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kapa kulture
This blog is dedicated to Hawaiian kapa and matters related to Hawai'i nei…kuku kapa e!
Archive for the month “May, 2013”
Hawaiian Word of the Day: mo’o kū’auhau
mo’o kū’auhau: Genealogical succession, pedigree.
mo’o kupuna: Ancestral genealogy.
I am working on my mo’o kū’auhau, my family genealogy, today with the help of a good friend who has the mana’o about ‘ōlelo. The purpose is to be able to honor my kupuna, my ancestors, when the time comes to introduce myself in the proper way. Ancient protocol would have lengthy introductions in order to know with whom one was speaking… aloha kākou
Kapa Māna’o…(knowledge)
I had a long conversation the other night with my new friend and kapa maker extraordinaire, Dalani Tanahy www.kapahawaii.com. We hit on topics up, down, and sideways…but guided by a set of questions I held in my hand. The purpose of the call was to understand her point of view related to things of “kapa kulture.” Some of the Q’s were theoretical, political, or cultural in nature. But the practical, …oh, the practical… how wonderful to get the scoop from such a dedicated kapa master! Her wisdom and expertise inspired me to revisit several pieces of my own recently pounded kapa which I felt to be under par. I was unsatisfied with the look and feel of these pieces. I had underestimated the work involved and the previous 10 or more hours was not yet sufficient time spent to pound the wauke fibers into soft and flat submission. The result was striated sheets which were stiff and cardboard-like rather than the papery softness I was aiming for. If it was to be worn as a malo or pā’u garment, scratchy and uncomfortable to wear indeed!
Back to my kua I went, taking my kapa with me… I wet the dried sheet with sprays of misty water. After careful pounding for a couple of hours, I managed to produce a softer, whiter, and more delicate specimen that was getting closer to the ideal proposed by Hawaiian historian, Samuel Kamakau, who had declared that the “well-made tapa must be clearer than the light of the moon, whiter than the snow upon the mountains.” Kapa making is not for the faint of heart or impatient, but as an art it requires careful labor and the time to coax a smooth and graceful hand from coarse, raw material.
Hawaiian Word of the Day: ‘ili
‘ili: 1. Skin, complexion, hide, pelt, scalp, bark, rind, peel. Ho’okae ‘ili, race prejudice; to have race prejudice. Ka ‘ili o ke po’o, scalp. Kāne i ka ‘ili, husband. ‘A’ohe mea ‘ē a’e, ‘o ka lole wale nō i ka ‘ili, there was nothing else except the clothing on the back. 2. Leather. ‘ili lahilahi, thin leather. ‘Ili mānoanoa, thick leather. 3. Surface, area. ‘ili ‘āina, ‘ilikai. 4. Binding, cover. ‘Ili pa’a, hard cover (of a book). 5. Land section, next in importance to ahupua’a and usually a subdivision of an ahupua’a. 6. Strap of any kind, as reins, harness, fan belt, machine belt; hose. 7. Pebble (less used than ‘ili’ili); kōnane pebble. 8. Square, as in measurements. A na ‘ili, square measurements (Pukui & Elbert, 1971).
‘ili lepo o waho… dirty outer bark…of wauke when making kapa. The outer bark that is scrapped off to begin the process of making kapa.
‘ili lepo o waho
kapa kulture 