Portuguese in Hawaiʻi

Reportedly, the first Portuguese in Hawai'i were sailors that came on the Eleanora in 1790.  It is believed the first Portuguese nationals to live in the Hawaiian kingdom sailed through on whalers, as early as 1794, and jumped ship.

The first recorded Portuguese visitor was John Elliot de Castro, who sailed to Hawaiʻi in 1814.  During his days in Hawaiʻi he became a retainer of King Kamehameha I, serving as his personal physician and as member of the royal court.

After two years in Hawaiʻi, he sailed off to the island of Sitka, Alaska and joined the Russian-American Company under Alexander Baranov, working as a commercial agent.

Later, Whitney notes, “In (1828,) extensive fields of cane were grown in and about Honolulu, and mills were erected in Nuuanu Valley and at Waikapu, Maui. At the latter place, a Portugese, named Antonio Silva, is spoken of as the pioneer sugar planter."

For 50 years after these early visitors arrived, Portuguese sailors came ashore alone or in small groups, jumping ship to enjoy Hawaiian life and turning their backs on the rough life aboard whalers and other vessels.

The 1853 population of the Hawaiian Islands was 73,134, including 2,119 foreigners, of these, reportedly 86 were Portuguese.  Hawaiians referred to the Portuguese as “Pokiki.”

Eventually several hundred Portuguese made the Islands their home.  Many of the settlers came from Madeira Islands (about half the size of Oʻahu,) off the coast of Africa.  They also came from the Azores, nine islands between Portugal and the US, and about 1½-times the size of Oʻahu.

The reciprocity treaty in 1875 between the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the United States opened the US sugar market to Hawaiʻi and greatly increased the demand for workers.

Jacinto Pereira (also known as Jason Perry,) a Portuguese citizen and owner of a dry goods store in Honolulu, suggested in 1876 that Hawaiʻi's government look for sugar labor from Madeira where farmers were succumbing to a severe economic depression fostered by a blight that decimated vineyards and the wine industry.

At that time, about 400-Portuguese, a large number of whom formerly served as seamen on whaling vessels, lived in Hawaiʻi.  Then, the numbers grew.

São Miguel in the eastern Azores was also chosen as a source of labor. In 1878, the first Portuguese immigrant laborers to Honolulu arrived on the German ship Priscilla. At least one hundred men, women and children arrived to work on the sugar plantations. That year marked the beginning of the mass migration of Portuguese to Hawaiʻi, which continued until the end of the century.

In 1879 in Hawaiʻi, Portuguese musicians (Madeira Islanders) played on "strange instruments, which are a kind of cross between a guitar and a banjo, but which produce very sweet music" (this Madeiran guitar, the machete, was destined to become known as the Hawaiian ʻukulele.)  (Hawaiian Gazette - September 3, 1879)

On his world tour, in 1881, King David Kalākaua visited Portugal and was entertained in royal fashion by Portugal’s King Dom Luis. That year two ships delivered over 800-men, women and children from São Miguel.  The next year a treaty of immigration and friendship was signed between Portugal and the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Migration to Hawaiʻi became popular to escape poverty and a harsh military system. The dream of settling in islands that looked like home drew workers away from offers to labor in the fields of Brazil and urban seaports of the US.

Mass immigration of the Portuguese to Hawaiʻi also came from New England and California as Portuguese came to replace Chinese workers who left plantations to open stores and work in the trades.

While Chinese and Japanese workers had come as single men, whole families came from Portugal (reportedly, forty-two percent of the early Portuguese emigrants were men, 19% women and 39% children.)

The sponsoring of Portuguese immigration to Hawaiʻi was ceased in 1888 due to its high cost and the success of efforts to recruit Japanese workers. Almost 12,000-people had moved from Madeira or São Miguel, Azores to Hawaiʻi by that time.

Many continued to be employed by the plantations even after their contracts had been fulfilled.  Others, however, sought to take up independent work and turned especially to farming and ranching.  Between 1890 and 1910, many Portuguese left Hawaiʻi and migrated to California, primarily the Bay Area.

