Aloha kākou,
Today we hosted juniors and seniors from ʻIolani's Literature of the Ocean class. In total there were about 25 students and 2 teachers. I brought along Maya, and we spent the first half of the day welcoming them to Ulupō, introducing the heiau to them and them to the heiau, and then sharing the stories of that ʻāina ponoʻī. At least one of the moʻolelo was familiar to them, since in preparation for the visit their teacher had them read the part of Hiʻiakaikapoli-opele from Makapuʻu to Kāneʻohe. However, as one of the students said, even though they read and acted out the moʻolelo in the classroom, hearing the story from a Kailua native on the land in which the moʻolelo took place was completely different. Instead of reading the name Mahinui and not knowing where it was, Maya was able to point out the places and say, "when Hiʻiaka and Wahineʻōmaʻo mā climbed up Mahinui, that ridge right there, they looked down at Kawainui right here in front of us..."
The second half of the day was spent preparing loʻi and planting Hāloa back into the ʻāina. Before they left, having just read about the wahine ʻai lūʻau, they gathered ka ʻai lau nui o ka ʻāina o Kailua nei, ʻo ia hoʻi o ka lūʻau, kalo, and watercress. Thus reliving the story of Makalei where the people who came up to help clear took home food for their families...
It appears that the kō eating ceremony [ko is sugar cane, but it also means: "to fulfill, succeed, accomplish"] we did at the beginning of the day allowed all of us to hoʻokō ka makemake o kēia lā [to fulfill the intentions of the day].
Ke aloha.
Kaleo
Today we hosted juniors and seniors from ʻIolani's Literature of the Ocean class. In total there were about 25 students and 2 teachers. I brought along Maya, and we spent the first half of the day welcoming them to Ulupō, introducing the heiau to them and them to the heiau, and then sharing the stories of that ʻāina ponoʻī. At least one of the moʻolelo was familiar to them, since in preparation for the visit their teacher had them read the part of Hiʻiakaikapoli-opele from Makapuʻu to Kāneʻohe. However, as one of the students said, even though they read and acted out the moʻolelo in the classroom, hearing the story from a Kailua native on the land in which the moʻolelo took place was completely different. Instead of reading the name Mahinui and not knowing where it was, Maya was able to point out the places and say, "when Hiʻiaka and Wahineʻōmaʻo mā climbed up Mahinui, that ridge right there, they looked down at Kawainui right here in front of us..."
The second half of the day was spent preparing loʻi and planting Hāloa back into the ʻāina. Before they left, having just read about the wahine ʻai lūʻau, they gathered ka ʻai lau nui o ka ʻāina o Kailua nei, ʻo ia hoʻi o ka lūʻau, kalo, and watercress. Thus reliving the story of Makalei where the people who came up to help clear took home food for their families...
It appears that the kō eating ceremony [ko is sugar cane, but it also means: "to fulfill, succeed, accomplish"] we did at the beginning of the day allowed all of us to hoʻokō ka makemake o kēia lā [to fulfill the intentions of the day].
Ke aloha.
Kaleo
