I find it interesting as I stand on the Pu’uokapolei Hula Mound and reflect back some 14 years from this same spot. The year was 1994. This was a year after the Ahahui Siwila Hawaii O Kapolei was chartered in 1993 as a new Hawaiian Civic Club tasked with a responsibility to bring a Hawaiian cultural presence to the young city of Kapolei. We have come a long way since that day members of the new Kapolei Hawaiian Civic Club stood on the exact same spot I am standing on today. I was not amongst those members on that day and I cannot recall why I was not with them however the memory of the story they all shared with me is as clear as if I was with them.

Aunty Kala Holden at the hula mound

Those members who shared this story with me and were present on that day were Bob and Kala Holden, Melissa and Dan Lyman, Mike Kido, Jalna Keala, Annelle Amaral and Kumu Hula Olga and Noah Kalama. It is important to understand that the club knew very little of the cultural history of Kapolei but was driven to learn of its history and to identify that place that could best serve as the venue for that learning and sharing. With the little knowledge these members had of this new city Aunty Olga Kalama wrote a chant in a matter of minutes as ……if someone was whispering the words to her. It happened on this day 14 years ago…… on this very spot that I am standing on today. No one knew it but Aunty Olga would set the path for this young Hawaiian civic club. That path started here at Pu’uokapolei……..It was on a late August afternoon in 1994…….the sun was settling into Po (night). The distant sun seemed obscured by a haze. As the sun passed through this haze the sunset glow turned into all the colors of Kapo of different hues of red, yellow, orange with “black spots”………..can this be……………….the ”Lei of Kapo”?

Eo Mai E Kapolei Heed the call, O Kapolei
Ka Pu’u O Kapo, La Ea To the hill of Kapo
Ke Ala Mai Ka Hikina The path from the east
A I Komohana, La Ea Until the west

Napo’o’ana O Ka La The sun sets
I Pala’ila’I, La Ea At Pala’ila’i

Haku ‘ia Ka Lei Alaula The sunset glow creates a lei
I luna O Ke Ao, La Ea In the clouds above

Ha’ina Ka Puana Tell the refrain
No Ka ‘Aina Kapolei, La Ea About the land of Kapolei

La Ea, La Ea, La Ea

Immediately after Aunty Olga Kalama finished her chant the park sprinklers came on and everyone was drenched. Everyone who was present felt that it was a powerful “ho’ailona” or a sign of good things to come. From a cultural perspective that was a powerful sign even though it was triggered mechanically by the park irrigation. It gave everyone a feeling of having been “baptized”. It was a manifestation of embarking on a new life. Everyone could feel a sudden heart beat…….a sudden breeze………..or was it a breath…………………

Since that day we have learned how true this chant has become. Pu’uokapolei literally means the “hill of the beloved Kapo”. We have also learned that the oral traditions refer to it as the “western gate of the setting sun”. The “eastern gate of the rising sun” is at Kumukahi on Hawaii Island. At the time of the change of seasons on or about May 1 the sun sets in the “Mahinaona”. It is believed by most cultural thinkers that the “Mahinaona” is Pu’u Pala’ila’i. We know today that the celebration of May Day or Lei Day celebrated on May 1 of every year may have had its origins as a celebration of the “change of seasons” or …………..Pu’uokapolei Day.

The very first event subsequent to this day was the legislature’s passage of the Kapolei Hawaiian Civic Club’s bill to change the name of Barbers Point to the ancient name of Kalaeloa. Members of the Ahahui have made significant contributions in terms of restoring the ancient Hawaiian names of this region by suggesting new street names and project names many of which have been integrated into the area plan. A concerted effort has been made to educate all of us on all of the ancient place names with Pu’uokapolei as the “piko” of that learning. Aunty Olga’s Oli is no longer just words but a reality.

I have shared all the stories regarding Puuokapolei having served as a marker for the “change of seasons”, that it was home of Kamaunuaniho, that a heiau once existed here and that it served as a landmark to ancient travelers passing along the trail that we now know of as Farrington Highway. You can find details of these stories in other cultural essays.

