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Aloha kakou,
This is a message from "the front," written and sent by Lynette Cruz to the various Hawai'i lists. It is wonderful that the 'ahu was rebuilt so quickly and so lovingly, but it is sickening that someone is now going around vandalizing and violating these sacred places. This looks to me like deliberately provocative behavior, designed to provoke a hot headed response so that the authorities can come down hard on na kanaka maoli (Native Hawaiians).
Aloha is really put to the test this week, and I send pule (prayers) to the people who are acting with such strength and graciousness in the face of these profound insults and hate crimes.
Amy
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Photos from Ahu today
aloha all,
here's the story about today at the ahu. on the tv news for tonight (on every channel), there's one story. but after the media left, another story unfolded. the star bulletin guy, who got there late, just after the ahu was rebuilt, has the updated version, so maybe in tomorrow's pm paper.
----------------------------
Around 1 pm I got a call from Baron Ching, who regularly waters the burial mound on Sundays, about the ahu being desecrated, with rocks strewn everywhere. Baron called Mel Kalahiki, I called James. Then I drove to the palace and met them all there. James came down with the Olelo video camera and videotaped everything. Mel had called State Law Enforcement and had asked his granddaughter, Kapukini, to notify the media. All the media showed up (two newspapers, four tv stations), and an officer from State Law Enforcement came down to take photos and write up a report. There was a rock found up in a tree, one inside the burial mound (also broken ti plants), and many others spread throughout the palace grounds. It was surprising that those rocks, some of which are really heavy, could have been taken so far from the site!
So I called Evern Williams, from Palolo Access Studio, and she showed up with her grandchildren. Then she called Henry Noa, Peter Jensen, Bumpy, Kealoha Kaliko, Hina Wong and countless others. Most folks showed up after the media left. Those few of us at the palace, James, Mel, Nalani and George Gersaba, and a woman named Midge, who was passing by, then proceeded to gather all the rocks and bring them back to the ahu, but we didn't attempt to rebuild, as this is a particular art, and we didn't know how to do it.
As soon as we gathered the wayward stones, along came Henry Noa and proceeded to rebuild the ahu, with Peter Jensen helping him. Henry was there at the first building of the ahu. Then Hina Wong and about two dozen or so Halau Lokahi students, and some parents and their principal, Laara Albrecht, showed up. They gathered everyone around the ahu and offered oli and pule (which was so beautiful and made me cry!) to our ancestors, acknowledging them and asking permission and their kokua to rebuild the ahu. Then Henry gave the haumana a quick lesson in ahu-building and they proceeded to help. Mahealani Pai's brother was on the bus and saw us at the ahu, so jumped off the bus and joined us. Within an hour, the whole thing was rebuilt, and looking fantastic! Hina, of course, just happened to have in the school bus, inside a cooler, what appeared to be some 50 or so ti leaf lei, so these were brought out and all of us present gathered in a circle and connected all of the ti lei end-to-end. Then the long lei was placed on the ahu, on the outside top edge, wound round and round until all of it was in place. The single lei that were left were placed on the top. Other lei, that had been on the ahu before, but which had been thrown on the ground, were then re-placed on the ahu. Halau Lokahi students offered a haka, surrounding the ahu but facing out. Then everyone joined hands (including the State Law Enforcement officer) and did closing pule.
An interesting note, as you can see from the photos, is that a rock with white paint on it, and the words aloha aina, was found in the pile of stones as the ahu was being reconstructed. This rock is now sitting on the top of the ahu, along with the big round stone and a couple of others. It looks beautiful. The ahu looks nice and sharp at the corners and on the sides. We all went to Zippys afterward, for dinner, then drove back to the palace grounds to check on the ahu. It still looks fabulous. So something really good happened, after the damage. As Hina noted to her students (and Im paraphrasing here), "this is major hoailona. There will always be people who want to tear down what we value and who we are, but we must always be prepared to rebuild. And the outcome, as well as the process, will be beautiful, perhaps even more beautiful than it was before."
