueo, One particular site in Mānoa, known as Pu'upueo heiau in ancient times and now part of a munieipal park, has been allowed to deteriorate and is barely recognizable, Trash litters the top of the heiau and a huge banyan has sprouted, unchallenged, threatening its front wall, Recently, a temporary construction base yard with orange webbed fencing was established within feet of the sacred site, Hardly befitting of an important cultural site, Two mo'olelo of Pu'upueo eome

to mmd, 1 he mo olelo 01 the beauty of Mānoa, Kahalaopuna, tells of the mana of the Mānoa owl elan that lived at Pu'upueo, Kahalaopuna was born of the Mānoa wind and rain, She was so beautiful that a rainbow always followed her, Her story was one of tragedy caused by lies, jealousy and rage, The pueo of Mānoa used their great mana repeatedly to rescue Kahalaopuna from her tragic fate, ,An.other mo'olelo tells of a man named Kapo'i, One day, Kapo'i went in search of thatching to repair his house, On his way home, he found an owl's nest with seven eggs in it, He gathered the eggs and

planned to eat them for dinner, That evening he built a fire to prepare hot coals upon whieh he could eook the eggs, Carefully he wrapped the eggs in tī leaves, However, just as he was about to put the eggs on the hot coals, an owl that perched on his fence called to him: "E Kapo'i, give me back my eggsl" Kapo'i replied: "How many eggs did you have?" The owl answered, "Seven," Kapo'i told the pueo that he planned to eook and eat the eggs for dinner, The owl asked for the eggs again and Kapo'i refused again, The pueo pleaded for her eggs and Kapo'i finally took pity and returned the eggs to the owl, The owl then asked Kapo'i to build a heiau in Mānoa, at Pu'upueo, and instructed him to create an altar and to eall the heiau, Manua, Kapo'i complied and set kapu days for dedication of the heiau, He then placed a sacrifice on the altar, The pueo called together at Kalapueo in Makapu'u all the pueo from Lāna'i, Maui, Moloka'i and Hawai'i, All the pueo from the Ko'olau districts gathered at Kanoniakapueo in Nu'uanu; and all of the pueo from Kaua'i and Ni'ihau were brought to

Pueohulunui near Moanalua Valley, The King of O'ahu, Kākuhihewa, who was living in Waikīkī, was angered when he learned that Kapo'i had built and dedicated a heiau, Kākuhihewa had just banned building and dedicating of heiau prior to the completion and dedication of his own heiau and had declared the death penalty for anyone breaking this kapu, Kapo'i was seized and taken to be killed at Kupalaha heiau in Waikīkī, Kāhuhihewa decided that Kapo'i should be put to death on the day of Kāne, On the designated day, at daybreak, the pueo left their gathering places and their wings darkened the entire sky over Honolulu, As the King's servants got ready to put Kapo'i to death, the pueo attacked, pecking and scratching the servants, A fierce battle ensued between the King's men and the pueo, Finally, the pueo won and Kapo'i was released, The King acknowledged that Kapo'i's akua was a powerful one, Ever since then, pueo have been recognized as good and powerful deity among the many deities of the Hawaiian people, ■

Ol akino

By Claire Hughes, Dr. P.H., R.D.. Department of Health