Tom Cummins, "Kinshape: the Design of a Hawaiian Feather Cloak"

KINSHAPE: THE DESIGNOE THE HAWAHANEEATHER CLOAK

TOM CUMMINS

At the time of Cook's visit (1778; the islands were divided mto fourkingdoms, ruled by rival kings who were frequently at war with each other.Within a dozen years, Kamehameha I, through his own genius and hisability to win the help of foreigners and their weapons, had conquered hisrivals At the time of Kamehameha's death in 1819 the islands were unitedunder one rule and were at peace

Then came the overthrow of the Kapu (1820) The Hawauans had norehgion when the first missionaries arrived in 1820, and the power of theirruler was sadly shaken '

Fifty years from the coming of the European the makmg of feather cloakshad ceased. . ^

In 1792 Kamehameha the great, the eventual ruler of all the Hawaiian islands,gave to the English explorer Vancouver a feather cloak called an 'ahu 'ula. Heenjomed the captain to deliver the cloak to King George HI, saying that 'it wasthe most valuable in the islands of Hawaii, and for that reason he had sent it toso good a monarch, and so good a friend, as he considered the King ofEngland '^

The histoncal reasons for this particular gift notwithstanding,''^ its contentunderscores the esteem that the feather cloak had in Hawaii, and it raises severalquestions concerning the nature of the 'aku 'ula in that society. I want, here, torestrict these questions to issues concerning the shapes and colors chosen tocreate the designs of the 'ahu 'ula. The reasons for this insistence will becomeclear in the description of the pieces It is important, now, to note that theprevious writing on this subject has either dismissed these issues altogether orgiven general aesthetic appraisals ^ This is because the designs are composed ofabstract shapes of solid colors (plate 1). To a contemporary viewer they aredevoid of meaning because they strike a chord with Modernist sensibilities forabstract shapes as the essence of pure universal aesthetic expression. Butabstraction has meaning proper only to its time and place.^ Abstract art is no

Art History Vol. 7 No. 1 March 1984 R K P 1984 0141-6790/84/0701-001 $1 50/1

KINSHAPE THE DESIGN OF THE HAWAHAN FEATHER CLOAK

more devoid oi particular content than is figural art The difTerence is thatfigural images b\ their mtent to depict known forms are more immediatelyunderstandable and lend themselves to readings that normally end in theidentification of what is replicated and, sometimes, why Abstract forms by theirrefusal to replicate, by their negation of the familiar, demand the identificationofthe cultural, ideological if you will, force that gives them their significance ^This means that a study of such forms that in any way questions what they arerequires an analysis of their culture

Such an analysis means the study of a culture's shared but unreflected viewof Its social relations The mode of analysis depends upon the economic andideological structure ofthe society under question, but in each case it must focuson the means bv which material human relations are transformed to suppose acultural ideal For Hawaii, the dominant structure of the economy and politicsmust be reckoned within the sphere of kin relations This will allow for thedetermination ofthe material value and political importance ofthe cloaks As weshall see, the size and the color find their meaning at this level of analysis Thedesign ofthe cloak, however, does not To get at this central question, the cloakmust be investigated in its structural role in Hawaiian thought. In discoveringIts associations and manifestations in Hawaiian mythology, we can find theideological place in which the abstract designs take their meaning. But tounderstand how these forms operate in the real world of men and women, theymust be brought back to the economic and political realm where real eventsoccur This path is found in kinship because it unites the two spheres byfunctioning at the ideological level of mythology and the material level ofeconomic relationsToday there are approximately 160 'ahu 'ulas in museums and pnvate collectionsthroughout the world *^ They range in size from shoulder capes to full lengthcloaks, and although no two are exactly alike, William Bngham, author of thefirst and still most authoritative monograph on these cloaks, notes that no greatoriginality is shown in their form or design.^ What he means to say is that the'ahu 'ula invariably has a crescent shape formed by the woven coconut fiberlining to which the feathers are attached. This crescent shape is further repeatedin the color design of the feather work Peter Buck in his study of Hawaiianmaterial culture notes that the crescent appears noticeably in well over half of allextant cloaks.' His estimate is conservative since a closer examination revealsthat the crescent is the structural design element in almost all cloaks "Generally, the design is created by a few geometric shapes of colored feathers setagamst a ground of feathers of a different color These geometric units arecreated by a solid block of color or by the colored outline of the shape Usuallyonly red, black, and yellow feathers were used in the manufacture of thesecloaks. One ofthe most frequent designs ofthe 'ahu 'ula shows a large crescentwith Its center co-ordinated with the central vertical axis of the cape (plate 2)The crescent arcs upward toward the side borders ofthe cape but does not meetthem Two smaller half-crescent units extend from either side border and flankthe ends of the central crescent When the cape is worn, the two side bordersmeet and create two full crescent elements, while the center ofthe large crescent

hu 'ula (Keamy cloak), Bermce P. Bishop Museum,olulu

Ihu 'ula (Kaumuali'i cloak), Bemice P. Bishopcum, Honolulu

3 'Ahu 'ula (Peterson cloak), Bermce P. BishopMuseum, Honolulu

4 'Ahu 'ula (Apikaila cloak),Bemice P. Bishop Museum,Honolulu

5 The Death of Captain Cook by George Carter, oil on fabric,c. 1783, Bemice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu

6 'Ahu 'ula (Kamehameha cloak), Bemice P. Bishop Museum,Honolulu

KINSHM'E THE DESIGN OF THE HAW A l l \ \ FEAIHER CLOAK

falls at the middle of the wearer's backThis basic motif has several variations The large crescent frequentK peaks

at the middle, pomting upwards so as to emphasize the central vertical axis Theside half crescents are replaced b\ triangles (plate 3) On larger capes or cloaksthese elements are multiplied and varied The central solid crescent design issometimes replaced bv smaller circular or diamond elements which none the lessstretch across the cloak horizontally to define the arc of the essential crescent(plate 4)

These few examples demonstrate the perv asiveness of the crescent This fact,however, has not led to anv studies that treat the design as significant to thefunction of the cloak. The question of the 'ahu 'ula's, design has been addressedonly once in the literature bv Peter Buck''-' who simph suggests that the design isdependent upon the shape of the cloak He supposes that the upper and lowerborders of the cloak's woven fiber lining were originalK straight like those of theNew Zealand Maori cloaks, but that eventualh in Hawaii these borders werecurved. The crescent design of the colored feathers mcreh followed thestructural change of the lining This intuitive explanation of the earlv changemay or mav not be correct, but it does not pertain to the ahu ula as we know itThe examples available for study represent the feather cloak at a highlydeveloped stage and used bv a societv which had changed dramaticalh from itsearlv beginnings ' ' Furthermore, Buck does not question wh\ the form of thecloak was ever altered, nor does he ask why, once the Hawaiians decided uponthe change of the lining, thev accented it b\ repeating it in the colored designOther patterns were a\ ailable b\ arranging the feathers differentlv We haveexamples of Hawaiian feather work in which the geometric designs do not followthe form of the lining, yet. this freedom is not shown in the 'ahu 'ula The specificdesign of each cloak is umque, but it is unique onK within a highly restrictedvocabulary Onlv three basic colors were used,'* and onl\ one principalgeometric pattern was considered The overall design and shape show a co-ordinated and determined emphasis on the crescent.'^ This careful articulationcannot simply be the result of an early arbitrary change in the borders of thelining. Rather, these artistic restrictions or choices must be seen as being madewithin the framework of the Hawaiian social structure

The use of the 'ahu 'ula was restricted to the men of onlv one class of people, theali'i. They were the royal class of a social system unique in Polvnesia,"' and theword 'ahu 'ula refers to that class It means 'red cloak''^ and red was the royalcolor of Hawaii in the same way that purple was the royal color of the Byzantinestate Only, the Hawaiian system was much more restrictive than Byzantineroyalty Theoretically, there was no admittance to the ah 'i other than by birth,nor could one lose the prerogatives of royalty no matter what the course ofpolitical events "^

Below the ali'i was the peasant class, the ma-ka-aina-na, and below it was thekuawa, a group of people with no rights or land - essentially a slave class Therelationship of all three to one another was based on birth and mediated by asystem of government that embodied both the secular and religious elements ofthe society.