This is a message from "the front," written and sent by Lynette Cruz to the various Hawai'i lists. It is wonderful that the 'ahu was rebuilt so quickly and so lovingly, but it is sickening that someone is now going around vandalizing and violating these sacred places. This looks to me like deliberately provocative behavior, designed to provoke a hot headed response so that the authorities can come down hard on na kanaka maoli (Native Hawaiians).
Aloha is really put to the test this week, and I send pule (prayers) to the people who are acting with such strength and graciousness in the face of these profound insults and hate crimes.
Amy
----------
Photos from Ahu today
aloha all,
here's the story about today at the ahu. on the tv news for tonight (on every channel), there's one story. but after the media left, another story unfolded. the star bulletin guy, who got there late, just after the ahu was rebuilt, has the updated version, so maybe in tomorrow's pm paper.
----------------------------
Around 1 pm I got a call from Baron Ching, who regularly waters the burial mound on Sundays, about the ahu being desecrated, with rocks strewn everywhere. Baron called Mel Kalahiki, I called James. Then I drove to the palace and met them all there. James came down with the Olelo video camera and videotaped everything. Mel had called State Law Enforcement and had asked his granddaughter, Kapukini, to notify the media. All the media showed up (two newspapers, four tv stations), and an officer from State Law Enforcement came down to take photos and write up a report. There was a rock found up in a tree, one inside the burial mound (also broken ti plants), and many others spread throughout the palace grounds. It was surprising that those rocks, some of which are really heavy, could have been taken so far from the site!
So I called Evern Williams, from Palolo Access Studio, and she showed up with her grandchildren. Then she called Henry Noa, Peter Jensen, Bumpy, Kealoha Kaliko, Hina Wong and countless others. Most folks showed up after the media left. Those few of us at the palace, James, Mel, Nalani and George Gersaba, and a woman named Midge, who was passing by, then proceeded to gather all the rocks and bring them back to the ahu, but we didn't attempt to rebuild, as this is a particular art, and we didn't know how to do it.
As soon as we gathered the wayward stones, along came Henry Noa and proceeded to rebuild the ahu, with Peter Jensen helping him. Henry was there at the first building of the ahu. Then Hina Wong and about two dozen or so Halau Lokahi students, and some parents and their principal, Laara Albrecht, showed up. They gathered everyone around the ahu and offered oli and pule (which was so beautiful and made me cry!) to our ancestors, acknowledging them and asking permission and their kokua to rebuild the ahu. Then Henry gave the haumana a quick lesson in ahu-building and they proceeded to help. Mahealani Pai's brother was on the bus and saw us at the ahu, so jumped off the bus and joined us. Within an hour, the whole thing was rebuilt, and looking fantastic! Hina, of course, just happened to have in the school bus, inside a cooler, what appeared to be some 50 or so ti leaf lei, so these were brought out and all of us present gathered in a circle and connected all of the ti lei end-to-end. Then the long lei was placed on the ahu, on the outside top edge, wound round and round until all of it was in place. The single lei that were left were placed on the top. Other lei, that had been on the ahu before, but which had been thrown on the ground, were then re-placed on the ahu. Halau Lokahi students offered a haka, surrounding the ahu but facing out. Then everyone joined hands (including the State Law Enforcement officer) and did closing pule.
An interesting note, as you can see from the photos, is that a rock with white paint on it, and the words aloha aina, was found in the pile of stones as the ahu was being reconstructed. This rock is now sitting on the top of the ahu, along with the big round stone and a couple of others. It looks beautiful. The ahu looks nice and sharp at the corners and on the sides. We all went to Zippys afterward, for dinner, then drove back to the palace grounds to check on the ahu. It still looks fabulous. So something really good happened, after the damage. As Hina noted to her students (and Im paraphrasing here), "this is major hoailona. There will always be people who want to tear down what we value and who we are, but we must always be prepared to rebuild. And the outcome, as well as the process, will be beautiful, perhaps even more beautiful than it was before."
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