Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 12, 1 December 2011 — Lono's blessings [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Lono's blessings

By Claire Ku'uleilani Hughes, Dr. PH„ R.D. t is Makahiki season, the time when Hawaiians weleome Lono's gift of rains and wind. Nature is filled with many signs of the presence of the Hawaiian gods. Certain objects are symbolic of eaeh of the major gods. For example, Mary Kawena Pukui tells us that Lono was represented by a wooden carving of the head of a hog. Districts were divided into ahupua'a (altar of the hog), and annual offerings to Lono were eollected at these altars at the borders of the districts. Lono is represented by thunder, lightning, earthquakes, rain and wind, dark clouds, rainbows, whirlwinds that sweep the earth, waterspouts, the clustering clouds of heaven, and gushing springs on

the mountains. Chants referred to rain clouds as "bodies (kino) of Lono." The 'uala (sweet potato), whose cultivation on the drier lands was dependent on winter rains, is identified with Lono in his hog form as Kamapua'a (hog child). Humorously, the humhle 'uala were sometimes referred to as the "droppings" of Kamapua'a. Lono is the god of plants and planting. He is the focus of worship connected with crops. In old Hawai'i, prayers for adequate rainfall, abundant harvest and protection from droughts and famine were offered to Lono at heiau māpele, whieh were built and used by the maka'āinana, in addition to the larger heiau ipu o Lono or hale o Lono. Martha Beckwith tells us that in ancient times the eommon people remembered Lono's powers over plentiful harvests with a foodgourd, whieh was used only in family prayers. Eaeh home kept a gourd in the mua (men's house), by the kua ahu (altar) or ipu o Lono, with

symbolic offerings of food. At the beginning and end of eaeh day, the man of the house offered prayers in the presence of the gourd of Lono for the well-being of the chiefs, commoners and for his own family, and then ate the food from the gourd. As god of fertility, Lono was celebrated in the Makahiki festival held during the rainy season, whieh covers a period of four months. Priests prayed for rain for abundant crops or to escape from sickness and trouble. The red fish, the hlaek coconut, the white fish and 'awa were also symbols of Lono. Such ho'okupu of food and other products of the land were presented to Lonomakua (Lono-the-elder) during the annual Makahiki, and the offerings were "ā-|' collected at the altars of the 7*f district borders. In a royal procession through the districts, the harvest tribute was accepted and the land and crops were blessed and released fromkapu. The ali'i nui, or high chief, acted as deputy of Lono, who was represented by a symbol remarkably suggestive of the sail of a square-

rigged ship. This symbol was a tall staff with a small, carved figure at the peak and a crosspiece near the top from whieh hung a square of white kapa (bark cloth). In a coincidence of plaee and timing, Capt. James Cook landed at Kealakekua Bay to provision his ship during the season of the Lono festival. Cook was received and worshippedasLono-makua. During the subsequent disheartening and disillusioning events, the navigator was killed, as we all know.

The event occurred on the shores of Kealakekua, literally the path of the god, where for centuries Lono-makua, the bearer of rain and plenty, had been believed to have eome ashore eaeh year. ■ ll

Kapono Souza bears an akua loa staff at a makahiki procession at Pu'uloa. - Photo: Chris Usher