Bringing the Bright Land Into Being Seeding and Feeding

Bringing the Bright Land Into Being Seeding and Feeding

BRINGING THE BRIGHT LAND INTO BEING SEEDING AND FEEDING SPACE AND PLACE IN HAW API Rima Alicia Bartlett Department of Geography University College London Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2000 1 ProQuest Number: 10631518 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10631518 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract Bringing the Bright Land into Being: Seeding and Feeding Space and Place in Hawai‘i Sacred knowledge in Polynesia is believed to live in the higher dimensions of space. Held by a few experts, it is passed down according to the perceived readiness of the questioner. The topic of this thesis is part of that sacred lore. Turning space into place is believed by many to be done by bringing the sacred knowledge to earth; using it to make the land more fertile. The hidden dimensions of knowledge are contained in the Hawaiian language, which has many ‘bodies of meaning’. What is seen depends on perception. The ‘body’ of the word may be grown like a cord, and intertwined with the physical and meta-physical construction of the human body and the growth of the land. Certain perceptions of the hidden meanings may open to the individual body and consciousness to lighter dimensions, where higher beings and greater knowledge reside. This thesis builds on previous geographical and anthropological work in place names. Four sequences of names from three islands, Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i and Moloka‘i are studied. I discuss how ‘place’ in Hawai‘i may be conceived of as not yet existing in reality and refer to the legendary islands of the gods. In these examples I illustrate how place may be thought of as being ‘grown’ through a system of imaging and reflection. None of these interpretations are exclusive and are indicative of the multi-dimensional nature of Hawaiian knowledge which must be understood according to perception. I demonstrate that the word is part of a system of growth, through attraction and creation. This has different results, depending on the perception of the interpreter. The eventual result can be imaged as regaining the land of the gods or ‘bringing the bright land into being’. Frequent comparisons to New Zealand allude to the possibility of a system stretching throughout Polynesia. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF PLATES 6 LIST OF FIGURES 9 NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION 10 NOTE ON THESIS 12 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 13 PLATES 15 FIGURES 40 CHAPTER 1. SEEDING SPACE 1.1 A LITTLE ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPACE AND PLACE 52 1.2 PLACE NAME STUDIES OF HAW AIT 58 1.3 BACKGROUNDING HAW AIT 65 1.4 SEEING HAW AIT 71 1.5 THE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE AND PARTIAL REPRESENTATIONS 78 1.6 SOME POINTS ON METHODOLOGY 89 1.7 FOREGROUNDING CERTAIN ISLANDS OF HAW AIT 101 CHAPTER 2. THE LAND WE SEE 2.1 PARTIAL SIGHTINGS 105 2.2 LANDSCAPE AS AESTHETIC 110 2.3 LANDSCAPE AS NARRATIVE 117 2.4 LANDSCAPE AS MEMORY 124 2.5 THE CONSTRUCTION OF LANDSCAPE IN 128 SPACE AND TIME 2.6 THE GROWING OF PLACE FROM SPACE 134 3 2.7 LANDSCAPE AS COSMOLOGY 144 2.8 ANOTHER HORIZON? 149 CHAPTER 3. SEEDING PLACE 3.1 SOME MORE IDEAS ABOUT HAW AIT 152 3.2 RE PRESENTING POLYNESIA 154 3.3 GROWING CREATION 169 3.4 THE TONE IN STONE 173 3.5 GROWING THE BODY 179 3.6 SHAPING THE WORD 184 3.7 THE POWER OF SILENCE 196 3.8 THE GROWTH OF KNOWLEDGES 199 3.9 MAKING MANA 206 3.10 THE KAHUNA 210 3.11 BODY INTO LIGHT 214 3.12 FLOWERING 222 CHAPTER 4. PLANTING THE ISLANDS 4.1 PLACING SPACE 224 4.2 DIRECTING SPACE 226 4.3 KNOWLEDGE IS THE FOOD OF THE LAND 233 4.4 MARKING SPACE 237 4.5 FROM ISLAND TO IS.LAND 240 4.6 INTRODUCING THE VOLCANO 244 4.7 PLACE NAMES OF THE ERUPTION 246 4.8 SOME FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE VOLCANO 258 4.9 KAUA‘I: LOSING THE BODY, KEEPING THE SOUL 260 4 4.10 GROWING BODIES THROUGH PLACING 266 4.11 INTRO-DUCTING THE ISLAND 285 4.12 MATERIALIZING KAUAT 294 4.13 PRESENTING MOLOKAT 296 4.14 ATTRACTING SPACE: THE TEMPLE OF LOVE 298 4.15 A LITTLE MOON MAGIC 304 4.16 THE MOON-GODDESS AND FERTILITY 308 4.17 SOME CONCLUDING THOUGHTS ON MOLOKA‘1 310 4.18 LACING SPACE INTO PLACE 311 CHAPTER 5. REACHING SOME OTHER ISLANDS. 