The Portuguese have given Hawaiʻi many traditions.  In music - they brought the ʻukulele and steel-string guitar.  Try to image Hawaiʻi without sausage (linguiça,) malasada (malassada) or sweet bread (pão doce) … or Frank De Lima.

The image shows the early influence the Portuguese had on Hawaiian music and hula - the ʻukulele.  I added a couple of other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Pāʻū Riding

Throughout the years of late-prehistory, 1400s - 1700s AD, and through much of the 1800s, the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawai`i.  Most permanent villages initially were near the ocean and sheltered beaches, which provided access to good fishing grounds, as well as facilitating canoe travel between villages.

Although the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi, extensive cross-country trail networks.   Overland travel was by foot and followed the traditional trails.

Then, in 1803, American ship under Captain William Shaler (with commercial officer Richard Cleveland,) arrived with three horses aboard – gifts for King Kamehameha.

In the 1820s and 1830s, more horses were imported from California, and by the 1840s the use of introduced horses, mules and bullocks for transportation was increasing.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, riding on horseback had come to be both a common means of efficient travel and a common form of recreation and entertainment.  The recreational aspect of horseback riding made the greatest appeal. Hawaiians became enthusiastic and expert equestrians. (Kuykendall)

So, how did the women adapt to the horse transportation environment?  In pre-contact Hawaii, the predominant form of dress for women was the pāʻū.

This consisted of a rectangular piece of kapa (tapa,) which was fabricated from the inner bark of wauke (paper mulberry trees) that was wrapped several times around the waist and extended from beneath the bust (for royalty) or the waistline (for commoners) to the knee (it looked like a hula skirt.)

By the time of horse travel, Hawaiian fashion had already transitioned to Western wear, and Hawaiian women chose to ride astride, rather than sidesaddle.  They adapted the traditional pāʻū by adding length to it – it was worn as a protective covering to keep a woman’s fancy garment from getting soiled on the way to a party or gathering.

The earliest pāʻū skirts were formed from fabrics of the day, primarily calico or gingham.  It was made of a single piece of fabric, up to 12 yards in length, wrapped around the rider in such a way as to flow over the stirrups and to the ground.

There are no “fasteners,” such as buttons, pins or buckles; the pāʻū is held in place with kukui nuts that are twisted inside the fabric, tucked into the waistband for a secure fit.

There are different methods for wrapping, depending on family tradition. Some start from front to back and use just a few kukui nuts to hold the skirt in place, while others gather the fabric from the back, using up to eight kukui nuts.

In 1875, Isabella Bird noted, "There were hundreds of native horsemen and horsewomen, many of them doubtless on the dejected quadrupeds I saw at the wharf, but a judicious application of long rowelled Mexican spurs, and a degree of emulation, caused these animals to tear along at full gallop.”

“The women seemed perfectly at home in their gay, brass-bossed, high peaked saddles, flying along astride, bare-footed, with their orange and scarlet riding dresses streaming on each side beyond their horses’ tails, a bright kaleidoscopic flash of bright eyes, white teeth, shining hair, garlands of flowers and many coloured dresses”.  (Isabella Bird, 1875)

“Sometimes a troop of twenty of these free-and-easy female riders went by at a time, a graceful and exciting spectacle, with a running accompaniment of vociferation and laughter. …  In the shady, tortuous streets we met hundreds more of native riders, dashing at full gallop without fear of the police. Many of the women were in flowing riding dresses of pure white, over which their unbound hair, and wreaths of carmine-tinted flowers fell most picturesquely."  (Isabella Bird, 1875)

By the early-1900s, the automobile made its appearance and soon reduced the need and use of horses.  Then, a group of women made a society to keep the culture going and Pāʻū clubs were formed.

The Hawaiian Star, February 22, 1906, headlined the “Floral Parade a Great Success.”  “It was a great day for Honolulu. The Promotion Committee’s inauguration of what is intended to be an annual event in celebration of Washington's birthday, could have asked no better day, no greater success, no more wide spread interest in all classes of the population, no greater enthusiasm among those who participated In the parade, and no more unique, striking, or picturesque a feature to Individualize the celebration In Honolulu, and make it separate, and apart from the pageant of other places than the Pa-u riders.”