It started here where today stands a grandest hula mound ever built in all of Hawaii nei in these modern times……but it is not just a hula mound. It is the manifestation of a history that has been restored and integrated into its construction. It is a story of the dual nature of Kapo and Laka and a celebration of the “change of seasons”.
Here is its story…….its design manifest the cultural significance of Pu’uokapolei as the marker for the “change of seasons”. This was done through the collective efforts and consultation between architects of Architects Pacific and Kumu Hula John Kaimikaua of Makakilo and Shad Kane of the Ahahui Siwila Hawaii O Kapolei. It was an extraordinary effort. Several models were considered. The final design was one that integrated the history of Pu’uokapolei and facilitated a multi-purpose of both hula and community activities.

There are two mounds. The elevated mound constructed of coral boulders is for hula only in keeping with proper hula protocol of Kapo and Laka and the wishes of Kumu Hula John Kaimikaua of Makakilo. The second mound is for community functions and also to serve as a seating space for all future hula festivals. Electric power is provided to both mounds for both lighting and sound systems. As a cultural component of integrating the surrounding cultural landscape into the hula mound the coral boulders forming the retaining walls for the elevated hula mound came from the ancient place known as Kanehili or today known as Kalaeloa (formerly Barbers Point NAS).

Anciently there was a powerful relationship between Pu’uokapolei, Kaupe’a, Kanehili and Ku’alakai. A trail once existed between Pu’uokapolei and Ku’alakai as it passed through Kaupe’a and Ku’alakai. In the story of Pele and Hiiaka when Hiiaka went to Kauai to find Lohiau and take him to Pele she stopped at Pu’uokapolei and met with Nawahinekama’oma’o. Kapo is the older sister of both Pele and Hi’iaka. The story has Hi’iaka leaving Pu’uokapolei and passing through Kaupe’a and Kanehili and arriving at Ku’alakai (Nimitz Beach). The coral boulders from Kanehili solidifies that relationship today and will be a part of every future hula festival in honor of Kapo.

Cultural Mound and Map Stone

The Pu’uokapolei Hula Mound is aligned with setting of the sun at the time of the “change of seasons” which is on or about May 1. Anciently Pu’uokapolei served as a marker for the change of seasons. Hawaiian Historian Sam Manaiakalani Kamakau identifies it in this way.

The people of O`ahu reckoned from the time when the sun set over Pu`u o Kapolei until it set in the hollow of Mahinaona and called this period Kau, and when it moved south again from Pu`u o Kapolei and it grew cold and the time when young sprouts started, the season was called from their germination (oilo) the season Ho`oilo. There were therefore two seasons, the season of Makali`i and the season of Ho`olio.” (S.M. Kamakau, Mo`olelo Hawai`i, Vol. 1, Chpt.2, p. 23.)

Kamakau then states that when the sun set over Pu’uokapolei in the Mahinaona that was the division of the seasons or the marker for the “change of seasons”. But where was the observer standing on May 1 in order to see the setting sun over Pu`u o Kapolei? A hint came from Hawaiian Historian Emma Nakuina Metcalf.

It was determined from the work of Nakuina that the observer would have made this observation from the Opunaha Kuahu which was in the area of where the present Waikiki Aquarium is now located. Every year on or about May 1 and 2 there is a joint celebration with Kumu Hula Keola Lake’s Halau at the Waikiki Aquarium and members of the Kapolei Hawaiian Civic Club at Pu’uokapolei celebrating the setting sun over Pu’uokapolei in the Mahinaona (Pu’u Pala’ila’i).

Puu Palailai as observed from the Waikiki Aquarium, May 2, 2007. Photo by Dr. Lynette Cruz

This alignment of the setting sun as observed from the Waikiki Aquarium was integrated into the design of the hula mound as it faces Pu’u Pala’ila’i. Attached is the architect’s drawing of the hula mound with the integration of that lineal view plane. If one were to draw a straight line connecting the Opunaha Kuahu (Waikiki Aquarium) and Pu’u Pala’ila’i (Mahinaona), that line would pass over Pu’uokapolei, the hula mound, cultural mound and map stone.

Sadly Aunty Olga and Noah Kalama are not with us today. Aunty Olga passed away within a year after this memorable day and Noah followed her shortly after. But make no mistake they are still with us. I hear her in the rustle of the leaves as the wind blows through the native garden. I hear her footsteps as I look over my shoulder. I smell the scent of the flowers in her hair. I see her smile as she stands on the hula mound in approval of all that we have done…………..…Aloha no Aunty Olga.

This story was first published on myadvertiser.com in January 2008.