Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 10, 1 October 2016 — The Battle Of Kuamo'o Continues [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Battle Of Kuamo'o Continues

n December 1819, three months before the missionaries arrived, a bloody battle was fought on Hawai'i Island just south of what is now Kailua town at a plaee called Kuamo'o. The battle of Kuamo'o is not as renowned as others such as the battle of Nu'uanu Pali, whieh was a stra-

tegic victory for Kamehameha the Great. Yet this battle was the singular most pivotal clash in Native Hawaiian history. It was a foreboding indicator of change to the entire construct of Hawaiian society. Whether the changes that have occurred are for better or worse remains an unanswered question. Kamehameha the Great had been exposed to Christianity by European seafarers. Nonetheless, he remained true to the old religion, the kapu system, and the plurality of the ancestral gods,

Kamehameha passed away and was succeeded by his eldest son, Liholiho, who shared ruling authority with Ka'ahumanu, who had become a powerful persona in the royal court and given the title of Kuhina Nui. With the support of other high-ranking chiefs, Ka'ahumanu and Lihiliho ordered that the kapu system be abolished and all temples and god figures be destroyed. Enter Kekuaokalani, nephew of Kamehameha the Great and a high-ranking chief upon whom Kamehameha had bestowed the responsibility of being the caretaker of Kū, the god of war. Kekuaokalani was outraged by the idea of abolishing the religion he had vowed to protect. He was joined by many Hawaiians who threatened war against the Liholiho and Ka'ahumanu. And so, one of the bloodiest and most defining battles of the kingdom eommenced on the lava fields of Kuamo'o. Kekuaokalani, a proud and fearless warrior chief, was joined on the battlefield by his wife, Manono. With a smaller, less-well-armed force, they knew this would be a fight to their death, and so

it was. Kekuaokalani fell wounded. He lay dying as Manono fought beside him until she too was killed, falling onto his body. It is the stuff of legend. Indeed, a popular chant still sung today, "E Manono," celebrates her heroism. But the kapu system as state

religion was broken forever. The battle of Kuamo'o brought a somewhat desperate condition of change to an entire system of life as Hawaiians had known it for centuries. Many were confused. All the gods and religious practices that had guided their day-to-day lives were gone. But while the abolishment of the gods with the Battle of Kuamo'o as a political act succeeded in changing the law, it fared less well in changing

hearts and minds. Some still carry on

the old religious traditions. Some blend the old with Christianity in an amazing juggling of the two. In many ways the Battle of Kuamo'o still rages. But the battlefield is not a physical plaee. It's a plaee where old and new Hawaiian cultural and political ideologies swirl about in a battle of minds attempting to sort out a Hawaiian future as an extension of where we've been. Absent the leadership structure of the kingdom and a fading of the ali'i class, there is no traditional center of gravity to whieh Hawaiians ean turn to navigate political and cultural disagreements. My hope is that we will not end up with winners and losers as we did with the battle of Kuamo'o. That in the end we should take the heart-wrenching lesson that springs from the dying words of Kekuaokalani's wife, Manono, as she lay across his body on the battlefield and implored of the surrounding warriors: "Mālama ko aloha - keep your love." ■ For more information, see my website at www.PeterApo.com or emai.l me at peteraoha@ gmail.com

j LEO 'ELELE ^ % TRUSTEE MESSSAGES r

PetEr Apo TrustEE, O'ahu