“The Pa-u riders, of course, were the magnet and center of attraction. This revival of an old custom, picturesque and under the conditions that gave rise to it, strikingly useful, was a happy thought of the Promotion Committee.  It appealed to dormant but when aroused, pleasing associations, among the older residents, especially the Hawaiians. It appealed to the love of oddity and the striking costume in the younger generation.”  (The Hawaiian Star, February 22, 1906)

“To the old-timers of Honolulu Time seemed to have gone backward in its flight when they saw this morning the long line of pa-u riders following the automobiles and other rigs in the Floral Parade. The pa-u section was a picturesque part of the parade, and it was a reminder of old times to hundreds of those who watched, for pa-u riding, which has been unseen here for many years, was once a regular performance.” (The Hawaiian Star, February 22, 1906)

The next year reporting on February 22, 1907 edition of The Hawaiian Star affirmed the annual tradition by describing the second annual floral parade, noting, “Flowers and bright scenes every where marked the parade and showed a happy combination of modern achievement with the customs of Hawaiian days of long ago.”

“There was a most striking array of pa-u riders. … A new feature this year were the Island princesses. It was in this division that the most elegant horses were shown.“  (The Hawaiian Star, February 22, 1907)

“The pa-u riders were undoubtedly the most unique feature of the parade.  The revival of the old picturesque riding costume is certainly an excellent idea.  It has undoubtedly returned to stay, for it has now made it evident that after this no parade would be complete without it.”  (Evening Bulletin, February 22, 1907)

Pāʻū riding is a uniquely Hawaiian equestrian style; one notable horsewoman, Anna Lindsey Perry-Fiske introduced the continent to the riding tradition at the Calgary Stampede and the 1972 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade.  She later show-cased “Old Hawaiʻi on Horseback” pageants.

The tradition of wearing the pāʻū is kept alive today and has evolved into an elaborate display in which lei-adorned women demonstrate their horsemanship at parades and celebrations throughout Hawaiʻi.

With the pāʻū queen and her unit leading the way, each pāʻū princess presides over her own unit representing one of the eight major Hawaiian Islands, with each island unit displaying its island flower and colors.

Niʻihau has niʻihau shells and their colors are brown/white; Kauaʻi has the mokihana and their color is purple; Oahu has an Ilima flower and their color is yellow; Molokaʻi has kukui and their color is green; Maui has the lokelani and their color is pink; Lānaʻi has the kaunaona and their color is orange; Kahoolawe has ahinahina and their colors are grey/blue and Hawaiʻi Island has the ʻōhiʻa lehua and their color is red.

The Merrie Monarch Royal Parade is held today at 10:30 am, the Pāʻū riders will be there; the parade begins and ends at Pauahi St. and winds through downtown Hilo (Kilauea Ave. - Keawe St. - Waiānuenue Ave. - Kamehameha Ave.)  The image shows four pāʻū riders in the 1880s.  In addition, I have added other images to a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Kahekili

Born at Haliʻimaile, Maui, Kahekilinui‘ahumanu (Kahekili) was the son of the high chief Kekaulike-kalani-ku‘i-hono-i-ka-moku (Kekaulike) and high chiefess Keku‘iapoiwanui-a-kalaninui-kaulele-ia-iwi.

Kalola (Kahekili’s sister and daughter of chief Kekaulike’s second wife) played an integral part in Kahekili’s reign over Maui Nui and O’ahu. Kalola, too, was a very high born ali’i.

In 1765, Kahekili inherited all of Maui Nui and O‘ahu and was appointed successor to his brother Kamehamehanui’s kingdom (not to be confused with Hawai‘i Island’s Kamehameha I.)

The power, however, that he received through this inheritance did not satisfy his desire to gain political influence through his own accomplishments. Therefore, Kahekili chose to prove himself through warfare.

He was a formidable competitor and demanded his warriors follow his lead, which they did.  And, with each success, Kahekili’s power increased.

Kahekili first proved himself a formidable adversary by defeating the Hawaiʻi army led by Kalani‘ōpu‘u in 1775. Kalani‘ōpu‘u promised revenge and, in 1776, he again went to battle against Kahekili. Unfortunately, Kalaniʻōpuʻu was not aware of the alliance between Kahekili and Kahahana, an ali‘i of O‘ahu.