KINSHAPE THE DESIGN OF THE HAWAIIAN FEATHER CLOAK

Within the ah 'i there were ranks and degrees of nobility At the pinnacle ofpower was the ka moi., a supreme and absolute chief of an entire island. Theposition was held only by a male and was contingent on two factors rank bygenealogy and the personal ability to establish rule '^ This ability rested on thenumber of his followers and the sacred aspect ofthe ka moi which enabled him todeclare what was kapu (taboo) Because the kapu served as both an external andinternal force for the order of the social and religious life of the entirecommunity, it gave him extraordinary power "^

The ka moi usually came from a body of chiefs generally called the aha-alt'i orpapa ah'i Theoretically, it was composed of three ranks of chiefs based onkinship The highest rank belonged to the child of a brother-sister marriagecalled pi'o. The second rank was held by the offspring of a first cousin marriagecalled hoi'i,^^ and the third belonged to the child of a union between a half-brother and sister, called naha The children in all three cases were calledmaupi 'o ^^ Sociallv, these were the highest and most sacred members of theHawaiian society.^^ The child of a brother-sister marriage was divine Hispresence was so sacred that theoretically he could only travel at night becauseeveryone had to prostrate themselves in his presence ^^ The two other ranks hadsimilar but less severe taboos However, as in the case of all preferentialmarriages, these unions were the ideal rather than the fact ^^ The aha-alt'i orbodv of chiefs was staffed by many chiefs who were not the children of suchmarriages but who were accorded the same general title given to the offspring ofthe three most preferred marriages ^^ More often than not, the ka-moi himself didnot come from these forms of marriage In fact, the one real requisite forentrance into the aha-ali'i and for the recognition as a chief at all was a puregenealogy which could trace a person's ancestry through a royal line thatultimately reached back to the gods themselves ^^ To insure this, at the time ofthe birth of a chief, a name chant was composed glorifying and tracing thefamily history ^^ A member ofthe ah'i visiting another island or chiefdom had torecite his name chant to the aha-ali'i of that area before he could receive theprerogatives of a chief.^ ^ These matters of kinship and genealogy were whatultimately invested the ali'i with their sacred power or mana, of which theoffspring of a brother-si&ter marriage was the ultimate expression, and werewhat set them apart ideologically from the peasant and slave classes.^"

As the supreme ruler of an island chiefdom, the ka moi had the power todispossess peasants and lesser chiefs of their land, and to receive a yearly tributeNon-payment of tribute was one cause for being thrown off the land. A secondreason resulted from the advent of a new ka-moi,^^ who had the right to redividethe land among his followers The sacred nature of the ka-moi extended to anactive role in the religious part of Hawaiian society As head kuana or priest, heconsecrated the temples, oversaw religious rites, and presided over thecelebration of the most important festival, the makahiki.^^

The ka-moi was assisted by an adviser called kalai-moku, meaning 'islandcarver'. He essentially acted as a counselor of state and guided a young or newka-moi in his decisions ^^ His title derived from the fact that it was through himthat the lands were divided. The largest districts, called ahupuass,^'^ were givenover to high chiefs for their sustenance and control In addition to the kalai-moku,


there was the position of konohiki These were men in charge either of separatepieces of land or of work projects They essentiallv insured the cultivation of theland, co-ordination and execution of labour projects, and the collection oftribute ^^

From the above, it can be seen that within the ah'i there was a dual structureof sacred and administrative authority The latter was rooted in the former, butthe administrative posts did not necessarily, and most often did not, belong tothe most sacred members Rather, these positions were filled by ambitious chiefswho could gather support either by wit or force or both To the peasantshowever, the rank of the ali'i was regarded with an awe that was accented b\ thetaboo which attended the person of every chief ^ *^

The ma-ka-aina-na were the common and most numerous class of people Forthat reason, thev were also called hu, which means 'to swell or multiply' Unlikethe ali'i and kauwa or slaves, this class was amorphous in its genealogy Bothkauwa and the ali'i were born to their state with their ancestral origins clearlydefined in the creation myths ^^ But in the case of the ma-ka-atna-na, except forcommon descent from wakea and papa - the primordial pair - there is no mentionin the creation myths or any subsequent myth that specifically recounts theirorigin ^^ As such, they simply existed between the two clearlv articulated polaropposites, master/slave, and had no history and therefore no power of their ownIt is understandable then that the ma-ka-aina-na dreaded both classes, andreasonable that they called them both akua,^^^ 'god' or 'godhke', and themselveskanaka, 'men'

Malo says of the ma-ka-aina-na that 'the hfe of the people was one of patientendurance yielding to the chiefs to purchase their favour' *" This patientendurance meant yielding produce, goods, and/or labour including militaryservice to the ali'i Apart from the necessary occupations of farming and fishing,some of the ma-ka-aina-na also practiced professions such as canoe-makers orhousebuilders Within this category of works was one of the sources of feathersfor the alih, the professional bird catcher po'e hahai manu "*' However, becausethere was a standing order for the collection of feathers and because a greatportion of the annual tribute was paid in feathers, most families regardless oftheir profession also trapped birds *^

The annual tribute of feathers as well as food, tapa cloth, pa-u,'^^ malo,^'^ andother things occurred during the four-month-long makahiki, the paramountreligious festival of Hawaii. First the food,*^ tapa cloth, pa-u, etc were collectedby the konohiki for the ka moi These goods then were displayed before the godsfor a day and then were distributed by the ka moi to members of his courts and tothe chiefs Their shares were proportionate to their political and sacred rank. Nopart of the bounty was returned to the people, but there was a warehouse of sortsin which some of the tribute was kept and which could be drawn upon in timesof drought *^ Whether feathers were collected and distributed at this juncture ofthe festival is not recorded

Slightly later in the makahiki season, an image called akua loa was made Itwas carried around the island, stopping at the border of each ahupuass where analtar had been built. Here offerings of O-o, Mamo, and Iwi feathers; swme, tapa;and bundles of pounded taro were presented to the idol This collection was also

KINSH.'VPE THE DESIGN OF THE HAWAIIAN FEATHER CLOAK

co-ordinated by the konohiki ^^ It is not said who ultimately received these goodsexcept for the taro which was used to feed the bearers of the idol, but Malo doessay that the makahiki idol was the god of the ah h He also avoids mention offeathers in the first collection of goods presented to the ka moi, but he specificallynames the three most important feathers used by the alih in their cloaks as beingcollected in the second It is reasonable to assume that these feathers went to theka moi who then distributed them to his chiefs

This structure of collection and redistribution of goods follows the dualnature of the ah'i itself The first collection was required for the sustenance of theka mot's administration while the second dealt with sacred aspect of the ali'i It isin association with the second aspect of the ali'i that the three tvpes of feathersused to make the 'ahu 'ula were collected ^^

