Pauahi ʻo Kalani
Cover Image: Masthead of Ka Nupepa Kuokoa published on December 25, 1869.
Aloha Nūhou Monday!
We celebrate a day early this year the birthday of our namesake, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The featured article appears in Ka Nupepa Kuokoa and describes the festivities in 1869. Mele inoa [name songs] were sung on that night at her residence. As this would be a year after her hānai sister Lydia Kamakaʻeha [later Queen Liliʻuokalani] composed “Pauahi ʻo Kalani,” surely it must have been one of the mele sung for Pauahi that night.
Image: Sheet music and lyrics to mele inoa “Pauahi ‘o Kalani,” composed in 1868 for Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop by her hānai sister Princess Lydia Kamakaʻeha (later Queen Liliʻuokalani). Liliʻuokalani Collection, Bishop Museum Archives. SM 215871.
Image sharing on social media is welcome. For all other uses please contact Archives@BishopMuseum.org.
Image: “La Hanau o Pauahi Alii.” Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, December 25, 1869, p. 2.
Birthday of Pauahi Aliʻi.—On the 20th of December a banquet was held at Koholaloa in commemoration of the birthday of one of our young aliʻi, that being Hon. Mrs. A Pauahi Bishop. The celebration was for her thirty-eighth birthday. This past 19th was a Sunday, which was her actual birthday, but because it fell on a Sunday, it was not observed. It was put aside until this Monday. The lānai for the feast was honored by the arrival of the Governess of Hawaiʻi [Ruta Keʻelikōlani], Hon. Mrs. L. Kamakaʻeha [Lydia Kamakaʻeha], Mrs. L. Kaaniau [Elizabeth Kekaaniau Pratt], and other dignified women of this town. With the coming of night, the aliʻi for whom was the birthday celebration was entertained at her home, led by Pauli [Kaʻōleiokū Pauli], Malo, Kapoli [Elizabeth Kapoli Kamakau], and Wakeki [Wakeki Pauli], who sang name songs for the aliʻi. They were praised for the sound of their voices.
(Kuokoa, 12/25/1869, p. 2)
Image: Detail of ambrotype of Bernice Pauahi Bishop with Lydia Kamakaʻeha Pākī, Honolulu, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, ca. 1859. Photo by W. F. Howland, Bishop Museum Archives. SP 79852.
Image sharing on social media is welcome. For all other uses please contact Archives@BishopMuseum.org.
I was quite different from my sister Bernice. She was one of the most beautiful girls I ever saw; the vision of her loveliness at that time can never be effaced from remembrance; like a striking picture once seen, it is stamped upon memory’s page forever.
—Liliʻuokalani reminisces about Pauahi in Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen.
I was quite different from my sister Bernice. She was one of the most beautiful girls I ever saw; the vision of her loveliness at that time can never be effaced from remembrance; like a striking picture once seen, it is stamped upon memory’s page forever.
—Liliʻuokalani reminisces about Pauahi in Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen.
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.
