Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 12, 1 December 2022 — Bringing Makahiki to Native Hawaiian Pa'ahao [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Bringing Makahiki to Native Hawaiian Pa'ahao

Mūkūhiki Ceremonies ūt Wūiowo olwoys indude "Hukihuki" (tug of wor), o troditionol Mokohiki game that teaches pa'ahao how to find center, halanee, ond harmony - individually and ūs o group. - Photos: Kai Markell

A "cirde pule" ūt HūIūwū ot the beginning of Mokohiki Ceremony. This is to pool spiritual and physical energies ond resources used in the ceremony, ond to releose oll distractions and clinging spirits.

By Puanani Fernandez-Akamine For more than two decades Kahu Kaleo Patterson has been actively involved in bringing traditional Makahiki practices and ceremonies to Native Hawaiian pa'ahao (incarcerated persons). Initially, his work was focused on Hawaiian pa'ahao separated from their 'ohana and aina in prisons on the continent. At the time, the Native American Church (a faith tradition that combines Indigenous thought and rituals with Christianity) was establishing programs in the prisons for Native American pa'ahao - including providing support to Native Hawaiian pa'ahao wishing to observe Makahiki. When some of these pa'ahao were transferred in 2004 from an Oklahoma prison back to Hawai'i to the O'ahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC), they wanted to continue to observe Makahiki and submitted a formal request to do so. Their request was approved and Patterson was contacted to help with the first approved Makahiki visit and ceremony at a Hawai'i prison. The Makahiki program was well received, and soon expanded to the Hālawa and Waiawa Correctional Facilities. For years, Patterson has quietly continued this work. 'At Waiawa and Hālawa we regularly had 40-50 pa'ahao attend open and closing ceremonies," said Patterson. Classes were smaller due to the capacity of the prisons to accommodate large groups, and the capacity of Patterson and his team to offer muhiple large group sessions. Patterson is an ordained minister, the vicar at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Wahiawā, and the prison ehaplain for the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i. He is also president of the Paeihe Justice and Reconciliation Center, an afhliate organization of the Association of Hawaiian Evangelical Churches of the UCC. In this capacity, Patterson leads the Native Hawaiian Religion Initiative - a

program that has heeome very important to the rehabilitation and spiritual wellbeing of pa'ahao here in Hawai'i and on the eontinent. The Makahiki program that Patterson has developed includes weekly classes that utilize eul-ture-based restorative and activity-driven therapeutic programs, Makahiki season opening and closing ceremonies, and observation of the summer

solstic. It combines Hawaiian spiritual traditions with education and training in the history, practices and traditions of Makahiki, along with related pule, oli and hula. Similar to the Native American Church, Patterson has helped to establish a Native Hawaiian Church in Hawai'i's prison system whieh incorporates 'ike from both the Bible and the Kumulipo. The Kumulipo is the renowned Hawaiian creation chant that was translated into English by Queen Lili'uokalani while under house arrest in 'Iolani Palaee following the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Indeed, the example of Lili'uokalani is highlighted in the program, because of her ability to forgive the men who unjustly imprisoned her. Patterson said that while the prison Makahiki program is a partnership with Ke Ola Mamo Native Hawaiian Health Care System and the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i, "our recognition is with the Native Hawaiian Church whieh was created to accommodate the need to have a religious organization recognized by the eommunity and prisons whose mission it is promote and preserve the history, culture, and the spiritual beliefs and traditions of Native Hawaiians and Makahiki."

Patterson's heart to meet the needs of pa'ahao has been a lifelong mission. "I grew up in Mākaha and had ffiends who heeame incarcerated," he said. "As a youth leader at Kaumakapili Church I ran a youth prison project that involved programs at the Hawai'i Youth Facility. I was also a very active volunteer with Teen Challenge. Later when I went to seminary in Maine, I did a chaplaincy in the Penobscot County Jail and Thomason Prison." The prison Makahiki program in Hawai'i was shutdown in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Patterson is now in the process of reestablishing the program. In November, he and his team conducted Makahiki introductory classes and opening ceremony protocols at Waiawa and at the Women's Community Correctional Center (WCCC) in Kailua, and will offer the same at Hālawa in mid-December. Patterson has also been busy training new volunteers on Makahiki protocols and he and his team are attending safety and security and COVID-19 training with the Department of Puhlie Safety. "Now is the time to rebuild, look at better practices, look at the new world, and get more involved - not just in reforming the prison and criminal justice systems, but creating and building something new, something more committed to rehabilitation and restorative justice," said Patterson. "The time is also here for many of us kūpuna to begin recruiting and training the next generation of cultural practitioners and spiritual leaders to engage in prison ministry and the tremendous benefit and transformative elements of the Makahiki season of peaee." ■ Kahu Kaleo Patterson is sending a kāhea to cultural practitioners with a heartfor our Native Hawaiian pa'ahao to join him and others in bringing Makahiki to theprison system. If you are interested please contact Kahu Patterson at kaleop@me.com.

A# Kahu Koleo Patterson