Alumni keep ancient ways alive
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Graduations often live in memory as once-in-a-lifetime experiences. This one, a ceremony known in Hawaiian cultural circles as an 'uniki, hasn't come around in many lifetimes.
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"This is a happy day for me," said Keola Lake, kumu hula and master of rituals nearly lost in antiquity, as guests gathered yesterday on a breezy, sun-washed morning in 'Ewa Beach. He figures it's been hundreds of years since anything like an 'uniki for kahuna students has taken place. And in those days, each kahuna was selected and trained individually, not in a school.
Kehau Kruse is draped in her ceremonial kihei, signifying her graduation as a kahuna kakalaleo. Four other kahuna, three kumu hula and eight dancers of the hula graduated at yesterday's 'uniki proceedings in 'Ewa Beach.
It's approaching two centuries since the system of religious observances known as kapu was overthrown in 1819, followed swiftly by the destruction of heiau, the Hawaiian temples.
Since that time, who would there be to learn the rituals of the heiau, many of which Lake himself had to unearth through research? Who would there be to study as kahuna kakalaleo?
Yesterday, marking the 20th anniversary since his own graduation as kumu hula, Lake celebrated a day that was special on two other counts: the graduation of his first kahuna class and the 'uniki of his daughter, Naomi, as kumu hula.
Lake's students, all under the collective banner of the original school Halau Mele, now include members of Na Wa'a Lalani Kahuna, each designated a kahuna kakalaleo. Lake said the kahuna designation that he chose translates literally as "harsh voice" but more figuratively means "defender of the voice," those who uphold the proper chants used in rituals.
There was pomp and circumstance associated with this graduation, too. The entire class of 16 — three kumu, five kahuna and eight dancers — began a formal period of kapu, or restriction, at 5 p.m. Friday. Other rules include a longer period of abstaining from eating certain foods such as sweets and he'e (octopus).
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The fast was broken with a purifying meal of salty fish, Lake said, after the private graduation rituals at midnight.
Designated a kumu hula, Naomi Katherine Kahakuhaupi'okamakani Lake receives a congratulatory hug.
"They were so hungry by then, they were licking the ti leaves," he said with a grin.
At yesterday's midday public ceremony, each graduate received the equivalent of the cap and gown: Each dancer received a skirt; each kumu and kahuna received a kihei, a cloak knotted at the shoulder. All vestments were decorated with designs of the laua'e fern, the same insignia of Lake's own graduation class 20 years earlier.
With all the formalities, there was still lots of time for laughter. Each kumu and kahuna approached with a chant of their own composition, and Lake welcomed each with an extemporaneous chant.
His reply to his daughter ("the child of my dreams," he said) was especially long. Lake said only that it acknowledged her genealogy and memories of the stormy night on which she was born, but it must have been funnier than that, judging by the laughter from those who understood Hawaiian.
Later, as the dancers baked beneath the 'Ewa sun, a woman in a halau T-shirt sprang up and wove through the hula line, spritzing each dancer with a spray bottle of water.
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"Thank you, Auntie Harriet," Lake intoned into the microphone. "That's how we use our kupuna here."
Kumu hula Keola Lake, master of rituals, speaks at the graduation of his class of 16 students, ending their formal observance of kapu.
At the end, the lei-bedecked alumni greeted loved ones, looking a little tired and more than a little happy.
Sheri Gon kissed her husband, Sam, newly graduated kahuna.
"I get my husband back! I get my house back! I get my life back!" she rejoiced, recalling months of his distraction with projects associated with his studies. The leavings of crafting his pahu, or drum, had cluttered the place, as well as lei of all descriptions.
Gon, who works as director of science at The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, fell into the study of chant and, finally, kahuna rituals after witnessing his wife's graduation as one of Lake's dancers seven years ago.
He said the knowledge will serve him in the annual rituals that Lake and his students perform at Pu'u-
kohola heiau in Kawaihae. The heiau is where Lake has served as kahuna nui, or high priest, since a council of elders descended from its original caretakers appointed him to the position in 1995.
Gon said rituals and chants have become an intricate part of his devotion to nature, a kind of marriage of environmental science and spirituality. When he ventures into the forest, when he picks a fern, there are protocols to be practiced and passed on to students with him.
"There is so much of a connection between the natural world and this," he said. "Over the years I have been able to see beautiful things out there ... and this is a perfect match to express that."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
