Kauai History and Makahiki
Most exchanges and sharing of food, material goods, services, or labor took place within the ‘ohana and operated more as a system of voluntary giving than of barter. This was the basic social unit of the Hawaiian community. The ‘ohana lived in clustered households (kauhale) close to fields and fishing grounds. Groups living nearer the coast would exchange seafoods, salt, gourds, and coconuts for what grew at higher elevations, such as taro, wauke, bananas, olona, medicinal herbs, timber, and thatching materials. Hawaii’s gentle climate meant ancient Hawaiians lived their lives mostly outdoors, pursuing everyday activities in the midst of warm sunshine and gentle breezes. House structures and other buildings were used primarily for storage or as protection against rough weather.
Beginning in late October or early November when the Pleiades constellation was first observed rising above the horizon at sunset, the Makahiki festival marked the end of the yearly farming cycle and continued for four months. Because of the seasonal weather of rough seas, high winds, and heavy rains, activities such as deep-sea fishing were also kapu. Makahiki was a time to pay tribute, a time to cease labors, a time to feast, and enjoy competitive games. Hawaiians gave ritualized thanks for the abundance of the earth and called upon the gods to provide rain and prosperity in the future. They gathered to celebrate with feasts and games like boxing, wrestling, bowling, foot races, marksmanship, guessing games, pageants, chants, and hula dancing. The hula included many chants and dances composed specifically for Makahiki to invoke rain and fertility. Once all the proper rituals and ceremonies were performed, the kapu was lifted on fishing and farming and a basket of food was set adrift on the sea. Normal life resumed and the farming cycle began again.
Kauai History and Polynesians
What were the Polynesians thinking when they loaded up the canoe with some people, some animals, some plants, some food and water, and headed out for somewhere, hoping to arrive sometime before they ran out of food, water, and patience?
‘Are we there yet?’
‘Almost.’
‘How much longer?’
‘Only another few weeks or so.’
‘Do I have to continue sitting right behind the pigs?’
‘Trade seats with your sister for awhile.’
They were in a canoe in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and still had another 1,000 miles to go before they would reach Kauai. But they didn’t know how much further it would be. They didn’t even know what lay ahead of them, or whether there was an island at all. These people had always sailed West to East, and now they were headed North. Were they thinking exploration, conquest, and colonization. Or was it escape from famine, drought, and over population. Surely, they knew the trip was going to be tough. There was danger of swamping or capsizing in heavy seas, of sails ripping apart, or masts breaking by fierce winds. There was danger from exposure to the wind, rain, and sun, with only leaves or bark cloth for protection. A stormy night at sea would certainly be demoralizing with all the pitching and rolling, and rolling and pitching. Then, they would be introduced to the Doldrums. This is an area near the equator where North and South trade winds converge and move upward instead of along the surface, leaving a canoe becalmed in an eerie stillness. If supplies were running short on a long voyage, or fresh fish were not easily caught, or rainwater was not collected, starvation was a real possibility.
But these people believed in ‘ohana (family). The ‘ohana of old made it possible for the Polynesian voyagers to venture forth to unknown lands. This seafaring ‘ohana was able to travel thousands of miles in double-hulled canoes because they were in touch with themselves, nature, and their gods. They felt safe because they were never separated from their makers and ancestors because the gods showed themselves everywhere; in the sky, in the earth, and in the sea. Their voyaging was all the more remarkable in that it was done in canoes built with tools of stone, bone, and coral. Done in canoes navigated without instruments, by seafarers who depended on their observations of the ocean, sky, and patterns of nature for clues to the direction and location of new islands.
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