A fishing anecdote
Cover Image: Masthead of Ka Hoku o Hawaii published on April 5, 1926. (Digitized from microfilm.)
Traditionally, discussing fishing ahead of time brought with it unfavorable results. The following article submitted to the Hoku o Hawaii calls the belief a hoʻomanamana or superstition.
Image: Portrait of Stephen Kiwini Langhern Desha, Editor and Business Manager of Ka Hoku o Hawaii, “Men of Hawaii,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Limited. p. 84
Image: “Huakai Lawaia,” Ka Hoku o Hawaii, April 5, 1926, p. 3. (Digitized from microfilm.)
A Fishing Excursion
(Submitted)
Rev. Desha,1 the Senator recently went on a fishing trip to the shores of Puna, redolent with pandanus bowers. His hūnōna Beamer2 was also on this fishing trip.
The mischievous words of the small children of the olden days, when someone was getting ready to go fishing, would be, “Let me have, let me have the head of the fish.” And if this was spoken, the fishermen supposedly would not catch any fish. That was not the intent of Hūkaʻakaʻaka3 to his friend the Senator, “Be patient, my good dear Senator; when our hook flies into the water the poʻopaʻa will surely bite, so too the kūmū, the nenue, the ʻaʻawa, the uhu, the kole, and the sweet-eyed kole. I am already salivating. This desire is like the desire of those men: one who desired the thigh of the daughter of the aliʻi, and the other who desired the eel of Hanaloa.4
Our Senator came back lacking, but he was not lacking in anger at Hūkaʻakaʻaka for his fishing trip being a mockery. We all burst out laughing. It was shown however that the Senator is unlucky at fishing; these superstitions are nothing. This is a progressive age.
1Stephen Langhern Desha Sr.
2Peter Carl Beamer, huband of Helen Desha Beamer, niece of Stephen L. Desha Sr.
3Hūkaʻakaʻaka, literally meaning “to break out in laughter,” appears to be a penname of someone active in the papers in 1926.
4The reference here is to the story of Kalelealuakā and Keʻinohoʻomanawanui.
This post is part of He Aupuni Palapala: Preserving and Digitizing the Hawaiian Language Newspapers, a partnership between Bishop Museum and Awaiaulu with assistance from Kamehameha Schools. Mahalo nui loa to Hawaii Tourism Authority for their support. Learn more about this project here.
