Papa Mau Piailug

One of the greatest people to ever give pride to my Hawaiian people has left the Earth that we walk on.

Papa Mau Piailug is a Pwo from the Island of Satawal.  He leaves behind a legacy not just for his people, but for all cultures of Moananuiākea (a.k.a. Pacific Ocean) of our modern times.  I never had the opportunity to meet Papa Mau, but I know quite a few people who did know him personally and his effect on them certainly came across to me and many other Polynesians.

As I went to sleep the night of the news, I couldn't help but to think again about everything I've learned.  And as I woke up the next day and revisited this blog about you, Papa Mau, I couldn't help but to tear up.  You come from an island at the other end of Moananuiākea, yet you went against your culture and taught my people, Hawaiʻi, how to navigate again.  I don't care what people say about Hawaiians learning navigation from someone else, the point is that we are looking to our origins.  Papa Mau, you helped to spark a whole new generation of Polynesians to remember the past.  As the title says in my last blog, "No Hea Mai ʻOe?"..."where are you from?"  From our dormant state, you woke us up and got us thinking.  As a dear kumu of mine from Maui Community College told me, "I have seen this generation grow up and you guys are definitely ready to take over from us."  And as I cry remembering that moment, I can only come to one conclusion, Kumu and Papa Mau are RIGHT!  Whether my generation wants to or not, but the kuleana is being passed onto us at this very moment.

To honor your legacy, Papa Mau, here is a hula Hawaiʻi dedicated to you from my Kumu Hula and my hālau hula, Ka Pā Hula o Ka Lei Lehua.

*By the way, embedding is disabled, but go ahead and click play and the link will say "Watch on YouTube"...follow that and the video will work*

Merrie Monarch 2007; Hilo, Hawaiʻi; Kāne ʻAuana Division

*Further reading of Pwo*

Pwo is the ranking of a master navigator in Satawal.  Not only can a Pwo read the stars, read the ocean currents, read the weather, but Pwo also knows how to survive on the canoe from fishing, cleaning, repairs.  If a sail had a tear, the Pwo knew how to weave to fix it.  Along with things at sea, the Pwo also knew how to mālama and hoʻoulu all the plants used in the canoe from the wood used for the waʻa to all the tools that are made from rocks and other natural cords.  *HWST 281/282; UH Mānoa; Kumu Pua Lincoln*

Honolulu Star-Advertiser: Voyager Guided Rebirth of Cultures

No Hea Mai ʻOe? (Where are you from?)

I am part-Hawaiian.  I am Hawaiian.

Since 2007, I began dancing for Ka Pā Hula o Ka Lei Lehua under the direction of Kumu Hula Snowbird Puananiopaoakalani Bento.  It was one of the greatest decisions I made in my life.  I appreciate my kumu's desire to humble our hālau and to remind us of who we are, where we come from, and why we do what we do.

(Photo: Honolulu Star-Bulletin Archives/October 16, 1998/Tom Lenchanko of Wahiawā Civic Club at the entrance to Kūkaniloko)

For the second time, we went to Kūkaniloko as a hālau.  If you don't know what Kūkaniloko is, here is the abbreviated Reader's Digest version.  Kūkaniloko is the birthplace of over 500 hundreds years of the highest chiefs of the Island of Oʻahu from as far back as possibly 1100 A.D. (in some accounts)  Kūkaniloko is the piko, the center, of not just Oʻahu, but the Paeʻāina Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Islands).  With so much kuleana and kapu upon Kūkaniloko, this wahi is indeed sacred.

Why is it that I am in this hālau hula?  Why is it that I am fortunate to be taken to such a sacred place?  And why is it that I am given this knowledge first hand?  Either way, the point is what I, all of us for that matter, will do with the knowledge.

I hope there is someway that for those who don't know their own culture to make the effort to go in search for it.  As it is asked in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, "No hea mai ʻoe?" or "Where do you come from?" does not only mean what place you hail from, but this place you were born and raised also defines what kind of person you are.  And it doesn't matter if you were born in Honolulu, Los Angeles, or Tokyo, what matters is how you have grown and matured from your humble beginnings.  I guarantee you, from personal experience, if you make that effort to understand who you are and who your ancestors are, you will feel that much better inside and life clears up so much more.  For me, it finally felt like I have a purpose in life.  And for being only twenty-four years old, I think that is really darn good!

For further reading on Kūkaniloko:

• Honolulu Star-Bulletin
• Ka Wai Ola Newspaper from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) (look at Page 11 of the July 2010 issue)

Me ka haʻahaʻa,
Kaipo

A Hawaiian Man

To start off my first blog, it is simply this, "A Hawaiian Man".  For the past few years of my life I have contemplated what it is like to be native Hawaiian in today's world where you have two extremities of Hawaiʻi.  On one end you have the stereotypical "Kūʻē Protester" and on the other you have the completely Westernized native Hawaiian who, unfortunately, is disconnected from his ʻāina and doesn't even realize that Hawaiʻi was a thriving nation with its own native people that excelled in areas, such as law, navigation, and composition that are unheard of today.

(Photo: Kaipo Tam/Kūʻē March in Waikīkī/01.17.09)

In this blog, I want to show people the observations I make of our people.  The differences between me and other observers are that I am indeed a native Hawaiian by ancestry, I am born & raised and currently living in Hawaiʻi, and I am from the next generation of budding "Kānaka Maoli" that will hold the future of our people soon.

And this blog is directed toward anyone interested in Hawaiʻi and its people.  This is to you, my peers, my kūpuna, my mākua, my moʻopuna, my educators, my people, and my friends of the past, present and future.  Whether you are Hawaiian, Hawaiian-by-heart, or out to look for trouble,-Yes, you know who you are.  The ones that want to disprove every blog and article they see out there with your uneducated thoughts.)-this blog is to give you the "upgrade" as a dear professor I had would say.  Before I end this post, I will constant remind you that this is the opinion of just me and none of any organization or institution.  If you would like to give me the "upgrade", by all means, I am more than welcome to other ideas.  Manaʻo pū kākou.

ʻO au iho me ka haʻahaʻa,
Kaipo