Some more photos from the hula dancing at Sunday’s Kamehameha Day ceremony in Kapaau, North Kohala. The performers are members of Halau Hula O Napunaheleonapua.
For more information about the Kamehameha Day and the statue, go to kamehamehadaycelebration.org.
For more information about the Kamehameha’s history, go to nps.gov/puhe/learn/historyculture/kamehameha.htm.
Yesterday was Kamehameha Day, celebrating Kamehameha 1, the king who first united the Hawaiian Islands under one leader. There’s a statue of the king at Kapaau in North Kohala, and this was the scene of a ceremony honoring him.
The ceremony began in steady rain, but the weather brightened so that proceedings ended in bright sunshine. After opening blessings, various groups approached the statue and paid their respects to the king. This was followed by the draping of leis on the statue. Finally, a hula performance in front of the statue concluded events – at least as far as this ceremony was concerned. An hour or so later, there was a parade featuring representatives of all the Hawaiian islands, and for the rest of the day, there were events and music in a local park.
The top photo shows a lei being draped over the king’s spear. The lei is made up of plumeria blossoms. The leis draped over his extended arm are mostly made up of ti leaves. In the second photo, members of one of the groups honoring the king performed a hula in front of the statue. Third, I think this is the order of Kamehameha presenting an offering which was carried up and placed at the base of the statue. Below, a red plumeria lei is hoisted over the king’s spear. Bottom, after all the lei were placed on the statue, another hula performance concluded events.
For more information about the Kamehameha Day and the statue, go to kamehamehadaycelebration.org.
For more information about the Kamehameha’s history, go to nps.gov/puhe/learn/historyculture/kamehameha.htm.
Shadows play on a peeling surface of the old Bond Library in Kapaau.
Yesterday was Kamehameha Day, celebrating Kamehameha 1, the king who first united the Hawaiian Islands under one leader. In North Kohala this involved a parade featuring representatives of all the islands and ceremonies during which the king’s statue in Kapaau is draped with leis.
The statue in Kapaau was commissioned in 1878 for display in Honolulu. But the ship transporting it from Europe caught fire and sank off of the Falkland Islands. A replacement statue was ordered, but before it was delivered, the original turned up. It had been salvaged and sold to a junk dealer in Port Stanley. There, it was recognized by a British ship’s captain who bought it and took it to Honolulu. The statue was in poor condition after its time in the sea and some rough treatment during its salvage and subsequent transport.
In the end, the Hawaiian government decided to erect the replacement statue in Honolulu since it was in better shape. The original was restored and sent to Kohala, which is where Kamehameha 1 was born. Unlike the statue in Honolulu, which features gold gilt, the Kohala statue is painted, a local preference which persists to this day.