These feathers and the feather cloaks were the most valued possessions inancient Hawaii *^ Their matenal value resulted from the vast expenditure oflabour required for their collection Each bird had to be ensnared, plucked of thedesired feathers, and released Because the tail feathers of the Mamo bird werethe most highly prized for the yellow in a cloak, the capture of many more ofthese birds was required to furnish the same amount as red or black feathers Asyellow does not appear in Hawaiian myths as svnonymous with royalty,^^' nordoes the Mamo bird appear in any tale that would gne it such symbolicimportance, its value therefore stood in direct relation to the labour involvedrather than to any mythological account That the labour involved gave value tothe feathers was explicitly understood by the Hawauans.^' This value wasartificially inflated because in Hawaii several other birds of yellow plumage wereavailable^^ so that the use of either the O-o or Mamo yellow feathers meant acontrolled scarcity of this type. And because the system depended upon a centralcollection and subsequent distribution by the ka mot, there was further control ofthe feathers Finally, Malo notes that the 'ahu 'ula was an object of booty in everywar,^^ but even this source was tightly regulated by the ka moi In the legend ofKamapuaa from Kauai, the ka mot's brother-in-law takes the 'ahu 'ulas from theslain enemy chiefs without being seen. The ka moi finally notices that the cloaksare missing and becomes furious because the 'ahu 'ula 'were always hisperquisites from the booty take '^ *

This management of feather resources meant that the size and color of thecloaks were not arbitrary. Of course, the 'ahu 'ula was the prerogative of allchiefs, but this prerogative based on the sacred aspect of all chiefs did not meanthat all chiefs had access to cloaks of any size or color, or even a cloak at all.Rather, it meant that a member of the alt't had the right to accumulate thenecessary feathers to have a cloak made The ability to do so rested upon one'spolitical position within the alt't The position at court meant greater access tofeathers, especially yellow ones Chiefs at the lower spectrum of the politicalscale did not have enough power to gain the matenal to have a cloak made, or ifthey could, their cloaks were smaller and made with less valuable feathers.^^

These cloaks and capes were worn either on formal ceremonial occasions orin battle. During these important occasions, one's approximate political positionin the alt't was visually expressed Both the size and color of the cloakdemonstrated to all classes the political power of an individual chief. By the


protection it afforded during battle, it was a very real object that guarded aman's life according to his value in the social hierarchy A fanciful version ofthe

, death of Captain Cook, painted by George Carter c 1783, illustrates thishieratic scale (plate 5) Three men face Cook in the right foreground Each one

" wears a cloak The figure which plunges a dagger into Cook's back wears a full-. length yellow cloak A second figure is placed closer to the viewer and bends

forward to thrust a spear into Cook's abdomen He is less elegantly clothed,f minus the first figure's helmet and necklace, and wears a smaller red cloak TheS third figure kneels in the foreground and looks up at Cook He wears a shoulderZ cape composed of white and long green feathers (the least valulable of all, feathers used) The slain Hawaiian sprawled at the feet of Cook is without any

1 cloak at all.: The early European explorers understood the size and color of the cloaks asf indicating the proper order of Hawaiian chiefs^^ just as it is rendered throughI scale and position by Carter in order to indicate this social order for his western* audience through the visual keys that they understood From these early4 descriptions and later writings by the Hawaiians themselves, we can explain theJ material value of these cloaks and the symbohc value they had as signifiers ofI iank But while a materialist analvsis reveals the political significance of the' cloak's size and the type of feather used, it does not explain the term 'ahu 'ulaI Itself Nor does it explain the ubiquitous crescent shape and/or design which was used equally on the smallest cape as on the largest cloak, or why the feathers? were collected during the second tribute levy To get at these issues, we must

work at them from a different angle We must seek the levels at which the cloakwas transfigured from a material property to a symbolic unit by identifying the

cultural codes that gave it meaningAs has been said, the ah h represented not only a politically ranked group of

: overlords but also a sacred class of people who, if they were not gods incarnate,were at the very least their relatives In this aspect, the ah'i were thought to beaccompanied by various signs and attributes, both real and mythical, of whichthe 'ahu 'ula was a combination of both We have already seen that thesignification of the real occurs at the matenal level of the cloak's size and color,but we have also found no trace of its mythical signification at that level In fact,the striking contradiction between the term for the cloak ('ahu 'ula - red cloak)and the fact that the most desired color was yellow demands recognition thatthere are several levels of signification at work

At one level the term 'ahu 'ula referred to red, the royal color. Thisassociation derived from the pan-Polynesian tradition of red as a royal signifierMoreover, it seems very likely that histoncally Hawaiian cloaks were totally redbefore the time when there was sufficient surplus labour to use some of it ingathenng the much scarcer yellow feathers None the less, when the preferencefor yellow feathers over red ones occurred, the generic term for the cloak was notchanged ^^ The concept of red still held greater cultural signification than themerely materially important yellow. In this context it is important to note thatred was also associated with the rainbow, another royal sign The rainbowmarked either the coming of a chief or the unknown presence of one. Therelation between red, rainbow, and feather cloak is not arbitrarily drawn ^^


Their close connection is demonstrated by linguistic evidence from the closelyrelated Polynesian languages of Maori and Tahitian ^"^

In Maori, the language of New Zealand, the word for feather cloak, kahukura,also signifies both the name of the god in the rainbow and simply the rainbow ''"In Tahitian the word for feather cape, tohura, also means 'peace of the rainbow'These two words are related as is kulelulu in Hawaiian which belongs to the samephylum and means 'bending' or 'arching of the rainbow' ''' Unlike the Maoriand Tahitian terms however, kulelulu does not also signify a feather cloakHowever, kulelulu is linguistically related to 'ahu 'ula, but this ancient relation ismitigated by the rare use of the word kulelulu in Hawaii *'^ When referring to therainbow that heralds a Hawaiian chiefs presence, the words pi 'o-o-ke-anuene,'arch of a rainbow', or simply pi'o are used instead ''^

It would seem, then, that at some point in Hawaiian history the connectionbetween rainbow and feather cloak as expressed by the linguistic relationbetween the words 'ahu 'ula and kulelulu became obscured by the shift to the useof the terms pi 'o-o-ke-anuene or pi 'o to signifv the rainbow

Regardless of the fact that 'ahu 'ula and pi'o are linguistically unrelated,Hawaiian nomenclature and chants sometimes recall the ancient connectionbetween the cloak and the rainbow For example, one chant sung before goinginto battle is phrased as follows

Komo ku 1 Kono 'ahu 'ula(Ku IS putting on his feather cloak)Ka wela o kan na l Ka lam(the rainbow ((stands)) in the heaven) ''^

A further suggestion that the 'ahu 'ula was at least unconsciouslv conceived ofas a rainbow lies in the kahtli The kahih was a large feather standard used todenote the royal presence and is presumed to have derived from a feather flywhisk ^^ Its antiquity, however, is suspect, and its use became conspicuous onlyduring the period of the nineteenth-century Hawaiian monarchy,''*' that is, afterthe dissolution of the aha ali'i, the breaking of the kapus, and the cessation of thewidespread usage of the 'ahu 'ula ''' The word kahili means either 'a featherstandard symbol of the ali'i' or 'a segment of a rainbow standing like a shaft'.^^

Here the feather symbol of royalty and the sign of a rainbow were fused ina time of social and cultural upheaval and confusion, as if to preserve theassociation that was merely implied by the 'ahu 'ula The 'ahu 'ula and the kahilihave shared properties that make this connection more secure Both were theexclusive property of the ali'i, both were made of feathers, and both touched theback of the ali'i (the 'ahu 'ula covered the back, the kahilt was originally used tobrush lt).^^ This last point is the most significant when it is realized that theback of the ali'i was taboo.^^

