Lei and our Native Forests From an ʻŌlapa Perspective
The lei pictured above was crafted by Ulumauahi for the Halau o Kekuhi’s Hōʻike performance during Merrie Monarch. It is made of palapalai and koa leaves. In the photo on the banner you can see Hālau o Kekuhi performing wearing the lei. Banner Photo by Tracey Niimi, lei photo by Ulumauahi Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani.
Welina mai e nā kini a lehu mai haʻehaʻe a hiki loa aku i ka napoʻo ana o ka lā. My name is Ulumauahi Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani and I am the steward & educator for Kūkūau Community Forest in Hilo on Hawaiʻi Island. I have been an ʻōlapa (hula dancer) for Hālau o Kekuhi for more than 30 years. Hālau o Kekuhi was established by my great grandmother Edith Kanakaʻole, and it is currently led by my grand aunt Nalani Kanakaʻole and my aunty Huihui Kanahele.
In our hālau we practice a traditional dance style called ʻaihaʻa, which has been passed down through matrilineal descent. Many people consider this dancing style as a precise, stylistic, and bombastic hula. The word ʻaihaʻa can be broken down into two separate parts: one is “ʻai” which is a type of dance, and “haʻa” which can be translated as “to dance with bent knees.” Dancing with bent knees allows a dancer to be open to receive energy from our ʻāina.
During our time in hālau, we are also taught the values of maintaining a hula kuahu. A hula kuahu is an altar in a hālau that represents the tangible and intangible entities that give us life and direct connection to the forest. On our kuahu we place nine native plants in a specific hierarchy. These plants include ʻieʻie, ʻōhiʻa, koa, maile, ʻōlapa, palaʻā, kukui, lauaʻe, and palapalai. Several of which can be found at Kūkūau Community Forest. The hierarchy of native plants is assigned by our Kumu Hula and is based on both the forest structure and the plant’s function in our forests.
As a hula dancer we recognize that our practice is dependent on our native forests, therefore we recognize Laka, as the deity of our forest and hula. Each of the plants placed on our kuahu are kino lau (physical manifestations) of Laka. To put it simply, we know that without our native forests, there is NO hula.
Earlier this month there was much excitement in the Islands as the annual Merrie Monarch Festival, a week-long festival in Hilo that includes hula exhibition and competition, a parade, an arts fair, and a grand hoʻolauleʻa, commenced. During Merrie Monarch many native plants are used for lei or adornment during performances and the performances are admired as much for the skill of the dancers, musicians, and costume-makers as for the lei-makers. In our hula tradition we are taught that lei are used for protection rather than decoration and, more importantly, they represent the reciprocation between hula dancers and their environment. We use lei in ceremonies and performances as it serves a sense of reassurance that if the forest is alive then our cultural practice will continue to live.
Dancing hula for Hālau o Kekuhi for over three decades has afforded me the opportunity to understand the responsibility people have to mālama our native forests. At Kūkūau Community Forest I am applying the same principles that I was taught in hālau such as reciprocation, protocol, kilo (observation), knowing my kuleana, and familiarizing myself with the natives of this land (i.e. insects, plants, animals, winds, rains, clouds etc.). After all, in the end, we are just visitors to the forest and this ʻāina.
— Ulumauahi Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani