Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Samantha Jetzer | 230401-N-ML137-1062 KEKAHA, Hawai‘i (April 1, 2023) Hula haumāna (hula students)...... read more read more
“I would consider Nohili Dunes a wahi pana, a very sacred place, because it is a resting place of some of our kūpuna, our ancestors,” said Leinaʻala Pavao-Jardin, kumu hula (hula teacher) for Hālau Ka Lei Mokihana O Leinaʻala, a Kauaʻi based hula school.
Pavao-Jardin’s hālau (hula school) visited and provided ho`okupu (gift, offering) to important cultural sites at Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Barking Sands, including Nohili Dunes and the Lua Kupapaʻu O Nohili (Nohili Crypt). This visit took place prior to their arrival in Hilo on the Island of Hawai`i to compete in the 60th Anniversary of the Merrie Monarch Festival 2023 and will be the only hālau representing Kauaʻi this year. They had the honor of being selected as last year’s winners for wahine (women) overall. The mele (song) that they performed this year was a story about Nohili Dunes. This site is also where the installation received its nickname, “Barking Sands,” known for the sound that has been heard emitting from the dunes. Traditionally, the Nohili Dunes was an area where Hawaiians congregated to fish and gather sustenance. It is also a burial location as traditional burial practices were in sand.
“I say that if the sand dunes could speak and tell us the history we’d need multiple Merrie Monarchs to share all of the amazing stories of this area,” continued Pavao-Jardin. “We’re very honored and thankful to PMRF for allowing us to be here and stand in this sand which once was home to a lot of Hawaiians.”
The weeklong festival has been held annually, beginning on Easter Sunday, since 1963 and invites hula practitioners throughout the Hawaiian Islands and mainland U.S. to compete in this annual tradition. As part of their preparations for the festival, the hālau conducted a huakaʻi (journey) to PMRF to fully experience the place of the hula they are performing. Pavao-Jardin explained the importance of the dancers being physically present at the dunes. Feeling the sand and mana (divine power, often from ancestral spirits) allows the dancers to be able to bring the story of the people from this place with them to Hilo for the festival.
“If hula is done effectively it can transcend space and time,” explains Pavao-Jardin. “It is extremely special to be in this space. This is the stage. We go to the Merrie Monarch Festival, and yes, that is an amazing event that celebrates the hula on this grand stage, but this [Nohili Dunes] is the grand stage. This is why we do what we do.”
Hula is sacred to Hawaiian culture, it is not just a hobby or meant to be performed for entertainment. Traditionally, Hawaiʻi had no written language, therefore, the recording of Hawaiian history was passed down through hula and oral storytelling. Pavao-Jardin emphasizes how hula is the way in which Hawaiians tell their stories from the past to the present day. To lose this practice of hula and the collection of songs acquired would mean losing history. It is the kuleana (responsibility) of the dancer to carry on these stories.
“Hula is our kūpuna to me, it's the way in which we keep the voices of our ancestors alive,” expresses Pavaro-Jardin. “There was a time when we almost lost our language, we lost hula for a little while since hula was forbidden and it can’t be. Where there’s Hawaiian people there has to be the hula.”
The Merrie Monarch Festival was founded in 1963 and named after King David La‘amea Kalākaua. Known fondly as the “Merrie Monarch” for his love of hula and festivities, Kalākaua played a major role in the reestablishment of Hawaiian traditional culture following a period where Hawaiian culture and its language were being threatened with extinction. He actively worked to encourage and record traditional practices by recording mele and writing books with traditional stories. His legacy is remembered through the practice of this annual festival.
“I want to say that we’re filled with so much gratitude,” said Pavao-Jardin. “That was our theme last year, and of course that is going to carry on, we’re so grateful. But this year is ‘joy.’ Just finding joy with everything that we do, bringing out the joy in it. Standing here and being in this peace, with peace comes joy and so this is just perfect and fitting. Of course mahalo (give thanks) for all of the people on Kaua`i and Ni`ihau for supporting us in this journey year after year.”
When the U.S. Navy acquired PMRF in 1957, with it came the responsibility of maintaining and caring for the cultural sites which it resided on. Even though there are security requirements to enact for the base, access to these cultural sites is made available to those seeking to connect with their cultural heritage. PMRF is dedicated to supporting the local community through assisting and encouraging visits like this.
“For me I feel gratitude to PMRF for being the guardians, the kia`i, of this area,” said Pavao-Jardin appreciatively. “I can go home, I can take my students home and I know that when we go to the Merrie Monarch Festival, this place will be untouched as we are here today. There is no development and that’s the beauty of it.”
Thomas Nizo, PMRF’s deputy public works officer and cultural protocol officer, describes how PMRF continues to look after these important sites while also involving the community.
“Sites like Nohili Dunes are a time capsule for us to tell the story of the past,” describes Nizo. “Now that PMRF is here it's our kuleana to malama (care) for that area and that lineage that came before PMRF.”
Nizo explains how there are four pillars in traditional Hawaiian culture that PMRF’s cultural resources team use to work off in order to guide them in their efforts to preserve these important sites. They are moʻokuahau (lineage), moʻomhehu (work), moʻolelo (stories) and moʻopuna (generation, next).
“Each of these pillars tie into each other,” said Nizo. “We hope to give it to the next generation in a state of the same or better condition with minimal impact.”
One of the ways that PMRF supports these pillars is through the continued effort to allow access for the community to these areas. To fulfill Hawaiian protocol so that the community can do the work, share the story, continue the tradition for generations to come to honor what has come to pass. This type of commitment to the community is essential to the mission and operations that PMRF conducts. Without the support of the local community, PMRF would not be what it is today.
“It’s important for PMRF to be a good neighbor,” explains Nizo. “I would say 90 percent of the workforce here are local personnel and long-term employees. We are doing our best to mitigate the impacts and we are doing our best to ensure that our mission out here is safe and compliant. We give access and the community can actually see the work we do and they can see for themselves how pristine it is.”
ʻIke I ke One Kani AʻO Nohili
ʻIke i ke one kani aʻo Nohili
Me ka pahapaha lei aʻo Polihale
ʻIke i ka wai ʻula aʻo Mānā
Na niu e holaʻi o Kaunalewa
Pa iho ka makani la he Kiu
ʻIke ia e ka noe la i Niʻihau
Hoʻohaehae ana i ka nāulu
Ka makani Mikioi la o Lehua
Pūpū-kani-oe ko Kauaʻi
Kūnihi Hāʻupu ʻau i ke kai
Haʻina ʻia mai ana ka puana
Mokihana e ka pua la i ʻoi aʻe
***
The Barking Sands of Nohili
See the sounding sand of Nohili
And the sea lettuce for lei of Polihale
See the red water of Mānā
The coco palms poised aloft at Kaunlewa
When the “Spy” wind blows
Seen is the mist of Niʻihau
Stirring up sudden showers is
The wind “Neat” of Lehua
The land shell is Kauaʻi’s
Steep Haupe juts into the sea
The story is told
Mokihana flower is choice
| Date Taken: | 04.18.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 04.20.2023 16:26 |
| Story ID: | 443009 |
| Location: | KEKAHA, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 366 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Hālau Honors the Wahi Pana of Nohili with Protocol and Ho`okupu, by PO1 Samantha Jetzer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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