It seems certain then that the 'ahu 'ula was at least tacitly conceived of as arainbow and that its arched shape was linked to, or even inspired, the shape anddesign of the cloak. Yet, this metaphor does not fully explain why the ali'irestricted the cloak's design almost exclusively to the crescent nor does it explainthe disjunction between two meanings of the Hawaiian words for cloak and

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KINSHAPE THE DESIGN OF THE HAWAIIAN FEATHER

rainbow Both the Tahitians and the Maori used the same word for feather cloakand rainbow, yet, neither culture used the arching form of the rainbow in thedesign of their cloaks. For these questions to be answered, the distinctsignificance of the rainbow in Hawaiian society must be determined And,because the rainbow is a mythical attribute that can identify the presence of achief, we must turn to the actual legends and mvths in which it occurs

The legend of Umi is one of the most often told legends of Hawaii,'^' and it isalso the key myth in the group under analysis It is not the intention here todiscuss all the variations and transformations the set entails,'^- but rather toshow how It derives its social meaning from the social structures of Hawaiianculture Thus, the legend of Umi, in a condensed form, can stand as the themeagainst which a few select variations can be set

The Legend of UmiIt IS said that Umi was a part chief because his mother, Akahiakulana, wasnot a chiefess, although his father, Liloa. was a very high chief, whosegenealogy could be traced to the very beginning of all things So it is thatUmi was high on his father s side, but very humble on his mother's side Butin tracing out the origin of Akahiakulana, his mother, it is found that shemust have been of very high blood, for her name appears in the genealogicaltree of the Kings

Liloa, the father of Umi, King of Hawaii had as his first wife Piena whobore Umi's older half-brother Hakau,

After having dedicated a temple at Kokohalile, Liloa goes to bathe in astream where he sees Akahiakulana Seeing how beautiful she is Liloaseduces her After living with her a short while, Liloa sees that she ispregnant and asks her 'Who is your father'' Akahiakulana answers,'Kuleanakupiko' Liloa then says, 'vou are a cousin of mine'" She replies'Maybe so ' Liloa then leaves but before doing so he tells Akahiakulana thatif she has a son to name him Umi and send him to him He leaves behind hismalo, niho-palaoa, and war club for Umi so that he can recognize him

Umi grows up in his mother's household, thinking her husband is hisfather Fmally after mistreatment of Umi by the husband, Akahiakulanasays, 'Stop You can not treat Umi in this fashion for he is not \our son butthat of Liloa '

She then sends Umi off to join his real father giving him the things Liloahad left behind and having two friends to go with him Umi finds the court,chmbs over the wall, and sits down on his father's lap Just as the guardsstart to seize him, Umi produces the malo and Liloa recognizes him as hisson All goes well except with Hakau, Umi's older step-brother, who isabsolutely furious at his father's recognition of Umi

At Liloa's death, Hakau is willed all the lands of Hawaii, but Umi is leftthe temples and the gods to care for Umi therefore lives under Hakau asdependent but in a high position While thus living, Hakau shows greathatred for Umi in many ways. If Umi took Hakau's surfboard, Hakauwould become angry and say to Umi, 'You must not use my surfboardbecause your mother is not a chiefess; the same with my loin cloth ' Finally

KINSHAPE THE DESIGN OF THE HAWAIIAN FEATHER GLOAK

after much abuse, Umi leaves court with his two followers They go off andlive secretly with a common family, taking wives

During the aku season, people begin seeing the frequent appearance of arainbow on the cliff Kaoluloku, a high priest who lives in this area also seesthe rainbow and wonders at its appearance Being of a class well versed inancient lore, he realizes this is the sign of a true chief and knowing of Umi'sdisappearance, follows the rainbow. He takes Umi and his two followerswith him and helps Umi to raise an army. With the army, Umi is able tooverthrow his half-brother who is hated by all and becomes the King ofHawaii '^

Reduced to the barest outline, the story concerns the gaining of rank, the fallfrom that rank, and the subsequent regaining of that rank A slight yanation ofthis theme is found in the legend of Kila

The Legend of KilaKila the new King of Hawaii, is despised by his brothers who plot againsthim They suggest that they all go to another island in order to bury thebones of their father Kila is abandoned on the island of Waipo and thebrothers return home telling their mother that Kila was eaten by a sharkKila falls asleep on the beach and is awakened by the people by Waipo Hetells them his story and is taken back to the home of one of the chiefs

During the first part of Kila's life on Waipo, he liyes under the chief as aservant doing everything he is told to do. His constant labours consist offarming and cooking of the food for his masters He lives this way for three\ears At times, he is told to bring firewood from the top of the cliff andwould climb to the top of Puaahuku During one of his climbs, he is seen by apriest, who lives in the temple of the Pakaalana, by means of the constantappearance of a rainbow that hangs over the cliff. Upon seeing the sign, thepriest determines to find out if this is the sign of a high chief But he is unableto see the sign every day for Kila doesn't alwavs go to the top of the cliff

Shortly after this Kila is accused by his master of breaking Kapus, butKila IS innocent of the charge so he fiees in order to save himself He runs tothe temple of Pakaalana, a place where violators of any Kapu could besaved As he enters the temple, the priest again notices the rainbow he hadseen before Upon seeing this sign he speaks to Kunaka, the king of Waipo,saying, 'You must take that boy as your son That boy is no commoner, he isa high chief *^

It would seem at first glance that these hero tales are told in astraightforward manner with as little exaggeration and the supernatural aspossible. Both situations are set up, however, as impossible from an Hawaiianviewpoint and thus have significance beyond the history they recount. In thelegend of Umi, a contradiction is immediately introduced which the whole mythtries to resolve It is said that his mother is a commoner, but her genealogy isrelated to prove her pedigree Umi is acknowledged by his father but his half-brother refuses to acknowledge him because of the supposedly low position of his

10


mother Umi is forced to flee from the secular court and live as commoner It isonly through the sign of the rainbow that a priest versed in sacred matters is ableto aid Umi in regaining his rightful rank

Similarly, Kila is driven away from court, and when he recites his pedigreeto those who find him, they choose to ignore it This is highly improper conductfor Hawaiians who, as has been mentioned, maintained their social distinctionsby genealogy recorded in their name chants Thus, like Umi's rank, Kila's rankIS Ignored by means of a contradiction which is resolved in the myth Again, it isthrough a rainbow that a priest who is wise in sacred things is able to help thehero regain his rightful rank The rainbow is the sign that is able to properlydistinguish the amorphous position of the hero, and its recognition does notcome from the secular body who have already chosen to deny the hero's rightfulrank, but from the sacred side of Hawaiian culture

A third myth brings the meaning into better focusThe Legend of Elio

Elio was the runner for Kakaalaneo, King of all Maui It was his duty tofetch awa fish for the King Once on his way back, he met on the roadKaahuali (the spirit of the royal cloak), a spirit, who asked for some fishElio answered, 'Take the hairs on your behind for the fish and your urine forwater ' When Kaahuali heard this he chased Elio This happened on threedifferent occasions so that he finally changed his course On his new coursehe met a beautiful woman named Kanikaniaula She mvited him into thehouse and he accepted She was really a spirit of a high chiefess who comingto Maui married a commoner When she came to Maui she brought alongwith her from Hawaii a feather cape which was the insignia of a very highchief but which she had hidden upon her death, nor had she alluded to herrank After Elio talked to her husband and found out she was dead, heundertook to restore her and succeeded She then asked him what she coulddo to repay him. 'Shall it be myselP' Elio answered that he would takenothing in payment but he wished her to become the wife of his lord Shesaid 'yes' but first made him take the cloak to his master At seeing the capethe husband of Kanikaniula realized for the first time that she was a chiefessBecause Elio was detained, Kakaalaneo was furious and had an umu (oven)started in readiness for Elio. When Elio returned wearing the cape, he wasimmediately captured and thrown into the fire. However the king sawsomething beautiful on Elio's back and called to his men, 'seize him' Eliowas pulled from the fire but the cloak was ripped to shreds. Elio had but asmall piece and Kakaalaneo asked, 'Where did you get such a beautifulthing?' Elio answered, 'This was the cause of my delay. Kanikaniaula, a veryhandsome woman was dead and I brought her back to life again I told herthat you are to be her husband ' Elio went to fetch Kanikaniaula who hadjust returned from Hawaii with some chiefs, their servants and with feathercapes. She stood before Kakaalaneo and they dwelt together as husband andwife. After a short while she conceived a child."

