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Watching the sun set off Waikiki is a favorite pastime for hundreds of people who gather along the beach perhaps hoping to glimpse the "green flash" as the final rays of the sun disappear over the horizon. The Hawaiians also watched the setting sun with keen interest as a way of marking the seasons. Recently, Rick Scudder of the Conservation Council of Hawai`i brought to our attention that the Waikiki Aquarium occupies an important observation site for a sunset event of significance to the Hawaiians. This event occurs every May 1... The following excerpt is from the article "Pu`u o Kapolei" by Joyce & Michael Akin and Rick Scudder published in "The Native Hawaiian", volume IX, no. 12, dated November 1985. " ... Pu`u o Kapolei is a small hill at the southern foot of the Wai`anae mountain range, also known more recently as Fort Barrett. Pu`u o Kapolei is an important cultural site and at one time contained a heiau on its peak. In our research, we noted that Pu`u o Kapolei was written about in several places in Sites of O`ahu. What intrigued us was the message of Samuel Kamakau about the use by early Hawaiians of Pu`u o Kapolei as a marker for the division of the seasons: ... 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 Mahimaomao 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.) |
To the Hawaiians there were only two seasons. The season of cold was called Ho`olio and the season of warmth was called Kau or Makali`i. Welo, corresponding to April, was the last month of Ho`oilo and Iki-iki, corresponding to May, was the first month of Kau or Makali`i. The sun is thus reported by Kamakau to be seen to set over Pu`u o Kapolei during the period corresponding to the end of Ho`oilo and the beginning of Kau. 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 Emma Metcalf, who wrote the following: Through many different observations of the setting sun from different locations, we have found that May 1 (forty days after the spring equinox) is the day that an observer at the stone enclosure at Queens Surf, Kapi`olani Park sees the sun setting into a crown. The crown is actually Pu`u Palailai, the hill directly behind Pu`u o Kapolei as viewed from Kapi`olani Park. Thus, on Lei Day, May 1 (what we considered the official beginning of Kau) the sun is seen to set into Pu`u Palailai. Pu`u Palailai from Kapi`olani looks just like a crown. Crown in Hawaiian is lei. Can it be that the celebration called Lei Day (in Hawaii) held on May 1 is actually a descendant of the celebration of the beginning of the new season marked by the setting sun over Pu`u o Kapolei? Can Lei day really be Pu`u o Kapolei Day?" We conducted follow-up research by reviewing old charts held by the State Land Survey department. The oldest chart of this area was drawn around 1840-1850 and illustrated the site of a small altar on the beach. By overlaying subsequent charts, we determined that the beach altar was located on the Aquarium property just seaward of the Hawaiian Monk Seal exhibit. Will this site of this altar and the temple on Diamond Head line up with Pu`u o Kapolei? The Newsletter of `Ike `Aina: A Native Hawaiian Land Trust
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