This alliance greatly outnumbered Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s army. Therefore, Kahekili and Kahahana’s army defeated Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s army as they entered the sand hills of Wailuku. This battle became known as Ahulau-ka-piʻipiʻi-i-kakanilua.

In a desperate act to save what was left, Kalani‘ōpu‘u requested that his wife, Kalola, plead for peace from her brother Kahekili.

However, knowing that Kahekili would not look upon her with favor, Kalola suggested their son, Kiwalaʻō be sent instead.  Kahekili’s welcomed Kiwalaʻō and sealed his acceptance of peace.

For a time, after the great sand hills battle in Wailuku, peace and tranquility returned. Kahekili took his leadership seriously; he was faithful to his people, made changes, established rules and took active interest in the welfare of his people and lands.

During times of peace and celebration, when tournaments that required great strength, stamina and ability were held, Kahekili continued to amass great respect with his victories. Such victories assisted in further cementing his position as the son of the divine ruling family of Maui.

Later, Kahekili and his eldest son and heir-apparent, Kalanikūpule, were carrying on war and conquered Kahahana, adding Oʻahu under his control.

Through subsequent inter-island conquest, the marriage of his brother to the Queen of Kauaʻi, and appointment of his son to alternately govern Maui, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe and Oʻahu during his periodic absences, by 1783, Kahekili dominated all the Hawaiian Islands, except for Hawaiʻi.

In the late-1780s into 1790, Kamehameha conquered the Island of Hawai‘i and was pursuing conquest of Maui and eventually sought to conquer the rest of the archipelago.

In 1790, Kamehameha travelled to Maui.  Hearing this, Kahekili sent Kalanikūpule back to Maui with a number of chiefs (Kahekili remained on O‘ahu to maintain order there.)

Kahekili’s rule stretched for almost thirty years. He became known for his extreme measures whether it was making sure his people were obeying the kapu and the gods, or by destroying his enemies.

He ruled on Maui before he fell ill and returned to Waikīkī, until his death in 1793 at the age of eighty-seven.  As with all ali‘i, Kahekili’s bones were carried away and hidden - thought to be in North Kohala.

Kahekili’s son, Kalanikūpule, inherited his kingdom.  Kamehameha faced Kalanikūpule in the famous battle "Kepaniwai" (the damming of the waters) in ‘Iao Valley (which Kamehameha decisively won.)

Maui Island was conquered by Kamehameha and Maui’s fighting force was destroyed - Kalanikūpule and other chiefs escaped and made their way to O‘ahu (Kalanikūpule was later defeated by Kamehameha at the Battle of Nuʻuanu in 1795.)

(Lots of good information here is from “Kahekilinuiʻahumanu - Kahekili Study Guide” (Kauahea Inc and Maui Arts & Cultural Center.))  The image shows a performance of Kahekili by the Maui Arts and Cultural Center.  I added a couple of other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Pioneer Company

The coming of Henry Obookiah (ʻŌpūkahaʻia) and other young Hawaiians to the continent had awakened a deep Christian sympathy in the churches and moved the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to establish a mission in the Hawaiian Islands.

Among the other Hawaiian students at the Foreign Mission School were Thomas Hopu, William Kanui, John Honoliʻi and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaiʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i.)

When asked “Who will return with these boys to their native land to teach the truths of salvation?”  Hiram Bingham and his classmate, Asa Thurston, were the first to respond and offer their services to the Board.  (Congregational Quarterly)

Bingham and Thurston were ordained at Goshen, Ct on September 29, 1819; it was the first ordination of foreign missionaries in the State of Connecticut.

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)

There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in this first company.

These included two Ordained Preachers, Hiram Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; a Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; a Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; and a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.

Although a large part of the motivation for the Hawaiʻi missionary movement, Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia unfortunately died of typhus fever in 1818 and didn’t return home to teach the gospel.  However, his book, “Memoirs of Henry Obookiah,” was the inspiration for this and subsequent Hawaiian missionary companies.

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. … Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.”  (The Friend)

After 164-days at sea, on April 4, 1820, the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi.  Hawai‘i’s “Plymouth Rock” is about where the Kailua pier is today.