A first reading of this myth would seem to put it outside the set, but a closer

11


one reveals that it maintains structurally the same pattern set up by the firsttwo The heroine, Kanikaniaula, falls from rank and with help regains it, in thiscase doubly so because she is also dead. Elio, a runner, discovers her andrestores both her life and rank as a high chiefess Unlike the first two myths, thehelping figure is neither a priest, nor is he led to the hero by a rainbow But, ElioIS no ordinary runner He is able to outrun a spirit and bring the dead back tolife He IS therefore placed outside the realm of normal men and has the capacityto put right that which is out of order As such, he occupies the same mediatingposition as the two priests in the Umi and Kila legends They are all equally theelement which rectifies an imbalance, the ideal of which is represented by arainbow in the Umi and Kila myths Elio, however, is not drawn to the situationby a rainbow but by the spirit of the 'ahu 'ula It forces him out of his normalrunning course to where he finds Kanikaniaula Still Elio does not recognize thatshe IS a chiefess because she has hidden the fact It is not until she pulls out hercloak that her rank as an ah \ is revealed to Elio and her commoner husbandHer restitution to that rank is aided further by the cloak For when Elio is aboutto be killed, he is pulled out of the fire only so that the king can see the cloak shehas given him This enables Elio to tell his story resulting in the marriage ofKanikaniaula and Kakaalaneo. The cloak therefore takes the signifying positionwhich enables the conflict to be recognized and resolved and the ambiguities tobe stabilized in the same manner as the rainbow in the first two myths doesThat the cloak and the rainbow occupy the same signifying position is shown bythe fact that although feather cloaks were not supposedly known on the islanduntil Kanikaniaula brought them, Elio immediately recognized it as anincontrovertible sign of a high chief Thus there is an inner connection betweenthe rainbow and the 'ahu 'ula that goes beyond mere metaphor

It IS the Umi legend that allows this last connection to become clear. Umi'swhole conflict revolves round the uncertainty of his mother's rank. Even thoughIt is vigorously denied at the outset of the narrative, there would be no story ifthe position of his mother were not unclear. And it must be his mother's rankthat is questioned because the Hawaiian system was matnlineal Umi cannotclaim the prerogatives of the ah 'i so long as there is such a doubt. The wholestructure of the ah'i was based on a pure genealogy that gave it its sacred nature,of which the ultimate expression was the child of a brother-sister marriage,called pi'o. Such a union was conceived of as 'a thing bent on itself ^^ as in 'thearc of a rainbow' ^^ It was this expression that marked off the chiefly class fromthe commoners through claim of direct descent from ancestral gods ^^ It is notsurprising, therefore, that such a union was not practiced between the ma-ka-aina-na and was considered incestuous by them In fact, missionaries even haddifficulty converting the common class because of their Western tolerance forfirst cousin marriages.'^^ Yet, for the ah'i., this was the second most sacred form ofmarriage carrying the general name nm pi'o and more specifically hoi'i or'return'. Both titles indicate 'bent' or 'curved' as does the name of the third mostpreferred marriage, naha ^ Thus, the kin relations that gave Hawaiian royaltytheir unique status, the status that is in doubt in the case of Umi, were signifiedby words meaning 'curved' and even more specifically, 'the arching of arainbow'

12


Both Urni and Kila are unquestionably recognized as members of the ah h b\the sign of a rainbow arching over them, and the word used to express thatnatural phenomenon is pt'o By transformation within the Umi group, the 'ahu'ula comes also to stand equally for that sign Both are the single clearunquestioned sign that defines their rank but which needs to be recognized b\someone versed in sacred matters This does not mean that Umi, Kila, orKanikamaula are actually offspring of a brother-sister marriage Rather, just asthe pi'o offspring represent the source o{ mana or sacredness for all of the chiefs,the rainbow and the 'ahu 'ula were the sign of the inalienable position inHawaiian society of the beholder of that mana The pi'o marriage was theordering device around which the ah'i was structured, and the rainbow and the'ahu 'ula were the signifiers of that order in the myths just described They arethe same things, the metonymical element that stands for the whole

The 'ahu 'ula in myth and reality therefore was a svmbol of royalt\, aprerogative of the alt't. It was the shape of the cloak and its position in the legendof Eho that provided for the key to unlock the meaning of that symbol On onelevel. It shared the properties of the pt'o and the rainbow, expressing bv itscurved elements the fixed and definite position of the ah'i On another, itscrescent shape and design were part of a co-ordinated whole and expressed asystem of marriage around which a whole culture was organized *^ ' Assomething restricted to only the ah'i, it expressed visually the dual aspect of theclass Its size and color marked the wealth and power of the individual, and thecrescent shape and design marked the wearer as a member of a group based onsacred descent

We can understand finally that the geometric crescent design of Hawaiiancloaks was not due to an arbitrary change in the lining, nor was it simply due tothe cloak's ancient pan-Polynesian relation to the rainbow Rather, it wasbecause the crescent of the rainbow, expressed by the term pi'o, was used byHawaiian royalty to represent the ideal kin relation that ideologically separatedthem from the peasants But this does not explain why the rainbow and thecrescent-shaped cloak were chosen as signs for this concept Of course, early inHawanan history it is very likely that the feather cloak and the rainbow wereconceptually related as royal signs and were both called kulelulu, 'ahu 'ula. or athird linguistically related term This was a cultural inheritance from Hawaii'spre-migratory state. However, as Hawaiian culture developed its unique socialstructure, some of these old signs were enhanced with new signification Such ashift in codes was especially necessary for the most cataclysmic of all Hawaiiansocial change: the change from a prohibition of incestuous marriage to that ofraising it to the highest and most sacred form of human relations. It was achange almost unprecedented in cultural history ^^ To achieve such a reversal,old codes of signification were simply no longer adequate.

