Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 9, 1 September 1985 — Native Hawaiian Continues Tradition [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Native Hawaiian Continues Tradition

Annie Mokiao is a Waimanalo Homesteader who has had a love affair with lauhala weaving for well over 40 years and still counting. This 100 percent native Hawaiian lauhala artisan possesses the touch of the old art Hawaiian weaving method whieh she learned as a six-year-old girl growing up in the very Hawaiian vi!lage of Kalaoa, S. Kona. Ka WAi Ola O OHA chanced upon Annie one day recently as she was repairing a large lauhala mat for the Queen Emma Summer Palaee. When we recalled how we were also adept at lauhala weaving while growing up in Keaukaha, there followed an exchange of mutual tales. But it was in Annie herself that caught Ka Wai Ola O OHA's fancy. She is an interesting Hawaiian who has eontinued lauhala weaving in the true tradition and style of her mother and kupuna "When the coffee was not in season, we had to weave to survive. We used to make plenty of hats whieh we sold at t+re loeal stores (Matsumoto, Hakota, Kimura, etc.) for 75 cents eaeh. It was big money in those days," Annie recalled. "We used to also make baskets, purses, bags, mats and anything else you could think of. The early years of World War II were good ones becuase we made plenty of half-moon

purses and got $2.75 eaeh for them," She continued. "Everyone was involved in weaving -my mother, aunty and us 12 children, six boys and six girls. We gathered the lauhala leaves, cleaned them and stripped them. Sometimes there weren't enough trees so we had to "buy" some of them at $1 a tree," Annie declared. She currently gets her supply of leaves from one tree in her Waimanalo yard whieh she planted when she was awarded her homestead land several years ago. Annie and her husband, Raymond, a crane operator for Pacific Construction, are the parents of six boys and three girls. One of her sons is a student at the Adult Retarded Citizen School at Fort Ruger and here, too, is where Annie also shares her weaving expertise. She teaches them how to weave and to make hat band haku leis with artificial flowers donated to the school. These haku leis were formerly imported but thanks lo Annie They're now made right here and at less cost. The finished products are sold at various outlets.

Four months ago Waimanalo neighbor and Queen Emma curator Leiana Woodside asked Annie if she would repair the many lauhala mats at the Summer Palaee. She has kept herself busy at this project, giving the plaee a new, refreshing look with the many restored and repaired mats gracing the palaee floors. In order to retain her services, the non-profit Daughters of Hawaii has applied for funding through the Office of Hawaiian Affairs community grant program. If the funding is granted, Leiana explained, the money will be used primarily for Annie's salary (see Grants story in this issue). "She is a lovely woman who does an outstanding job in her field," Leiana noted. "It would be difficu!t to find an artisan like her." And what does Annie do with whatever spare time she may have at home? "1 make hats, purses and whatever is requested. I always have orders to fill," she remarked. Here is a Hawaiian who takes great pride in her work. The results speak for themselves.

Annie Mokiao is pictured patching one of the many big lauhala mats at Queen Emma Summer Palaee.

Here are two samples of Mrs. Mokiao's work, a lauhala hat and hat band made from artificial flowers.