By the time the Pioneer Company arrived, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished; through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by former Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.

One of the first things Bingham and his fellow missionaries did was begin to learn the Hawaiian language and create an alphabet for a written format of the language.   Their emphasis was on teaching and preaching.

On July 14, 1826, the missionaries selected a 12-letter alphabet for the written Hawaiian language, using five vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p and w) in their "Report of the committee of health on the state of the Hawaiian language."   The report is signed by Hiram Bingham and Levi Chamberlain.

The arrival of the first company of American missionaries in Hawaiʻi marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

By 1831, in just eleven years from the first arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiians had built 1,103 schoolhouses. This covered every district throughout the eight major islands and serviced an estimated 52,882 students.  (Laimana)

The proliferation of schoolhouses was augmented by the printing of 140,000 copies of the pīʻāpā (elementary Hawaiian spelling book) by 1829 and the staffing of the schools with 1,000-plus Hawaiian teachers.  (Laimana)

Interestingly, these same early missionaries taught their lessons in Hawaiian, rather than English.  In part, the mission did not want to create a separate caste and portion of the community as English-speaking Hawaiians.  In later years, the instruction, ultimately, was in English.

Within five years of the missionaries’ arrival, a dozen chiefs had sought Christian baptism and church membership, including the king’s regent Kaʻahumanu.  The Hawaiian people followed their native leaders, accepting the missionaries as their new priestly class.  The process culminated in Hawaiian King Kamehameha III’s adoption of Christianity and a Biblically-based constitution in 1840.  (Schulz)

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863) (the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the ABCFM in the Hawaiian Islands.

Today, the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, a nonprofit educational institution and genealogical society, exists to promote an understanding of the social history of nineteenth-century Hawai‘i and its critical role in the formation of modern Hawai‘i.

The Society operates the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, comprised of three historic houses and a research archives with reading room. The Society also compiles the genealogical records of the American Protestant missionaries in Hawai‘i and promotes the participation of missionary descendants in the Society's activities.

Through the Site and Archives, the Society collects and preserves the documents, artifacts and other records of the missionaries in Hawai‘i's history; makes these collections available for research and educational purposes; and interprets the historic site and collections to reflect the social history of nineteenth century Hawai‘i and America.

The image shows the early Mission house and Chapel in Honolulu (the precursor of today’s Kawaiahaʻo Church.)  More images are added to a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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David Malo

David Malo, one of the early native Hawaiian scholars, was the son of Aoao and his wife Heone, and was born in Keauhou, North Kona Hawai‘i; his father had been soldier in the army of Kamehameha I.

The exact year of his birth is not known, but it was about 1793, around the time of Vancouver's second visit to the islands.

During his early life Malo was connected with the high chief Kuakini (Governor Adams,) who was a brother of Queen Ka‘ahumanu.

In 1823, Malo moved to Lāhainā, Maui where he learned to read and write. Malo soon converted to Christianity and was given the baptismal name of David.

In 1831, he entered Lahainaluna High School (at about the age of 38;) the school opened with twenty-five students, under the leadership of Reverend Lorrin Andrews – he graduated in the class of 1835.  

From about 1835, he started writing notes on the Hawaiian religion and cultural history, along with other members of the school and instructor Sheldon Dibble.

Malo came to be regarded as the great authority and repository of Hawaiian lore and was in great demand as a story-teller of the old-time traditions, mele, and genealogies, and as a master in arrangements of the hula.

The law which first established a national school system was the "Statute for the Regulation of Schools" which was enacted on October 15, 1840, and was reenacted, with some important amendments, on May 21, 1841.

Malo was appointed as the general school agent for Maui; he was then voted to be in charge of all the general school agents, therefore becoming the first superintendent of schools of the Hawaiian kingdom (where he served at least until the middle of 1845.

He was described as “tall and of spare frame, active, energetic, a good man of business, eloquent of speech, independent in his utterances.”

“He was of a type of mind inclined to be jealous and quick to resent any seeming slight in the way of disparagement or injustice that might be shown to his people or nation, and was one who held tenaciously to the doctrine of national integrity and independence.”