The cloak and the rainbow were just some of the many old royal signs that. could have been used to signify this order. Their selection for the signification of

the new order, however, was not arbitrary. Rather, it was contingent on thereplacement of the word kulelulu by the word pi'o to now signify both the rainbowand the divine ofTspring of an heretofore incestuous marriage Words related tokulelulu m Maori, Tahitian, and Mangaevan all signify either a royal red cape

13

KINSHAPE THE DESIGN OF THE HAWAIIAN FEATHER C:LOAK

and/or rainbow, and as such are consistent with their common origin "^ Theseterms, however, including kulelulu did not have any meanings that would haveany reference to incest Pi'o did

Pi'o in almost all other Polynesian languages is only nominally related to therainbow, meaning 'physically crooked', 'curved' or 'arched' But associated tothese physical/natural meanings is the cultural one 'wrong in the moralsense' * It is this pan-Polynesian meaning of the word that made it necessary forIts adoption by the Hawaiians for their new most sacred form of marriageAlmost uniyersally the prohibition of this type of union is the sign of thetransition from nature to culture The logic is therefore consistent if theunacceptable now becomes desired, then the signifier of that unacceptability, ifstill to be used, must now signify the desired. W^hat is more morally wrong inalmost all human societies than a brother/sister marriage, what is potentiallvmore culturally chaotic^ This certainly was the case in all other Polynesiansocieties, all of which shared a close ancestry with Hawaii In Hawaii, howeyer,incest in a politically restricted sense became morally correct

Therefore in Hawaiian, pi'o came to have new meanings 'superior','highest', 'highest grade of chief, 'to cohabit as a brother and a sister'Concomitantly, the meanmg of'twisted', 'crooked', and 'awry' was unraveled tonow signify the smooth arc of the rainbow and thereby hnked it with the ancientsign of royalty At the same time pi'o also retained its negative connotation bysignifying 'confused mind' or 'to reduce to servitude' ^^ Such a dichotomy wasnecessary for a social system in which classes were conceptually separated intothose who still maintained the strict laws of the prohibition of incest and werethose in servitude, and those who transcended this cultural boundary and werethe rulers Pi'o replaced the word kulelulu as the common word for rainbow notbecause of its association with a rainbow but because it could convey moreprecisely the new order of Hawaiian society.^^

As Hawaiian culture shifted to this new order, the cloak, already relatedmetaphorically to the rainbow, took a new shape and design The importantelement was not the rainbow per se, but the crescent In this sense, it did notmatter that the crescent was inverted as it is on the cloak Its presence simplymarked the new form of sanctity on an object that already functioned as a royalsign. As such, the term 'ahu 'ula was not changed. It was not necessary ordesired. In fact, as the material value of the cloak became judged by theamount of yellow it contained, it was important to also maintain the originalessence of the cloak as a sacred entity expressed by the term 'ahu 'ula. Thecrescent design on the cloak, unique to Polynesian design, was sufficient tosignify the unique social order that had brought it into being

Hawaiian culture underwent one last momentous change With the coming ofthe Europeans in 1778, traditional Hawaiian culture was again alteredcataclysmically. The sanctity of the chiefs dissolved in 1810 when the traditionalreligious order was overturned by the breaking of the taboos. But the ideologicalrestructuring of Hawaii did not mean the political undoing of the chiefs Rather,it laid bare the class system that had been masked through the pretension to rule

14

KINSHAPE THE DESIGN OF THE HAWAIUN FEATHER CLOAK

through divine right but which had been maintained through material wealthand military power

At the time of Cook's arrival, the Islands were divided into four kingdomsruled by rival chiefs who were frequently at war with each other. Within twelveyears, Kamehameha I, a minor chief in 1778, had conquered all his rivals, asuccess which depended on his ability to win the aid of the British and, moreimportantly to obtain their weapons With this chain of events, the nature ofHawaiian leadership was altered radically and irrevocably As I Goldmanpoints out so succinctly

Hawaiian chiefs took immediate advantage of the new post-European orderto enrich themselves at the expense of commoners They took legal title tothe land, and they engaged in the profitable sandal trade, to the seriousdetriment of food production The European commercial tradition isevident Maori chiefs in similar circumstances fought against landappropriation Hawaiian history points to a remarkable degree ofconyergence between the interests of the chiefs and the European powersBoth saw virtue in power and in the growth of the state ^'

With the dissolution of the sacred power of the ruhng class and theiremphasis on material power, we can understand the design and color of one lastcloak (plate 6) The underlying base of material power, now giyen completefreedom, finds its expression in the cloak made for Kamehameha I It iscomposed almost entirely of the yellow Mamo feathers with just a few red Iwifeathers on the border of the neck It is one of a kind ^^ In 1839, only fify-oneyears after the arrival of Cook, it was yalued at one million dollars ^^ This, ofcourse, is a western material value placed on an Hawaiian object, but such avalue system spoke to a new social order This solid yellow cloak expresses thebreakdown of the traditional dual structure The prominent colored crescentdesign that signified the social organizing element of the nobility is gone, givenaway, as it were, by Kamehameha to Vancouver '^ Instead, the amassing of somany precious yellow feathers speaks only of the material wealth now used toclaim rule

Tom Cummins

University of California, Los Angeles

NOTESI would like to thank Kyle HufTman, Joan Weinstien, Cecelia Klein, Tom Crow and Serge Cuilbaut, all ofwhom have at one time or another given critical readings to this paper

All photographs in this article appear bv courtesv of the Bermce P Bishop Museum, Honolulu1 E H hr\ An, Ancient Hawaiian Life,\iono\\i\a, 4 Prior to the arrival of the English, Hawan

1939, p 70 consisted of eight independent but culturallv2 W Brigham, Hawaiian Feather Work, Honolulu, uniform islands divided into a number of domains

1899, p 4 but ruled bv an absolute chief Kamehameha,3 This passage comes from Vancouv er's diar>' as however, had bv 1792 gained control of Hawaii

quoted in ibid , p 7 when Vancouver met with him Vancouver was

15


liberal with his gifts to Kamehameha for heplanned to use this chief to England's advantageM KelK describes Vancouver "as an outstandingexample of persistent and purposeful lnv asion bvan agent of western culture into the internal affairsof the Hawaiian chiefs', M Kellv, 'Some Problems.withEarlv Descriptions of Hawaiian Culture',Polynesian Cultural HiUory. Efsayf in Honor of KennethP Emort Honolulu, 1967, p 404 Vancouver feltthat he could help make Kamehameha ruler of aunited kingdom of the Sandwich Islands Hisultimate dim was to establish a unified area under'responsible' control so that trade could safelvand profitablv be carried out Unwittinglv,Kamehameha with his own ambitions fell in withVancouv er's schemt Before Vancouv er left theislands in 1794 Kamehameha had ofBciallvceded the island to Great Britain under themisapprehension that the island was onlv beingplaced under the protection of Great Britam andtht King of England, ibid , pp 402-4 In thislight the gift of the cloak was not a presentationto another trader but it was the recognition ofKamehameha s imagined relationship to theKing of England, whom \'ancouver represented

5 Brigham, op cit W Brigham Additional Notes onheather Work Honolulu, 1918, P Buck, The LocalEv olution of Haw aiian Feather Capes andCloaks' Journal oj the Polynesian Society, \o\ 53,1944 pp 1-16, P Quck, The Arts and Crafts ofHawaii, Honolulu, 1957, A Kaeppler, 'FeatherCloaks, Ships and Lords', Bishop MuseumOccasional Papers #24. Honolulu, 1970, AKaeppler, 'Artificial Curiosities', Honolulu, 1978Most recentlv, 1981-83, a large traveling showfrom the Bernice Bishop Museum entitledHawai 'i The Royal Islands featured several of thelargest and most magnificent cloaks knownAlthough a great deal of work and research wentinto the creation of the show and the catalogue,Roger Rose one of the originators of the exhibit,writes that the cloaks' designs 'have no known ordecipherable meanings', in 'Hawai'i The RoyalIsles', Terra, ^ o\ 19, #3 , 1981, p 3

6 M Schapiro,'The Nature of Abstract Art',Modem Art, 19th and 20th Centuries, Selected Papers,N V , 1979 (1937) pp 139-56,TJ Clark,'Clement Greenberg's Theory of Art', CriticalInquiry, #9, 1982, pp 139-56

