Makahiki Time!
Makahiki is one of the most important seasons in the Hawaiian calendar. Coinciding with the rising of Makaliʻi (the Pleiades constellation) in the night sky, this four-month event marks the journey of the akua Lono around the Hawaiian Islands — bringing peace, harvest, and fertility. In past generations, it was a time for the people to rest from working the land and to refrain from war.During Makahiki, an embodiment of Lono, called an akua loa or Lonomakua, is adorned with his kino lau (body forms). Customarily, these include pala ferns (Marattia douglasii) and the pelts of native albatrosses, such as kaʻupu (Phoebastria nigripes) or mōlī (Phoebastria immutabilis). Alongside the black and white albatross feathers, white kapa banners are draped over the akua loa, since these colors are associated with Lono.Here at Bishop Museum, we recognize Makahiki and the winter months of our year with the display seen in the photo. To the left stands an image of Kū, ceremonially wrapped to mark the shift between Kau (or Kauwela), the dry season of Kū, and Hoʻoilo, the rainy season of Lono. At the center of the display, adorned with symbolic greenery and feather lei appropriate for an island circuit, is a kiʻi understood to be the only remaining akua loa to have been used in Makahiki circuits made by high chiefs in the 1800s, most likely on Hawaiʻi Island.Visit Bishop Museum today to see this special symbol of Hawaiian culture, and hundreds of other cultural items and natural history specimens on display in our galleries.“The Signs of Makahiki” is written by Marques Hanalei Marzan, Miles Thomas, and Emma Bornstein. Read the full story and explore more.
Drawing of Lonomakua by Joseph Feher, Bishop Museum Archives. SCP 54161.Bishop Museum is the State of Hawaiʻi Museum of Natural and Cultural History.
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kapa kulture 