After being ordained to the Christian ministry, he settled down in the seaside village of Kalepolepo on East Maui where he remained until his death in October 1853.

His book, Hawaiian antiquities (Moolelo Hawaii - 1898,) addressed the genealogies, traditions and beliefs of the people of Hawai‘i.

In the "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition," Admiral Wilkes (1840,) commenting on books about Hawai‘i, said, "(s)ome of them are by native authors.  Of these I cannot pass at least one without naming him.”

“This is David Malo, who is highly esteemed by all who know him, and who lends the missionaries his aid, in mind as well as example, in ameliorating the condition of his people and checking licentiousness.”

“At the same time he sets an example of industry, by farming with his own hands, and manufactures from his own sugar cane an excellent molasses."

In the introduction to his book, the trustees of Bishop Museum acknowledge they “are rendering an important service to all Polynesian scholars.”

They also suggest the book “form(s) a valuable contribution not only to Hawaiian archaeology, but also to Polynesian ethnology in general.”

Click here for a link to the book that you may download (I downloaded it, did an Optical Character Recognition and use it all the time in learning more about Hawai‘i.)

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Largest Earthquake in Hawaiʻi

Magnitude 7.9, Kaʻū, Island of Hawaiʻi, April 2, 1868

On March 27, 1868, whaling ships at Kawaihae on the west coast of Hawaiʻi observed dense clouds of smoke rising from Mauna Loa’s crater, Mokuʻāweoweo, to a height of several miles and reflecting the bright light from the lava pit.

Slight shocks were felt at Kona on the west coast and Kaʻū on the flanks of the volcano.

On the 28th, lava broke out on the southwest flank and created a 15-mile flow to the sea. Over 300 strong shocks were felt at Kaʻū and 50 to 60 were felt at Kona.

At Kilauea, the surface of the ground quivered for days with frequent vigorous shocks that caused lamps, crockery and chairs to spin around as if animated.

One shock resembled that of a cannon projectile striking the ground under the proprietor's bed, causing him to flee, according to the narrative published by C. H. Hitchcock in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America in 1912.

Between March 28, 1868 and April 11, over 2,000 distinct shocks were felt at Kona.

The main shocks struck on April 2, at 4:00 p.m., and again on April 4 at 12:30 a.m., the epicenter was located near Waiohinu.

“Thursday, April 2d, at a few minutes past four, p.m., the big earthquake occurred, which caused the ground around Kilauea to rock like a ship at sea. At that moment, there commenced fearful detonations in the crater, large quantities of lava were thrown up to a great height; portions of the wall tumbled in. This extraordinary commotion, accompanied with unearthly noise and ceaseless swaying of the ground continued from that day till Sunday night, April 5th”. (Hawaiian Gazette, May 6, 1868)

A magnitude of 7 ¾ was estimated for this earthquake (by Augustine Furumoto in his February 1966 article on the Seismicity of Hawaii in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America) based on the extent of intensity reports.  (Instrumental recordings, the usual basis for computing magnitudes, were not available at this early date.)

The shock was felt throughout the islands, as far as Niʻihau about 350 miles away.

The ground rolled like a ship at sea and many walls tumbled down.

A landslide three miles long and thirty feet thick swept down the hill carrying trees, animals, and men.  Thirty-one people and thousands of cattle, sheep, horses and goats were killed in the one slide.

A tsunami struck the coast from Hilo to South Cape, being most destructive at Keauhou, Puna and Honuʻapo; 180 houses were washed away and 62 lives were lost to the wave alone.

A 10-foot-high wave carried wreckage inland 800-feet. Not a house survived at Honuʻapo. A stone church and other buildings were destroyed at Punaluʻu.

Maximum wave heights were 65 feet, the highest observed on Hawaiʻi to date.

At Keauhou (now Keauhou Landing) the water rose 35-50-feet destroying all the houses and warehouses and drowning 46 people. At Hilo, the height of the wave was about 10-feet, and at Kealakekua, 6-feet. The tsunami also was observed on Maui and Oʻahu. Also felt on Lānaʻi, Maui, Oʻahu, and Kauaʻi.

