In this monthly column, the Maui Weekly is honored to share the thoughts of Maui’s kupuna—and in this case, makua—those who have gained essential wisdom, knowledge and experience and serve as spiritual leaders of the community.Note: Although this column is usually called Kupuna Speak, focusing on the older generation, in this case, Ke‘eaumoku Kapu shares his mana‘o (wisdom) from the perspective of makua (adult, parent). He says, “A kupuna is someone who stands next to God. I don’t qualify. I am makua, looking in the eyes of kupuna.”
Different visions of Maui
“We see Maui differently because we live in the West Maui Mountains. A lot of people got a vision of Maui looking makai to mauka, bottom to top, and they see the mountains and the beautifulness.
“I see Maui in a totally different way. Every day I come driving out of that mountain, and I see the opposite: every time I come around the ridge, I’m exposed to the big bright lights on the bottom.
“The life that we live up there, we are trying to restore our traditional way of living, through the taro, the water, the iwi kupuna (the bones of my ancestors), to try and make sure that those are protected.
“It’s a constant battle for me and my family. Every day, we’re anxious just to get home. Then we know we gotta come in Western society. We’re ahead of the game because we know that society is creeping closer and closer up the hill.
“My vision is to hope that we can reverse the change. Instead of looking from down up, make people think that we should look from up in the mountains down to the horizon all the way into the ocean. Maybe we can find some way of recreating the ahupua‘a [land divisions extending from uplands to the sea] concept, recreating the true responsibility within individuals to know that this is how we gotta look at Maui: from the mountains to the ocean, to know how to slow the process down. It’s easier to find smart growth when you look at the islands in a different way.
“The bad part about our society is we look at these islands from straight up and straight down; all we do is check the gridlines. We forget about the stories of the places, why certain places are named this and that, because the name of the place tells the story of the place…Developers don’t go with the traditional land tenure of the place; they put in the application to drill a well where there is no water.”
Importance of ahupua‘a
“When our people start to leave to the Mainland, the ahupua‘a system is fractured. We don’t have the original families to care for the land anymore.
“We used to have land ko‘as, places of offering. And ocean ko‘as, feeding grounds where our families go out and feed the fish. If you didn’t feed the ko‘a, you got no fish. People are starting to forget, we need to be the ones to take responsibility.
“…As soon as 9/11 happened, the island shut down for four days. There were no planes, no boats. It strikes fear in everyone; people fill their cars up to the rim, they go to Costco, buy toilet paper, water and batteries.
“We need to learn to be more self-sufficient, learn to plant what we need for the winter and the summer. We’re too dependent on the Costcos, the Foodlands.
“My direct vision is to bring back that ahupua‘a concept, where everybody took care of each other. That’s why we founded Kuleana Kui Kahi LLC, with families from Kaua‘ula: to protect the ahupua‘a. We became a voice, based on education, to reactivate, re-establish kuleana [responsibility], give people an awareness.
“Being up there [at Kaua‘ula], we see what’s coming. We’re looking in the eyes of my kupuna, looking down, trying to find solutions.”
Return to ancestral lands
“When my father took us home, he walked us in the footsteps of his youth…He showed us, ‘This is Makani Kapu; this is where the wind blows through the puka.’ I stood there and I chanted to tell the ancestors, ‘We are here; we are pili koko [blood relation] to this place, and we are asking permission to enter.’
“Then the sun came up, and one perfect stream of light came right through the mountain, down to Pakala (1). And my father said, ‘Ah! Makani Kapu.’ There was a hole in the mountain at Kaua‘ula. My father told the story that when the wind blows from the backside, it punches that hole and it has a real loud resonating sound—the sound of the pu.
“My great grandfather was a preacher, and he was sent up there because the people of Lahaina feared that noise. It was a warning that the winds were coming, to batten down…When the wind blew, this place would rock. My great grandfather was an old man, probably about 85, and he went up there and covered the puka.”
Respect for the past
“We are losing not just the [Hawaiian] language, but the protocols, the cultural ability to perceive.
“Pu‘ukohola (2) opened for us the window of opportunity for our future generations in revitalization projects, teaching us how to care for our makamae, our treasures.
“You can go back many generations to our people who had nobility, wisdom; [look at] the heiau, the roadways that they built, the waterways that stretch from mauka to makai. We take life for granted so much that we don’t look at the bountifulness as pertaining to what our kupuna left behind. Everything that is created, in today’s society we are destroying faster and faster. Maui is at a fast pace right now, like O‘ahu, to destroy all we have.
“My vision is to try to find the hope that everyone can look into the past for solutions. That’s where your answer is going to be.”
Notes:
(1) Pakala is the name of the beach at historic Kamehameha Iki Park where Hui O Wa‘a Kaulua is headquartered. The nonprofit group provides opportunities to learn about Polynesian voyaging canoes and Hawaiian culture. The Mo‘okiha, a 62-foot-long double-hulled voyaging canoe, is currently housed there, awaiting painting and lashing. The Mo‘olele, the group’s 42-foot-long voyaging canoe, will move into the Lahaina Harbor slip formerly occupied by the Carthaginian, where it will serve as a sailing and educational vessel. For more information or to donate to the Hui O Wa‘a Kaulua, visit the hale at 525 Front St. or call 667-4050.
(2) Pu‘ukohola Heiau is a monumental heiau constructed by Kamehameha I on the Big Island in 1791 in preparation for uniting the Hawaiian Islands. The bicentennial celebration re-established Pu‘ukohola as a temple of ho‘oku‘ikahi (unification), serving as a commemoration and reemergence of Hawaiian cultural heritage and reintroducing Hawaiian practices and protocols. At the recent 16th annual three-day Ho‘oku‘ikahi, Kapu led his Na Koa Kau I Ka Meheu O Na Kupuna warriors through significant cultural rituals.