Inmates at Waiawa minimum-security prison today held their largest-ever makahiki, or Hawaiian religious ceremony.

Seventeen inmates, who had covered their red prison shirts with Hawaiian-patterned kihei cloaks, began the traditional ceremony at daybreak with chants. They prayed to the god of Lono.

"I am Hawaiian," said Kiha Ka-ne, his body marked with warrior tattoos. "I believe our culture was lost at one time."

Ka-ne, who is serving time for drug-related charges, was among those leading the oli (chants) and hula movements in the early morning light.

When the inmates chanted to greet the sun at daybreak today, ominous gray clouds began to dissipate into fluffy ones imbued with blue.

The ancient Hawaiian festival of Makahiki is a time for new growth, rest, a break in warring and a time of renewal — a message that reverberated deeply throughout the men.