04-22-2017, 03:07 PM
There is one source that can be referenced that gives its readers a glimpse into the Hawaii of old, before the Tahitians arrived, but since it was first published it hasn't been kept in print as there has always been a question amongst the copyright holders of the wisdom of sharing what is a personal family's story with a broader audience. As such it is not often that you'll comes across it. The book is called, Tales from the Night Rainbow, by Pali Jae Lee and Koko Willis, and oddly enough it now can be read here:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/111753965/Tal...lack-Print
The first paragraphs read as follows..
Kaili'ohe's stories of the ancient people, an oral history of Hawaii before the Aliis invaded.
History, as anything else, is seen and understood by where a person stands on the mountain.
All people climb the same mountain. The mountain, however, has many pathways - each with a different view. A person knows and understands only what he sees from his own pathway, and as he moves, his view will change. Only when he reaches the top of the mountain will he see and understand all the views of mankind. But who among us has reached the top of the mountain? Tomorrow, we too will see a different view. We have not finished growing.
Most Hawaiian histories have been written from the pathways taken by foreigners who wrote Hawaiian history as they saw and believed things to be. It was not a Hawaiian view, or from a Hawaiian pathway. These stories I tell you are from a pathway taken by my family, on Moloka'i. They are the stories as told by Kai-akea to my teacher and beloved mother Ka'a kau Maka weliweli (whom I will refer to only as Maka weliweli) and she in turn taught to those of us who were part of her halau (school) in Kapualei.
The ancient ones were the people who were maoli (native) to Hawaii. Seven or eight hundred years ago the Tahitians came to our islands, and since then the stories of our origins and life have been dominated by their outlook. In many ways the Tahitians were a people similar to us, but in other ways we were as light is to the dark. The early ones lived with an attitude about life that gave them what we would call great mana (power) over their surroundings, but it is really the power of love and kinship working through the feelings of the objects we live among...
https://www.scribd.com/doc/111753965/Tal...lack-Print
The first paragraphs read as follows..
Kaili'ohe's stories of the ancient people, an oral history of Hawaii before the Aliis invaded.
History, as anything else, is seen and understood by where a person stands on the mountain.
All people climb the same mountain. The mountain, however, has many pathways - each with a different view. A person knows and understands only what he sees from his own pathway, and as he moves, his view will change. Only when he reaches the top of the mountain will he see and understand all the views of mankind. But who among us has reached the top of the mountain? Tomorrow, we too will see a different view. We have not finished growing.
Most Hawaiian histories have been written from the pathways taken by foreigners who wrote Hawaiian history as they saw and believed things to be. It was not a Hawaiian view, or from a Hawaiian pathway. These stories I tell you are from a pathway taken by my family, on Moloka'i. They are the stories as told by Kai-akea to my teacher and beloved mother Ka'a kau Maka weliweli (whom I will refer to only as Maka weliweli) and she in turn taught to those of us who were part of her halau (school) in Kapualei.
The ancient ones were the people who were maoli (native) to Hawaii. Seven or eight hundred years ago the Tahitians came to our islands, and since then the stories of our origins and life have been dominated by their outlook. In many ways the Tahitians were a people similar to us, but in other ways we were as light is to the dark. The early ones lived with an attitude about life that gave them what we would call great mana (power) over their surroundings, but it is really the power of love and kinship working through the feelings of the objects we live among...