“The tidal wave was much greater than before stated. It rolled in over the tops of the cocoanut trees, probably sixty feet high, and drove the floating rubbish, timber, etc., inland a distance of a quarter of a mile in some places, taking out to sea when it returned, houses, men, women, and almost everything movable. The villages Punaluu, Ninole, Kawaa and Honuapo were utterly annihilated.”  (American Journal of Science, 1868)

This major earthquake caused 77 deaths (tsunami, 46; landslide, 31).

It knocked almost all wooden houses off their foundations in the Keiawa, Punaluʻu and Nīnole areas. In those areas, straw houses supported by posts in the ground reportedly were “torn to shreds.”

At Kaʻū, the more substantial houses and every stone wall were thrown down.

At Waiʻōhinu, a large stone church collapsed within 10 seconds of the onset of shaking. The shock "ruined" the few stone buildings in Hilo and shook down almost every wall. Brooks became muddy.

At Kealakekua, strong trees were bent backward and forward "like reeds in a storm." Ground waves as much as 2-feet from ground to crest were observed at Kohala.

The motion was so violent at ʻUlupalakua that it was difficult for people to stand. Reports from Keaiwa and Kiolakaʻa suggest that vertical accelerations larger than 1g may have occurred (which means that the force of the earth pushing up on something is stronger than the force of gravity keeping it on the ground.)

Extensive surface effects were observed in the epicentral region. Ground fissures extended from Pahala to Kilauea. At Kahuku, a fissure about 5 kilometers long was reported. A volcanic eruption took place from that fissure a few days later, on April 7.

Along the Puna coast, the land subsided in places as much as 6-feet. At Kaimū, trees stood about 8-feet deep in sand and water. The plain at Kalapana sank about 6-feet, and water stood as much as 5-feet deep over 20 acres of formerly dry land.

Much of the information here is from USGS, with some noted from the diary and letters of Mrs. Sarah J. Lyman, wife of missionary David Layman in Hilo.

The image shows the map of the islands and the general location of Hawaiʻi’s largest earthquake.

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Lūʻau

To the Hawaiians, the ‘āina (land,) wai (water,) kai (ocean) and lewa (sky) were the foundation of life and the source of the spiritual relationship between people and their environs.  (Maly)

It is not surprising, then, that ʻāina - the land; that which sustains the people - is the root to the Hawaiian reference to feast - ʻahaʻaina (literally, meal gathering.)

In ancient Hawaiʻi, men and woman ate their meals apart. Commoners and women of all ranks were also forbidden by the ancient tradition to eat certain foods.

This changed in 1819, when King Kamehameha is best remembered for the ‘Ai Noa, the breaking of the ancient kapu (tabu) system of religious laws, six months into his reign, when he sat down with Kaʻahumanu and his mother Keōpūolani and ate a meal together.

Up to about 160-years ago, the ʻahaʻaina or pāʻina were the calls to feast and party together.  These feasts marked special occasions — such as reaching a significant life milestone, victory at war, the launching of a new canoe or a great endeavor. They believed in celebrating these occasions with their friends and families.

Later, a new term was used - Lūʻau - to refer to these festive events; however, it’s not clear when.  It’s interesting how a word that is associated as one of the most Hawaiian of activities (a feast,) is actually a relatively new term.  The name came from the name of the young tender kalo (taro) leaves.

In an April 1, 1850 story in ‘The Friend,’ the term luau is used (possibly for the first time - in a translation of ‘Visit of the French sloop of war Bonite, to the Sandwich Islands, in 1836,’) stating, “At the King’s order the luau was served up.  A gastronomic feast is called luau at the Sandwich Islands.  It takes its name from an indispensable dish of young taro leaves boiled, or cooked in fat.  In an instant, the cloth was covered with young pigs, fowl, sweet potatoes, luau, etc – all these having been enveloped in leaves and cooked in the earth by the means of red hot stones.”  (The Friend, April 1, 1850)

Since ‘The Friend’ article was a translation of French, it is not clear if the ‘luau’ term was used in 1836 (the time of the party,) or in 1850 (or before - when the translation was printed.)  A word search of the French text did not note the use of the word 'luau.'

