Cultural tour of ancient Hawaiian fishponds and historic sites helps raise funds for restoration.While photographing chanter Wainani Kealoha as she welcomes visitors to what appears to be a dusty, empty field, a small flock of endangered Hawaiian black-necked stilts (Ae‘o) land in an intermittent pond. This area is the soon-to-be restored Mokuhinia in Lahaina (near 505 Front Street), a large spring-fed natural wetland.
When visitors are taken across this salt-encrusted dirt field by their tour guide, they have already been told the stories of the ancient Hawaiian Kingdom of Moku‘ula—the royal and sacred sanctuary situated amidst flooded taro fields and fishponds.
The visitors are poised now to hear a chicken-skin finale: a melodious chant (mele inoa), a graceful, walking rendition of a name chant that says, “Let the beauty return to Moku‘ula.”
Ae‘o are an omen of that supplication for a return to the lushness of a royal site, the royal residence within the moated island that was once home to a long lineage of proud royalty and devoted commoners alike. Lying virtually undisturbed for almost a century, Moku‘ula, an ancient Hawaiian spiritual and political center of Hawai‘i Nei, and was home of Maui’s high chiefs. Within this site, where taro was tended in “kuleana plots” and retainers of the court provided their beloved chiefs and kings with all the provisions necessary for survival, also lurks the lizard goddess, the mo‘o of Hawaiian legend and fact.
While training to be a kumu (teacher/tour guide), I was inspired to give the Hawaiian interpretation of history and culture. These tours are part of the project to restore Moku‘ula. Once completed, the restoration will culminate the dream of its founding kumu, Akoni Akana, and Friends of Moku‘ula/ Maui Nei, whose visionary plan includes a 1,800-square-foot hale halewai, a traditional style building that will be a training and visitor center and a focal point of pride in Lahaina. It will, no doubt, receive the endorsement of the Lahaina community, which lost a ballpark in the process of restoration.
As a kumu in training, I have shadowed several of the tour guides. Their stories of both the past and the transformation of Moku‘ula/Mokuhinia from dereliction to future glory, dramatize and enliven that history.
From the small harbor of Keawaiki, where the double-hulled canoe Peleleu fleet of Kamehameha the Great lay anchored from Launiupoko to the south to Mala Wharf to the north; to the funeral cortege of Princess Nahi‘ena‘ena, whose tragic, conflicted life and early death still touches listeners today; tales of transformations of Kamapua‘a (the pig god) add to our knowledge of native medicinal plants, evidence of the folkloric origins of far flung Pacific Islands; and sacred tombs of royal personages are revealed along the way.
To give balance to the story of Hawai‘i, a stop at Baldwin House adds the missionary influence to the narrative. Occasionally, visitors from New England have distant ‘ohana related to the early missionaries, and are eager to share their personal stories. Since each tour guide is free to design a talk of his/her own, with “must air” points and time constraints the only limits to imagination, these talks are varied, so one tour is not enough.
When visiting relatives arrive, there is an opportunity for kama‘aina to enjoy a different version of the tour—some kumu recounting the riotous whaling days others the strategies of the heroic Kamehameha I, unifier of Hawai‘i Nei. Ghost stories and accounts of the powerful Queen Ka‘ahumanu invite Hawaiians to delve into their own family lore.
When arriving at their final destination, visitors learn of current restoration plans and ongoing collection and archiving of oral histories (mo‘olelo). These stories not only tell of the history and genealogy of the residents of the immediate vicinity of the tour sites, but the entire corridor that cuts through Kahalawai (the West Maui Mountains) to the eastern edge of the range into ‘Iao Valley, where the decisive Battle of Kepaniwai was fought.
There is poetry and environmental knowledge to be gleaned from the tour. This monumental restoration of Moku‘ula/Moku-hinia which will bring back the glory and the wetland, may someday include the land that lies under the arc of the sun from east to west, which parallels the lives of the ancestors of the Pi‘ilani lineage—players such as Keopuolani, whose life began in the east and ended in the west.
As the tour supports the restoration project and helps fund the educational outreach component, participants are both entertained and enlightened. They are gratified to learn that they are contributing through the tour fee to one of the most important undertakings in Maui—a present-day recovery of long-buried artifacts. Indeed, visitors and locals alike will feel they have been part of the harmonious, unified purpose (lokahi) and cooperation (laulima) in the restoration effort because our future is in the past.
To book a tour, call Marvy Gibbs at Friends of Moku‘ula/Maui Nei at 661-3659. A two-hour tour is $40 for visitors, $30 for kama‘aina. Information on dates of tours or special arrangements is also available by fax at 661-1676.