7 Figural art is, of course, also an abstractrepresentation of the social order, and as such isno different from purely abstract art in the formalsense of the term abstract It therefore ultimatelymakes the same kind of demand for an identi-fication of the same cultural or ideological codesthat give form, style, and iconography theirinterrelated meaning The separation of form andiconography is an artifice of art histoncal practiceand a means by which certain Modernist criticshave attempted to validate the authenticity ofrecent western artistic practice The hollowness ofthis attempt is well chronicled by Serge Guilbaut's

studv of abstract expressionism in New Yorkduring Its early period. How New York Stole the IdeaofModemArt,Chicago, 1983 The studv of howform and iconography as interdependent unitscreate an historically specific discourse has onlyrecently been explored in terms of the ideologicalfactors that give the image meaning See TomCrow, 'The Oath of the Horatn in 1785 Paintingand Pre-Revolutionary Politics in France', i4r(Hlstory,^Jo\ l,no 4, 1978,pp 424-71,orOKWerckmeister, 'Pain and Death in the Beatus ofSaint Sever', Studi Medievali 3rd series, vol 14,1973, pp 565-626

8 M Pukui and S Elbert, Hawaiian-EnglishDictionary, 1957, p 215

9 Brigham, op cit , p 5210 Buck, op cit11 The crescent design was immediately noticed by

Cook on his discovery of Hawaii 'some havingtriangular space of red and yellow, alternately,others, a kind of crescent, and some that wereentirely red, had a yellow border, which madethem appear, at some distance, exactly like ascarlet cloak edged with gold lace ' J Cook and JKing, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, yol 2, 1784, p206

12 Buck, op cit (1944), pp 1-16, op cit (1957), p227

13 Hawan changed from a society in which seniorityruled succession to title, authority and land-holdings, and social distinctions between chiefsand commoners were not fully prominent (124-1100) to a class society in which individual chiefsopenly competed for power (1450-1820), IGoldman, Ancient Polynesian Society, Chicago, 1970,p 212

14 Green feathers were sometimes used in place ofblack White feathers were used for some of thesmaller capes

15 The crescent does not appear on every Hawaiiancloak This is especially true for the smallershoulder length pieces However, in most of thosepieces that do not have any element of thecrescent, the design is not predicated ongeometric units defined by discrete fields of colorcreated through the use of the small feathers ofthe Iwii, Mamo, or O-o Instead, the designemphasizes the textures of the feathers themselvesby using larger feathers that hang loosely downthe back of the cape, and that are only attached atthe base of the quill to allow for their movementThis IS an aesthetic yariation, but because it is notfound on the larger cloaks owned by chiefs ofgreater rank, this derivation is probably aneconomically forced variation rather than adesired one For this reason, they do not con-stitute a challenge to the assertion that thepnncipal and controlling design feature was thecrescent Moreover, the crescent does not have toappear on 100% of the cloaks to prove that it wasthe most lmpmrtant or desired design elementThe fact that it appears on the overwhelming

16


mdjoritv of cloaks demonstrates that it is an ldtaldesign In a societv such as Hawaii in which thereIS no specific historv, it is much more important todeaf with general structure of design than withindividual or unique pieces

16 W Davenport, 'Hawaiian Feudalism'. Expedition6(2), 1964, pp 15-47

17 E Handv, Anaenl Hawaiian Civilization. \ ermont1965, p 40

18 A Forndnder, An Account ol tke Polynesian Race \i>\II, London, 1880 pp 28-9 'kccordini; to SElbert, 'The Chief in Hawaiian M\tholog\\unpublished PhD dissertation, IndianaUniversity, 1950, p 53, a high ranking male soffspring by a lov\ ranking female chief wasregistered as a true chief If the mother was acommoner, the child would not be a chief Inother words the Hawaiian svstem was matri-hneal

19 The Hawaiian D Malo writes that the king wasappointed (hoonoho la mai 'set up' would be aliteral translation) that he might succor those inright and punish severelv those in the v\rong TheKing was over all people he was the supremeexecutive so long as he did right', D Malo,Hawaiian Antiquities. Honolulu, 1958 (1898), p 53However, Malo's experience with Hawaiianrovaltv w as at Kamehameha's court which hadbeen infused with a European notion of feudal-ism Malo m writing the historv of Hawaii oftenconflates pre-contact and post-contact societvOne must therefore be highlv critical of theattributes and notions that Malo gives toHawaiian kingship

The ka moi was the supreme chief of an entireisland Prior to their political consolidation,islands were ruled in independent districts bvchiefs called ah 'i nui Although the position of ah 'inut has a much longer time span in Hawaiianhistory onlv the term ka moi will be used here todesignate the supreme chief to avoid confusion

20 Handy, op cit , p 4021 Because in Hawaiian kinship there is no term for

cousin, but only for brother or sister and forgradations by rank (L Morgan, Systems ofConsanqutmty and Affinity of the Human Family, volXVHI, Washington, 1871, pp 452-3) this off-spring would literally be translated as 'children ofa younger brother atid sister' Thus, this form ofunion IS completely coherent in relation to thtother two because together, they represent theclosest marriages possible according to Hawaiiankinship

22 M Beckwith, The Kumilipo-A Hawaiian CreationChant Chicago, 1951, p 13

23 'Sacred rank among nobles was transmittedintact from parent to the first born child alone,and became diminished in the subsequentchildren On the basis of primogeniture reckon-ing, the most sacred nobles were belieyed to bedescendants from the gods through the eldestoffsprmg only For this reason extreme care was

exercised in arranging the initial marriagts of thteldest children, and in order to keep the highestsacred ranks conhned to certain lines of aristo-cratic descent marriages with close kin, evenbetween brother and sister, were favoredDayenport op cit , p 17

24 Malo, op cit , p 5425 'It has long been known that societies which

advocate marriage between tvpes of kin adhtre tothe norm onlv in a small number of cases asdemonstrated bv Kuntsadter and his teamthrough the use ofcomputtr simulations Fertilitvand reproduction rates, the demographic balanceof the sexes and the age pyramid never shov\ theperfect harmony necessarv for the lndiv ldual,when the time comes for him to marrv to beassured of finding a suitable spouse in the pre-scribed degree ev en if the kinship is broad enoughto confine degrees of the same t\ pe but unequallvdistant, often so much that the notion of commondescent becomes thoroughly theoreticalC Leyi-Strauss, The Elementary Structures oj KinshipBoston, 1969, p x\x

26 A Fornander Hauanan Antiquities and Folklorevol VI, Honolulu, 1920 p 308

27 Bv the time of Cook's arriv al such genealogiesstretched back more than thirtv-eight genera-tions Tht chiefs of Maui and Hawaii generallvtraced their ancestrv to Ulu, and those fromKauai and Oahu from Nanaula M Beckwith,Hawaiian Mythology New Haven 1940 p 293

28 Ibid , p 37629 A Fornander, Hawaiian Antiquities and Folklore.

vol IV, Honolulu, 1916-17, pp 61-2 If one'sgenealogv were forgotten, it mtant becoming amember of the common class There was a groupat court who were professional genealogists andwho validated the authenticitv of one s pedigreeMalo, op cit , p 62

30 This ortier of sanctity of the ruling class is foundin the concept of taboo '\s is common to allPolynesia, taboo meant a general pattern ofavoidance But in Hawaii, it had a second uniquemeaning to the particular prerogatives ofdemanding both obeisance and freedom fromobeisance, see Goldman, op cit , pp 216-17

31 One became a ka mot through hereditv oroverthrow Hereditv was based on primogeniture,Handv, op cit , pp 36-7, see also note 23 above