It’s also not clear if this is the first reference to “lūʻau;” but it predates what Pukui notes as the first use of the term ‘luau,’ where she says it goes back at least to 1856, when it was used in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser.

The term “lūʻau” is mentioned again in references to the wedding celebration on Alexander ʻIolani Liholiho Keawenui and Emma Kalanikaumakaamano Kaleleonālani Naʻea Rooke, when on June 19, 1856 they became known as King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma.  (This may be the reference Pukui was referring to.)

The happy couple was wed in the “Stone Church” (Kawaiahaʻo.)  “At half-past eleven o'clock the procession from the palace entered the church, led by the bride, Miss Emma Rooke, who was accompanied by Dr. Rooke, her father, and three bridesmaids, consisting of HRH Victoria (Kuhina Nui, Kaʻahumanu IV,) Miss Lydia Paki (later to become Queen Liliʻuokalani,) and Miss Mary Pitman ("Belle of Hilo Bay".) (The groomsmen were Prince Lot (later Kamehameha V), Prince William and David Kalākaua (later King Kalākaua.))  Immediately following, came his Majesty accompanied by his father, the Governor of Oʻahu, and numerous attendants, bearing some twenty Kahilis, the ancient insignia of royalty.”

The Sacramento Daily Union ran a repeat of a July 2, 1856 Pacific Commercial Advertiser story of the nuptial and subsequent celebration. In part, it stated, “On the following day the palace grounds were thrown open to the native population, large numbers of whom visited the King and Queen, and partook of a luau (or native feast), prepared for them. A luau was also served up at the residence of Dr. Rooke.”

Some have suggested “luau” was used to describe the anniversary celebration party for the Ka La Ho‘iho‘i Ea - Sovereignty Restoration Day Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) had in 1847 – with 10,000 guests.  While no newspaper accounts have been found describing it, the minutes of the Privy Council note that they “voted that the King make a large feast at Luakaha on the 31st day,” in their July 1, 1847 meeting.

The minutes further note, “At the hour of 10, the King and Premier together with their wives shall drive out on a carriage to be drawn by four horses accompanied by all the Chiefs on horses and carriages, followed by the foreigners and natives. The fort shall fire a salute, and at the arrival of the company at its destination another salute is to be fired from the small brass field pieces, to be followed by spear thrusting; after which, the company is to sit down to the feast. At the conclusion of the feast the company is to return to town.”  (The term 'lūʻau ' was not noted.)

The use of the name grew.

“In the year 1869 the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred of England, arrived in the harbor of Honolulu, being in command of Her Britannic Majesty's ship-of-war Galatea. As soon as the king learned of the duke's presence he made special preparations for his reception”.  (Liliʻuokalani)

“I gave a grand luau at my Waikiki residence, to which were invited all those connected with the government, indeed, all the first families of the city, whether of native or foreign birth. … The sailor-prince mounted the driver's box of the carriage, and taking the reins from that official, showed himself an expert in the management of horses. … Kalama, widow of Kamehameha III., drove out to Waikiki in her own carriage of state”.  (Liliʻuokalani)

"When the prince entered, he was met by two very pretty Hawaiian ladies, who advanced and, according to the custom of our country, decorated him with leis or long pliable wreaths of flowers suspended from the neck.”  (Liliʻuokalani)

A guest at King Kalākaua’s coronation celebration in 1883 noted, "Shortly after the coronation ball had taken place and we were wondering ‘what next,’ we received invitations to a large "Luau" or feast, to be held at Iolani Palace.”  (Grant)

“Tables were draped with white, but the entire tops were covered with ferns and leaves massed together so as almost to form a tablecloth of themselves; quantities of flowers were placed about mingling with the ferns … The natives had turned out in great numbers, and the scent of their leis of flowers and maile leaves was almost overpowering."  (Grant)

While it’s not clear when the reference was first made, today, people still get together with family and friends at a lūʻau to celebrate special events.

Of course, in addition to the lei and entertainment (formal and informal,) now, you can also expect lots of the “typical” lūʻau food including kālua pig, poi, sweet potatoes, rice, lomilomi salmon (also a relative newcomer) and much more.

The image shows Stevenson, Liliʻuokalani and Kalākaua at a lūʻau in Waikīkī; in addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC