Native Hawaiian Culture

Waiola Church is one of the few churches in the state that can claim true cultural ties to the indigenous people of the land, and the unique and special environment offered here on the island of Maui.

During the past 2 centuries, the Native Hawaiian culture has gone through a rollercoaster ride of changes, both positive and negative, emotional and physical. Here is a general history of the Hawaiian Islands and how the Native Hawaiian Culture has devolved and resurged back to what it is today, and how people can continue the traditions and cultural practices:

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Over 200 years ago, King Kamehameha the Great ruled over the islands of Hawaii. He was born in 1758, and in 1779, met Captain James Cook in Kealakekua Bay on the big island. Little did he know, the future consequences of accepting and allowing Cook to join and establish port on the island for the next few years. The Hawaiians back then originally mistook Cook as the god Lonoikamakahiki, because he fit the description perfectly, white sails that look like clouds, arriving during the makahiki (festival) season, among many other details. He spent his time after cook’s arrival amassing an army that could overpower anything, and took them from island to island, conquering each islands ali’i and their warriors. By 1813 he had conquered all islands in the Hawaiian chain but Kaua’i and Ni’ihau. Kamehameha became ill because of a few diseases contracted by Hawaiians from those on Cook’s ship, but fought back and got healthy again. Sadly, that wasn’t the case for most of the other maka’ainana (commoners).

Over the next few years, things changed drastically for the Hawaiian community. Disease was taking over towns at a time, and for the Hawaiians, who were indigenous people, there were no immunities towards the new diseases, as well as no cure. Kamehameha grew ill and old, and died in 1819. Although the chiefly line and ali’i lived on and kept the islands in order for about a hundred years more, this was the breaking point in terms of the race, population, and soon to be tradition.

The first missionaries to Hawaii, after a trip of 164 days and 18,000 miles on their ship the Thaddeus, arrived the year after Kamehameha passed away, in 1820. Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston were the two ministers that arrived with a few others on the ship. They could not have come at a worse time for the Hawaiians. The ‘Ai Kapu, or religious laws Hawaiians held, had just been broken and overturned by Ka’ahumanu, Keopuolani, and Hewahewa, leading women in the monarchy at the time. The Hawaiian religious and governmental system was full of chaos and desperately need in of some help and direction. It was an opportune time for them, and the Hawaiians, who were left unsure of what to do about their religion, listened and converted to Christians, as the missionaries spread their message to all of the Hawaiians. With them, they brought to the Hawaiians a single ‘god’ which the Hawaiians had never seen or thought of before, set up a governmental system of laws to get the people back in order and to take the place of the Kapu that had been broken, religious holidays, a daily and monthly calendar, and the concept of time. Many of these things had never been experienced previously by the Hawaiians so they were intrigued and interested in what the missionaries had to offer. The Hawaiians believed that they were headed in the right direction, and they were, evident in today’s society, Christianity is the largest religion in Hawaii, but with the new religion and gods, came some guidelines that the missionaries believed should be followed.

These guidelines the missionaries brought ranged from putting a stop to inter-family marriage, which had been occurring for a long time within Hawaiian families to keep the chiefly bloodline, to making the women and men dress up according to European and American standards, instead of malo’s and other traditional wear. One of the most detrimental actions the missionaries took towards the tradition was that they banned hula and talking Hawaiian in the schools that they erected in the mid 1800’s for Hawaiian students. With this came the decline of the language, and cultural practices, at least for another 50 years or so.

Within the time span between Kamehameha’s death and the early 1900’s, the Hawaiian population, as stated above, declined from almost a million down to 40,000. From 1910 to approximately 1950, the population began to grow back to a more current figure of 140,562 100% native blooded Hawaiians, and 401,162 Native Hawaiians of many nationalities around the world. The worst negative non-Hawaiian influence on the culture was the illegal Hawaiian Monarchy Overthrow on Jan 17, 1893. It was masterminded by Lorrin A. Thurston, a ‘leader’ of a few annexationist groups, under PRO-Hawaiian names. The overthrow was not only brought on by the fact that he believed that Hawaii would be in better hands if annexed to the United States, but because of greed and money. This overthrow set off so many more alarms and problems for the Hawaiian society. The haole government, known as the ‘Provisional Government’ believed that power should be taken away from the King at that time, Kalakaua, and managed to sign into government, a new constitution, taking power away from him, and giving land, power, and the control of many resources and money to them. When Queen Lili’uokalani took over the throne while Kalakaua was gone on his trip around the world, she attempted to reinstate the power of the government back into Hawaiian hands. The provisional government did not like where she was going, and during the overthrow, imprisoned her within her house for apparently committing an act of ‘treason’. This swiped the rug from under the Hawaiians feet once and for all.

Over the next 60 to 70 years, things slowly got better for the Hawaiians. As more haole (foreigners) arrived in Hawaii, and began to colonize and take over, the Hawaiians dipped away into an almost unknown culture. Hawaiians were ashamed to speak their native language, even if they were fluent. They were teased, ridiculed, and punished for speaking, and doing Hawaiian things during the school day.
In the last 40 years or so, there have been many efforts to regain the culture and pride the Hawaiians once had. And to finally see something positive in the direction of Hawaiian culture and tradition resurgence for many, was relieving. The 1978 Hawaii State Constitutional Convention was held on O’ahu, an exact 200 years after when Captain Cook arrived, and at the convention, the Hawaii State Government pledged and committed itself to preserve, study, and educate others on the Hawaiian culture, history, and language. This constitution called for at least two credits of Hawaiian language and culture courses to be required for every graduate, and also spawned the trust organization otherwise known as OHA, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. OHA was established to “To malama (protect) Hawaii's people and environmental resources and OHA's assets, toward ensuring the perpetuation of the culture, the enhancement of lifestyle and the protection of entitlements of Native Hawaiians, while enabling the building of a strong and healthy Hawaiian people and nation, recognized nationally and internationally.”

The resurgence of culture and pride within the Native People and the general population and followers here at church enlightens us towards learning new things, and being more aware of those around us and their cultures and traditions.