| Natural History
HALA, SCREWPINE, PANDANUS
(Pandanus tectoritus)
(aka Pandanus odoratissimus)
 Pandanus trees are some of the world’s oldest known plants, dating back more than 250 million years. The plant, which originated from Malaysia, apparently made their way to Hawaii via ocean wave or was carried here by the Polynesian voyagers. Hala fruit was found buried in a pre-Polynesian lava flow on Kauai, so there is evidence that the tree was here before the voyagers came, but it was such a useful plant that it is probable the travelers carried seeds with them.
Hala has been revered, utilized and esteemed by Pacific islanders for centuries. It is one of the most useful trees in Polynesia, second only to the coconut palm. Every part of the growing and mature plant provided material for housing, food, medicine, ornaments, fishing, religious rites and folklore. In Hawaii, it was believed to be a nature spirit, kupua.
In one legend, a beautiful young goddess was busy cutting hala strips for mat weaving when her shell trimmer slipped and cut her finger. The finger bled profusely and s the blood coagulated, two eggs formed. Male and female, these eggs emerged as the progenitors of the human race.
Hala groves were abundant in the moist lowlands of old Hawaii. Some of the groves, including the one at Wai’anapanapa outside Hana on Maui, were sacred.
The short trunk bears forked branches topped by spiky leaf tufts arranged in an overlapping spiral up the trunk. As the trunk grows it bears multiple aerial roots which extend downward as props to support the ever-increasing weight of leaves and branches. The tips of growing shoots and aerial roots were sometimes used for medicine.
The wood of the female trees is soft. The ancients used it for pipes to allow water to flow from one taro patch to another as the soft core was easily dug out to form the pipe. The male trees have much harder wood which was used for house timbers and canoe rollers.
Female trees produce pineapple-like balls that are actually multiple individual fruits. The balls remain green for months, then mature to yellow or orange-red, after which the colorful, fleshy fruitlets drop to the ground. When the fruits ripened, Hawaiian fishermen grabbed their uhu (parrotfish) lines and headed for the reef while women carried baskets to shallow waters to gather fat, juicy wana, sea urchins.
During the hala fruiting season, old-time fishermen are unlikely to go to sea in their boats. They know hala is favored by the Hi’iaka sisters, and when the trees are fruiting and dropping the seeds to the ground, then Hi’iaka-makole-wawahi-waka (Hi’iaka the red-eyed who smashes canoes) would be in the area. The waters were likely to be rough and their canoes battered and smashed.
The plant is so entwined with legend that even the lei made from the fruits of the hala can produce mixed reactions. In contemporary Hawaii, according to one source, a hala fruitlet lei signifies new beginnings – a new job, marriage or other significant lifestyle change or the passing or completion of a venture. This may come from the custom of wearing hala lei during the annual Makahiki festival to signify that the faults, transgressions and troubles of the previous year had passed away and the new year could be approached without trouble or error. Some Hawaiians say the lei can be given to wipe away misfortune and herald good luck.
However, ancient Hawaiians would probably not have been thrilled with such a lei. The lei hala was often an offering to the goddess Kapo, sister of Pele and goddess of sorcery as well as goddess of the hula (along with her daughter Laka). It became an emblem for the goddess, especially on Maui, where many sorcerers worshipped her. It is said that if a fisherman traveling on his way to the ocean were to meet a person wearing a lei hala, he would feel compelled to turn back and give up his excursion for the day. He would believe that Kapo was on her way to visit a sick man – a bad omen for him.
Old-timers remember when hala fruits and flowers were considered famine food and therefore significant of hard times. In other parts of Polynesia and Micronesia, one of the principal sources of food are the edible nut-like kernels in the woody outer end of the fruits of some of the cultivated varieties. The inner fleshy ends of the flowers contain much starch and sugar as well. In Hawaii, there was such a variety of food available that hala was eaten only during times of severe famine. Perhaps that is why giving a lei hala to a person who is campaigning for public office has always been considered a subtle breach of Hawaiian protocol. There are those who might consider it political commentary.
The dry fruitlets resemble stubby paintbrushes. They were once used for applying stains and varnish to kapa, and can still be used today for such purposes.
Male trees look like the females, but they produce drooping flower clusters containing hundreds of tiny whitish flowers. The hala flowers are called hinano and liberate masses of fragrant pollen. Maidens gathered the flower clusters for love games involving chasing the young man they fancied with the dangling clusters and playfully sprinkling pollen over them. Older women collected the fine, slippery pollen for use as aphrodisiacs and for perfumed oils and kapa. Hala has always been considered a symbol and token of love and the pungent odor of the hinano blossoms and the ripe fruit is entrancing.
Lau hala, the spiny leaves, were used for many of life’s comforts. They were used as house-thatching and woven into mats used as floor coverings and sleeping mats. Hala’s natural shiny finish is quite resistant to dirt and food droppings and is partly water repellant. The leaves also were fashioned into the great three-sided sails used on the voyaging canoes, as well as made into baskets, temporary sandals and kites. Hats woven of hala leaves became an art form in the years after Western contact.
Hala weaving is time-consuming, involving weeks of cutting, drying, spine-removal, rolling, beating and sometimes dyeing before the artisan can begin to weave the leaves. Often, the mats, baskets and other items fashioned out of lauhala which are available in modern retail stores are likely to have been made in the Philippines.
Among modern Hawaiians, the art of hala weaving has been making a comeback, however, because of the respect and appreciation for the lauhala hat.
[ Top ]
|
| Arts & Culture
THE COMING OF THE LIGHT
In these days of heavy traffic amid ongoing road maintenance and improvement, it’s a bit mind-boggling to realize that it was only a little over 50 years ago that Maui’s first traffic signal light officially went into operation.
On July 12, 1951, on a Thursday morning, Maui motorists faced their first traffic lights at the corner of Puunene Avenue and what was then known as Main Street (now Kaahumanu Avenue) in Kahului. One week after the lights began operation, the Maui County Board of Supervisors got a petition from the Kahului Merchants Association complaining about the inconvenience caused by the new-fangled lights. They moaned that the installation of the lights had led to the loss of many parking stalls near the intersection. They also said that motorists had a tendency to speed through town to “beat the lights.” They were definitely not happy.
When plans for the installation of similar lights at the intersection of Market and Main streets in Wailuku were announced, the Wailuku merchants protested vigorously. The new lights would require the removal of about 20 parking stalls on Market Street, they grumbled.
The lights went in anyway and began operation on November 27, 1951.
It was obviously the start of a trend.
[ Top ]
|
| Spotlight On…
PIONEER INN
North of the Lahaina Courthouse and right on the waterfront is Pioneer Inn. It was founded in 1901 by George Freeland as the “Pioneer Hotel,” an establishment that catered to the passengers on the Inter-Island Steamer line.
Freeland was a dedicated member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who tracked a criminal to the rowdy port town of Lahaina, it is said, and he stayed in Lahaina for the rest of his life. For many years his hotel was the only accommodations available to the public in Lahaina and it functioned as the main social center of Lahaina town as well.
The rooms Freeland provided consisted of a bed, a basin, a bowl and a pitcher for water. Community bathrooms were located at the end of each hall where a bucket was used for bathing. The hotel was known for its strict guest rules, and in its time it hosted such notables as Jack London and Sun Yat-Sen.
The Hotel was renamed the “Pioneer Inn” during the 1950’s, and additional rooms were added in 1965. By then, of course, it was no longer the only hotel in town. The Pioneer Inn is still a hotel today, although the famed rooms facing the waterfront are no longer available.
[ Top ]
|
