Molokai Hawaii

Agusia asked:


I need links to find usefull information about the traditions or cultures of Molokai, or Hawaii…

Caffeinated Content

2 Responses to “Where can I find good info about the traditions of Molokai ?”

1. Anna P Says:
   April 9th, 2010 at 5:23 pm

   Caffeinated Content

   There’s a wonderful book written by a local author (and a friend of mine), Na Kua’aina by Davianna McGregor. It’s a great read and is about mostly Molokai.

2. Beckee Says:
   April 12th, 2010 at 7:13 am

   Caffeinated Content for WordPress

   A link, I don’t know. Harriet Ne wrote a book called “Tales of Molokai” that you might be able to dig up.

   I’ve been living on Molokai for about three and a half years. I’ve been reading up on it and listening to songs and chants about it for longer than that. Even in Kalakaua’s time, Molokai was considered to be a place where Hawaiians had been living for a long time. There were probably several migrations of Polynesians to Hawaii, and the folks on Molokai were considered to be from the earliest migrations.

   Molokai is associated with the moon, and is sometimes called “Molokai Nui a Hina”, Great Molokai of Hina. It is also called Molokai Pule O’o, Molokai of the Powerful Prayer. There was a famous school for sorcerers on Molokai, and they are thought to have played a major role in the defeat of invading forces at Kawela in 1736. Kawela and the East End are said to be inhabited by Night Marchers, the ghosts of ancient warriors.

   Molokai’s volcanoes are extinct, so more than a persistent belief in Pele, what you find are people who honor their aumakua. Aumakua are ancestor guardian spirits who take the form of a certain kind of animal to watch over the native people of the land. You often hear about families whose aumakua is the mano (shark) or honu (green sea turtle). The lizard and chicken are supposed to be much more powerful aumakua than they appear.

   A woman once told me of climbing a tree on a Hoolehua homestead with her cousins when she was small. They found some eggs and hid them in their uncle’s old, junk car. They did not know the eggs belonged to their aumakua. A Pueo, a Hawaiian owl, came that night and banged on their window until the children got the eggs, climbed the tree, and put them back on the nest, the owl watching them every step of the way.

   Hula and outrigger canoe paddling continue to be quite popular on Molokai, along with baseball (the Molokai High School Farmers startled everyone when they won the State Championship in 1999). And for 26 years, Molokai kids, adults, and guests (like the Coast Guard) have competed in traditional Hawaiian sports as part of the Makahiki festival.

   One ancient tradition that is still very much alive–and celebrated–on Molokai is subsistence: growing, hunting, gathering, and fishing for your own food. Cowboy traditions live on in rodeos for adults and youth, as well.

   The photos linked below were all taken on Molokai in recent years.