Save up in the bank for those stormy days.
Cover Image: Masthead of Ka Nupepa Kuokoa published on March 17, 1922.
Aloha Nūhou Monday!
Dear Reader,
This week we share a translation from the Hawaiian Enthnological Notes (HEN) Newspapers of the Bishop Museum Archives. Most translations in the HEN collection can be credited to the work of Mary Kawena Pukui.
An article from Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, published on March 17, 1922, speaks of a time when the weather was carefully observed in both stormy and calm seasons. A 12-month, Gregorian calendar was being taught as the primary standard in place of the Hawaiian lunar calendar. The new model only alluded to a single stormy season at the end of the year. Our unnamed writer reacts with a cheeky remark: “Save up in the bank for those stormy days.”
The author goes on to describe the previous, more effective way of assessing time:
“This is the way our ancestors counted the months, they made songs of them to appeal to the ears. The months began in November and ended in October, thus:
“Welehu was a stormy month, Makalii, Kaelo and Kaulua, too, then the storms were over. In Nana, the calm weather began. In Welo, Mahoe-mua, Mahoe-hope and Kaaona the seas were calm. In Hinaeaeleele, Ikuwa and Pohakoeleele, the lightning flashed, the streams were swollen and so on.”
There was a time for fishing, a time for planting, and a time for rest. The following selections from Mary Kawena Pukui’s ‘Ōlelo Noʻeau: Hawaiian Proverbs & Poetical Sayings (Bishop Museum Press, 1983) offer a glimpse of this Hawaiian knowledge.
O Kāʻelo ka malama, pulu ke aho a ka lawaiʻa.
Kāʻelo is the month when the fisherman’s lines are wet. (no. 2400)
I o Nana hoʻokau ka mālie.
When Nana arrives, calm weather finds a place. (no. 1248)
Kau ke poʻo i ka uluna o Welehu ka malama.
Rest the head on the pillow; Welehu is the month. (no. 1617)
Our writer bears witness to the cultural changes experienced by the Hawaiian people at this time in history. Ever aware of the intelligence of their ancestors, our writer becomes quite critical of their people and struggles with the thought of what might be lost in translation and in the transition away from Hawaiian knowledge and practices.
“Why do we not observe these things that are good, O new generation. Are we ashamed of the mother tongue?”
One thing appears true — Our writer is not ashamed of their language nor their culture. They exalt the brilliance of their ancestors and grow weary of losing that which defines them as Hawaiians to the winds of changing times.
In more ways than one, the author encourages us to be observant of the seasons and to “remove the mulch” in preparation for stormy days ahead.
Image: Hawaiian man fishing with bamboo fishing pole, ca. 1890, Keaukaha, Hilo, Hawaiʻi Island, Hawaiʻi. Photograph by Charles Furneaux. Bishop Museum Archives, SP 3793.
Image sharing on social media is welcome. For all other uses please contact Archives@BishopMuseum.org.
Image: “He Mea Pono e Hoomaopopoia ka Wa Ino ame ka Wa Malie o ka Aina,” Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, March 17, 1922, p. 2.
Image sharing on social media is welcome. For all other uses please contact Archives@BishopMuseum.org.
Good to Know the Stormy and Calm Seasons of the Land.
In the days of our ancestors, the weather was carefully observed, both the times of storms and calm weather. In observing these important divisions, weariness was lessened and there were fewer losses of their labors through destruction by the storm or calms.
So our ancestors observed the seasons and times for their work, and in doing so they learned the proper time to do a certain piece of work successfully. Like the old saying of the natives to us, “While the rain is in the sky, remove the mulch.”
How did this saying come? It came because they were taught that it was a mistake to wait until the rain fell before removing the mulch, also not to be foolish and unobservant of the season and times.
So in this thing of not knowing about the moving of time, trouble has come to some of your work, somewhat like the man who waited till he was hungry, then went to plant taro stalks. By the time it was ready, the planter had decomposed.
Our ancestors were wise in having this knowledge because in the innumerable arts of that time, nothing was ever written. It was handed down from mouth to mouth and the best thing I’ve seen and understood of that time was that each man strived to be the champion. The people made use of their knowledge without bothering anyone, and did not bother unless they were bothered.
O reader, we’re going away off from the topic that I wanted to lead you to till we reach shore safely, and this is the topic– Time.
In our count of the months of the year today, said to be the foremost in education, there are twelve months, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December. That’s the end of it and you find out for yourself which are the stormy months and which are the calm months in order to make your work a success.
There is only one stormy month we hear of and this is during the last week of December and the first week of January, Christmas and New Years. Save up in the bank for those stormy days.
This is the way our ancestors counted the months, they made songs of them to appeal to the ears. The months began in November and ended in October, thus:
Welehu was a stormy month, Makalii, Kaelo and Kaulua, too, then the storms were over. In Nana, the calm weather began. In Welo, Mahoe-mua, Mahoe-hope and Kaaona the seas were calm. In Hinaeaeleele, Ikuwa and Pohakoeleele, the lightning flashed, the streams were swollen and so on.
O reader, it became clear which were the proper months for different work, when to remove the mulch, when to fish and so on.
Why do we not observe these things that are good, O new generation. Are we ashamed of the mother tongue? Perhaps not. I think God let it be thus with the Hawaiian race because they are hard-headed, contentious, do not work together for the benefit of the race, without being individualistic. We despise ourselves, just as our girls despise the Hawaiian boys and run off with foreigners and so on. I believe this is it….
We have seen it for ourselves from the time it was thin till it has grown thick.
Here is another sign that we despise our mother tongue; if that is not true, then clear thinking and true wisdom has left Hawaii.
Translate this letter written in the year 1890 into Hawaiian and you the reader will see the sense in the thought and see it as a wise business letter, thus:
“Aloha– I have had a good time to write a letter for you for something. This, don’t you give one or two cents to Mahelona, for that hoolimalima of Keawe land. Because Keawe sell that land to Mahelona without no put my name on that palapala kuai and I never put my hand write on it. I am the husband married for Mrs. Keawe. Remember this till I meet with you.”
If this letter has not been written in a foreign language, can’t you, O reader, see that the thought in it shows it to be a short and good business letter?
Here is another letter from Maui at the same time, telling the hardware company of the parcel that he did not get.
“Mr— I introduce to you by the steamer Kinau. My case hardware lost date January 16. You please find out for the disappear. I am going to force the steamship people to remit it. Hoping you are thinking about this.–”
It is things like this that trouble us these days. There is much knowledge, yet in speaking a foreign language we go off on the plain, and we are thought to be damned fools from Kawaihae.
This monthly reckoning of our ancestors is true for all time. It is an index as to the proper time to work and the proper time to rest.
Let us look, O reader, into the month of Ikuwa (October), the heavy peels of thunder and the flashing of lightning. These prove that our ancestors certainly knew the signs of the times…. Because they had this knowledge, they worked at the work fit for the time without wasting time on something else.
There was a time for planting, a time for fishing, a time to work and a time to rest for our ancestors now gone.
(Translation from the Hawaiian Ethnological Notes (HEN) Newspapers of the Bishop Museum Archives, Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, March 17, 1922, p. 2. No reproduction without written permission.)
Image: Huli planted in lines in flooded loʻi kalo, 1940, Honokōhau, Maui, Hawaiʻi. Bishop Museum Archives, SP 103628.
Image sharing on social media is welcome. For all other uses please contact Archives@BishopMuseum.org.
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.
