The Honi is the traditional Polynesian greeting. The people of old (and sometimes today) greet by pressing noses and inhaling together. Thus we share HA, the breath of life, and our Mana, our spiritual energies.
Throne Room, note Kahili flanking the thrones. Link
Having been fortunate enoughto visit
inside this restored treasure before,
our objective was simply to be on
this last piece of sovereign ground.
As I said: to contemplate Hawaii's
essence, and to pay due respect.
Royal Regalia:
From Chiefs to Constitutional Monarchs.
From Kahili to Crowns
So what are we doing inside?
Visiting the gift shop on the grounds
I was exclaiming and explaining
much of what we saw to my friend.
Blue Room
The young Hawaiian man
operating the gift shop told us:
"It's Kama`aina Sunday!"
"Kama'aina (Hawaiian: kamaʻāina, lit "child of the land") is a word describing Hawaiʻi residents born on Hawai'i regardless of their racial background, as opposed to "kanaka" which means a person of Native Hawaiian ancestry."Link
“In October, 1819—six months before the first Christian missionaries arrived on the islands—Liholiho, under the inspiration of Kaahumanu, one of the widows of his father, suddenly, and in the presence of a large concourse of horrified natives, broke the most sacred of the tabus of his religion by partaking of food from vessels from which women were feasting, and the same day decreed the destruction of every temple and idol in the kingdom.” *
HRH King David Kalakaua,
The Legends and Myths of Hawaii
“In 1840 the first written constitution was given to the people, guaranteeing to them a representative government. In February, 1843, Lord Paulet, of the English navy, took formal possession of the islands, but in the July following their sovereignty was restored through the action of Admiral Thomas. In November of the same year France and England mutually agreed to refrain from seizure or occupation of the islands, or any portion of them, and the United States, while declining to become a party to the agreement, promptly acknowledged the independence of the group.” HRH King David Kalakaua
There are no back stairs at Iolani Palace. Those who served and worked there used this same stair as the Royals.
Their immediate predecessors had been
hereditary Ali`i - High Chiefs - wielding the power of life and death. But these gracious, modern monarchs had a deep concern for the conditions and future of their Hawaiian Kanaka. They maintained their independence and standing in the international system until losing it to treacherous local business interests a few years later. AUWE! Link
ሱሱሱሱሱሱሱሱበ፷
Thank YOU
Friend!
Fondly,cloudia
E Nihi Ka Hele,
Written by King David Kalakaua
in honor of his Queen Kapiolani
upon her visit to Queen Victoria
on the occasion of that Royal's
Jubilee:
* “On the 30th of March, 1820—some months after this strange religious revolution—the first party of Christian missionaries arrived at the islands from Massachusetts. They were well received. They found a people without a religion, and their work was easy. Other missionary parties followed from time to time, and found the field alike profitable to the cause in which they labored and to themselves individually. They acquired substantial possessions in their new home, controlled the government for the fifty or more years following, and their children are to-day among the most prosperous residents of the group. This is not said with a view to undervalue the services of the early missionaries to Hawaii, but to show that all missionary fields have not been financially unfruitful to zealous and provident workers.” HRH King David Kalakaua
