Hawaiian Word of the Day
i’a. 1. Fish, or any marine animal, as eel, oyster, crab, whale. 2. Meat or any flesh food. 3. Any food eaten as a relish, with the staple. 4. Milky Way (capitalized I’a).
kapa kulture
This blog is dedicated to Hawaiian kapa and matters related to Hawai'i nei…kuku kapa e!
Ka Pi’apa: letters and pronounciation
In ‘Olelo Hawai’i, there are 12 letters plus the ‘okina (‘) and the kahako (-). The ‘okina looks like an apostrophe and is pronounced as a glottal stop. The kahako is a macron that goes over the vowel in certain words to elongate the sound of the vowel…The macron is not always shown….The 12 letters are: a,e,i,o,u,h,k,l,m,n,p,w. These are pronounced: a= ah, e=eh, i=ee, o=oh, u=ue (long u sound), h=he, k=ke, l=la, m=mu, n=nu, p=pi, w=ve, okina=’
Ka Pi’apa Hawai’i: the Hawaiian Alphabet
The Hawaiian alphabet, ka pīʻāpā Hawaiʻi, is an alphabet used to write Hawaiian. It was adapted from the English alphabet in the early 19th century by American missionaries to print a bible in the Hawaiian language.
Making kapa
This video documents beating the kapa cloth (kuku pa’upa’u). These kapa were being made for wrapping bones (iwi) for reburial. November 23, 2012
A Book of Mana’o
Ka Hana Kapa: The Making of Hawaiian Kapa, Memoirs of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum of Polynesian Ethnology and National History. Honolulu, Hawai’i: Bishop Museum Press, 1911. This is authentic! I found this online and it is free to read! Then I saw an actual copy at the Kaua’i Historical Society when I visited their resource library! It was great to see it, a very large, over-sized book filed with knowledge I can use! Mahalo ke Akua!
Carving hohoa
The hohoa is the first tool used in the process of beating kapa. This will eventually be rounded at the top and tapered at the bottom to form the handle. This is from the first day of carving. I worked about 6 hours…still not done. this is hard work!
kapa kulture 