5.1 ENVISIONING PLACE 316 5.2 SOME LAND RISING OUT OF THE SEA 319 5.3 MEASURING THE MOON 324 5.4 THE PLEIADES BECOME VISIBLE 332 5.5 THE STARRY CHIEFS - OR CHIEFLY STAR(E)S 339 5.6 STAR PATHS ACROSS THE WATERS 345 5.7 SIGNPOSTS OF THE GODS 351 5.8 SOME ISLANDS SURROUNDING ONE 354 5.9 ISLANDS OF THE MOON 360 5.10 REFLECTIONS OF ISLANDS 366 CHAPTER 6. CONCEDING THE ISLANDS. 6.1 SUMMING UP SOME ISLANDS 369 6.2 HARVESTING SOME KNOWLEDGES 372 6.3 CONCEDING THE ISLANDS WE MADE 375 REFERENCES. 377 5 LIST OF PLATES 1.1 Street sign in Honolulu, 0 ‘ahu (source R. A. Bartlett) 1.2 Gods at heiau, Pu‘uhonua O Honaunau, Hawai‘i (source R. A. Bartlett) 1.3 The transformation of rocks by magma, Hawaii (source B. Lewis) 1.4 Waikiki, 0 ‘ahu (source R.A. Bartlett) 1.5 Waikiki, 0 ‘ahu (source R.A. Bartlett) 1.6 The Marquesan Village at the Polynesian Cultural Center, 0 ‘ahu (source R.A. Bartlett) 1.7 Roselle Keli‘ihonipua Bailey in Iao Valley, Maui (source R. A. Bartlett) 1.8 Noa Emmett Aluli and author in Molokai (source R. A. Bartlett) 1.9 Raymond Dedman at Punalu‘u, Hawaii (source R. A. Bartlett) 1.10 Dennis or ‘Bumpy* Kanahele and wife, 0 ‘ahu (source R. A. Bartlett) 3.1 Ka Ule o Nanahoa, Pala‘au, Molokai (source R. A. Bartlett) 3.2 Solomon (Kolo) Kalua at Pala‘au, Molokai (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.1 ‘Kapu sticks*, Merrie Monarch hula festival, Hawaii (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.2 The banana plant (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.3 Stone ‘ahu’, Ananaluawahine, Kalawao, Molokai (source R. A. Bartlett) 6 4.4 Offering of a pig’s head, Halema‘uma‘u crater, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.5 Rainbow over Halema‘uma‘u crater, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii (source R.A. Bartlett) 4.6 Flower garlands left at Halema‘uma‘u crater, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.7 Author near lava flow at end of Chain of Craters Road, Kilauea Volcano, Hawai‘i (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.8 Author at lava flow at end of Chain of Craters Road, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.9 View from Chain of Craters Road, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.10 Ka Lae, the southernmost land in Hawaii (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.11 Gourds held in nets, hula piko festival, Molokai (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.12 Waha‘ula heiau (source Kirch and Babineau 1996) 4.13 Pu‘uloa petroglyph field, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.14 The Na Pali cliffs, Kauai (source Wichman 1998) 4.15 Ka‘ena Point, 0 ‘ahu (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.16 Limahuli, Na Pali Kauai (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.17 Ka Ulu o Laka heiau, Na Pali, Kauai (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.18 Mana, Kauai (source Wichman 1998) 4.19 John Webber’s depiction of the Arrival of Captain Cook at Waimea, Kauai, 1778 (source Handy, Handy and Pukui 1991) 7 4.20 Ancient shoreline, Waimea, Kauai (source Hazlett and Hyndman 1996) 4.21 Ho‘ai heiau, Kaua‘i (source Kirch and Babineau 1996) 4.22 Po‘ipu Beach, Kaua‘i (source Hazlett and Hyndeman 1996) 4.23 Hikinaakala heiau, Kaua‘i (source Hazlett and Hyndeman 1996) 4.24 John Ka‘imikaua, hula piko, Molokai (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.25 Kalaupapa peninsula, Molokai (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.26 Kalaupapa town, Molokai (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.27 Buddy Neller, Kalaupapa, Molokai (source R. A. Bartlett) 4.28 Kamanuolalo heiau, Kalaupapa, Moloka‘i (source R. A. Bartlett) 5.1 Hula dancers with nets representing the moon-goddess Hina, hula piko, Moloka*i (source R. A. Bartlett) 5.2 A wa‘a ‘auhau, ‘gift-bearing canoe’ before it is sent to Lono in distant Kahiki. Keanakeiki, Kaho‘olawe (source Reeve 1995) 5.3 Sign outside Omarama, ‘place of the moon’, South Island, New Zealand (source R. A. Bartlett) 5.4 Offering ceremony at Halema‘uma‘u crater, Kilauea Volcano, Hawai‘i (source P. Buclarewicz) 5.5 New growth on lava beds, Kilauea Volcano, Hawai‘i (source R. A. Bartlett) 8 LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 The Islands of Polynesia 1.2 The Islands of Hawai‘i 3.1 The Body surrounded by the Gods (source R.A. Bartlett) 3.2 The ‘Uala or Sweet Potato Plant (source Handy, Handy and Pukui 1991) 4.1 The Big Island of Hawai‘i (from Kirch and Babineau 1996) 4.2 Place Names of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii (source James A.

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