32 The makikiki was a four-month period when men,women, and chiefs rested and abstained fromwork Neither were the usual religious festivalsobserved during this time The makahiki periodbegan m Ikuwa (October) and continued throughKaelo (January) It was a time of religiousobservances and tribute paying, Malo, op cit ,pp 61-2

33 Just as there were tree ranks of nui pi 'o and threeclasses of people, there were three types ofkalai-moku A kalai-moku who served under one chief wascalled a lam-kae Those who served two chiefswere called poho-kano, and those who served three

17


were the most highlv regarded and were calledma-kou, ibid , pp 61-2

34 It has been suggested that the ahupasses weresliced like a pie because the islands were more orless round and the lines dividing them were cutfrom the sea coast to the mountain top This is tosa\ that thev were roughly triangular shaped Onthe larger islands after their consolidation, thelargest division was called moku which were thensubdivided intoaA/iaaii, Handv, op cit , pp 37-8,81-93

35 Ibid36 Beckwith,op cit (1940), p 37837 For the origins of the iauitifl see Malo, op cit , p

7038 In fact the ma-ka-aina-na are not mentioned

specifically in relation to wakea and papa, butbecause these two are the progenitors of all man,scholars have assumed that the ma-ka-aina-na alsodescended from them

39 Malo writes that the kauwa were feared anddreaded Thev seem to have been attached tochiefs so that generations o{kauwa served thedescendants of'their chiefs and kings of oldtimes', Malo, op cit p 70 This meant that thekauwa did not keep their own strict genealogiesbut traced themselves by their attachment to thesame royal family whose genealogies were keptMalo also says that the kauwa were called akua,'god' or 'godlike', but he does not explain whv,other than saying it was because of superstitiousnotions regarding power, ibid It would seem thatthis attribute in some wav resulted from the factthat the kauwa could trace their origins as couldthe all 'i The ma-ka-ama-na feared them bothbecause unlike them the ma-ka-aina-na had nofixed place in the order of the Cosmos Thismetaphysical angst translated into the materialworld in a yf ry real worry because the peasantshad no land rights other than those granted bythe all 'i

40 Ibid , p 6041 Buck, op cit ,p 21842 Malo, op cit , p 7743 A garment worn by females44 A type of loin cloth worn by men45 Collections of swine were not made at this time,

ibid ,p 14346 Ibid47 Ib id ,p 14648 Malo lists the feathers of the Iiwi, Apapane, and

Amakihi, ibid , p 70, however, Pukui and Elbertsay that these feathers were only occasionallyused, op cit , pp 21,27 This is substantiated byBrigham, op cit (1899), pp 10-14

49 In the journal of Cook and King, op cit , theauthors note that 'we found that they [the feathercloaks] were m high estimation with their ownersfor they would not at first part with them foranything we offered, asking no less a price than amusket' See also Malo, op cit , p 76 and Elbert,op cit, p 323

In general, however, possessions should notbe thought of in tht \ \ estirn sense of privatepropertv, but rather as the prerogative ol useHence, there was no idea of personal ownership olland as Malo suggests, op cit , p 70, but a set ofrules governing its use This conception was theultimate undoing of the Und rights of theHawdiians in their Und dealings with Westerntraders and missionaries, Handv, op cit , pp 81-93

50 Yellow IS associated with Kane, one of the fourprincipal gods Kant literallv means 'male','mascuhne', or 'husband' so that the associationto the 'ahu 'ula would be in keeping with the factthat the making and wearing ol it wtre a maleprerogative None the less, red was the svmboliccolor of the cloak and even though \ellow was thtmost desired color, red is predominant in most ofthe cloaks as noted bv C-ook and King see note 11above

51 In Hawaiian the term for bird is manu and theterm for a prosperous man is he-manu-hulu, 'afeathered bird' A povertv stncktn man is calledhe-manu-hulu-'Ole, a featherless bird', Pukui andElbert op cit , p 220

52 See W Brvan, A Key to the Birds of the HawaiianGroup, Honolulu, 1901, for a complete list ofyellow-plumed birds

53 Malo says that the feathers collected in battlewere used in the making of images of the royalgods, op cit , p 77

54 W Kice, Hawaiian Legendt, Honolulu, \9'23,p 5355 Thus the larger the 'ahu 'ula and the more vtUow

the higher an individual s political rank P Bucksays 'that the Chiefs of lower rank would not be ina position to gather enough red and vellowfeathers to make a complete cape', op cit (1957jp 218 From the construction of a few cloaks Itseems that their size was increased in two or threestages This suggests that as one increased inpower the capes were added on to in order todemonstrate this step up m the world

56 ' these cloaks are made ol different length inproportion to the rank of the wearer, some ofthem reaching no lower than the middle, otherstrailing on the ground The inferior chiefs havealso a short cloak, resembling the former, made oflonger feathers of the cock and man-of-war birds,with a broad border of the small red and yellowfeathers, and a collar of the same'. Cook andKing, op cit , p 138

57 Buck, op cit , p 21758 Handy first suggested in a brief paragraph in

1965 that the cloak symbolized the rainbow,saying that with its multi-colored feathers, it hadthe shape of an inverted rainbow He cites asevidence that the rainbow was a mythical sign ofchiefs and that the Maori word for feather cloakalso means 'rainbow' or 'god in the rainbow', opcit , pp 40-1 While Handy's observation isintuitively on the right path, it will be shownbelow that such a simple lConographic equation

18


cannot be justified I here is a specific historic andcuftural reason that brought these two elementstogether

59 It IS important to point out that Hawaiian cultureand language share a verv close ancestrv withother Polynesian areas especialK I ahiti and NewZealand Hawaii's unique development datesfrom about AD 1300 with a break in ctmtact withTahiti and New Zealand

60 E Tregear The Maori-Polynesian ComparatneDictionary, T h e H a g u e , 1 9 6 9 ( 1 8 9 1 ) , p 114

61 Ibid , and L Andrews A Dictionary of the HawananLanguage Honolulu 1865 p 312

62 In the most complete twenticth-centurvdictionary Pukui and Elbert, op cit , this word isnot even listed

63 A ForndndcT, Hawaiian Antiquities and Folklore,vol IV, Honolulu, 1916-17, p 188

64 Fornander op cit (1880) p 39465 Bngham, op cit (I899),p 1466 Buck, op cit (1957), note 12 bv the editor, p 57867 In 1886 King Kalakaua tried to revitalize the

autochthonous culture of the now Western-influenced Hawaiian islands He organized asemi-secret societv caWed hale naua One of theaccomplishments of this group was to manu-facture 'ahu 'ulas again, using dyed duck andchicken feathers The crescent is verv prominentin the design, but bv this late date, and thetraumatic change in social institutions, thecrescent on these cloaks harks back to thematerial culture of ancient Hawaii through thevisual association Similar phenomena are foundin the colonized societies of Mexico and Peru, seeN \^?i


on dt least the theoretical Uvel of thi ^S Freud posittd that incest and the prohibition olincest resulted from the historical occurrence ofthe desire (or the mothtr and the murder of thtfather- tht ultimatt murder in the breach ofhospitaht\,S Yreud, Tolem and Taboo 'S\ 19)0pp 141-3 In this sense Freud equattd primitivtsocitt\ metaphorlcalK with man's infant state

C Lev l-Strauss moves tht locus of theargument awa% Irom tht individual to tht e;roupand thus to tht Itvel of societv that we are dealini

Documents

Tom Cummins, "Kinshape: the Design of a Hawaiian Feather Cloak"