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Wahi pana are storied places and/or geographical features celebrated in moʻolelo, kaʻao, ʻōlelo noʻeau, mele and oli. This photo features Wailuku River. At over twenty miles long from its source on the slopes of Mauna Kea to its mouth at Hilo Bay, Wailuku the largest and longest river in the islands. That it is dangerous is implicit in its name, which means "destroying or destructive water." Wailuku River figures prominently in moʻolelo and is associated with several moʻo akua, most notably Piliamoʻo, Kuamoʻo (a. k. a. Kuaua), and Kuna. This photograph by Marie Alohalani Brown captures the portion of the river about a mile before Ānuenue (Rainbow Falls).
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About Moʻo Momona
Moʻo Momona is a platform for the publication and discussion of nā mea Hawaiʻi (things Hawaiian), especially ʻike (knowledge, experience) kupuna (plural kūpuna; ancestor, ancestral). Our kūpuna preserved and disseminated their ʻike in diverse genres of ʻŌiwi artistic-intellectual production such as moʻolelo (hi/stories); kaʻao (a type of moʻolelo); mele (a general term for song or chant); oli (a general term for chants); pule (prayer chants to deities); ʻōlelo noʻeau (a poetical saying that can be didactic and/or commemorative); moʻokūʻauhau (genealogy); mele koʻihonua (genealogical chant celebrating the connection between deities, humans, and place); mele inoa (chants commemorating names); mele maʻi (chants commemorating the sacred procreative potential of genitals); kānaenae and kanikau (poetic laments eulogizing deities, people, places, or things), and inoa (names). The descriptor “artistic-intellectual” for our genres is purposeful because it recognizes that ʻŌiwi aesthetics—the principles underlying composition, including ideas about what is pleasing and proper—guides their creation, and that they are indeed intellectual products, as worthy of study as the great literatures of other nations. Over countless generations, our ancestors’ intimate relationship with and close observation of our Island world helped form their understandings of genre. For more information on these genres, see Moʻo Momona's blog on this site.
Marie Alohalani Brown is the president and founder of Moʻo Momona Productions, and kuʻualoha hoʻomanawanui is its vice president. Moʻo Momona Productions includes Moʻo Momona Press, which was created primarily to publish English-language translations and revised Hawaiian-language (with modern diacritics) moʻolelo published in the Hawaiian-language newspapers during the 19th- and 20th centuries. Additionally, Moʻo Momona Productions offers copy editing services for nā mea Hawaiʻi-related projects, whether grant-writing, cultural impact statements, manuscripts, as well as research in Hawaiian-language archives and translation from Hawaiian to English (with the exception of Bureau of Conveyance documents).
About 100 newspapers were published in the Hawaiian islands between 1834 and 1948. The Hawaiian-language archive of ʻŌiwi self-representation during these centuries is impressive both for the amount of works that were produced and for the variety of topics they covered. These moʻolelo are found in the newspapers, but in also private manuscripts held in different archives. Other important archives of ʻike kupuna include the interviews that Mary Kawena Pukui, a renowned cultural expert and translator, recorded with kūpuna across the Hawaiian islands from the 1950s to the 1970s, as well as interviews with kūpuna on the Hawaiian-language radio shows, Ka Leo Hawaiʻi, hosted by Larry Lindsey Kauanoe Kimura from February 22, 1972 to January 16, 2000.
Moʻo Momona's first publication is projected for late 2022, which is a moʻolelo by Moses Manu, a prolific contributor to Hawaiian-language newspapers, about a great battle between two well-known akua (plural, nā akua; deity): Pele, the premier volcanic deity, and Waka, a moʻo (Hawaiian reptilian water deity). This moʻolelo was a series in the newspaper Ka Loea Kalaiaina. It began in May 13, 1899 and ran for at least 26 installments but because a few newspaper issues have not be preserved, the date of its last installment remains unknown. That said, while the last installment implies that another will follow, the story seems to have reached its conclusion. Pukui performed a very rough translation of this account, which is preserved in the Bishop Museum, but a polished translation has never been published for the public. A second project is also being translated for the first time, which is Hoʻoulumāhiehie's version of the tradition of Haʻinākolo, a high-ranking aliʻi wahine (a woman belonging to the ruling class). This account was published in the newspaper Ka Na'i Aupuni and has over 200 installments and ran from January 1 to June 20, 1907.
Moʻo Momona takes its name from Alohalani's homestead in Kapuʻeuhi on Hawaiʻi Island. "Moʻo momona" has been purposefully composed to reflect multiple meanings. "Momona" denotes "fruitful"and "fertile" as in productive and abundant, which in turn connotes "prosperity"; "rich" as in arable soil; and "plump," plumpness being a desirable quality. Thus, "moʻo momona" can be interpreted into English as "prosperous descendant"; "rich moʻolelo" in the sense of abundant oral/written traditions and in the sense of a genre in which our ancestors planted their thoughts like sprouts in fertile soil; and "plump lizard descendant" because Alohalani has a moʻo ʻaumakua (ancestral guardian deity).
Marie Alohalani Brown is the president and founder of Moʻo Momona Productions, and kuʻualoha hoʻomanawanui is its vice president. Moʻo Momona Productions includes Moʻo Momona Press, which was created primarily to publish English-language translations and revised Hawaiian-language (with modern diacritics) moʻolelo published in the Hawaiian-language newspapers during the 19th- and 20th centuries. Additionally, Moʻo Momona Productions offers copy editing services for nā mea Hawaiʻi-related projects, whether grant-writing, cultural impact statements, manuscripts, as well as research in Hawaiian-language archives and translation from Hawaiian to English (with the exception of Bureau of Conveyance documents).
About 100 newspapers were published in the Hawaiian islands between 1834 and 1948. The Hawaiian-language archive of ʻŌiwi self-representation during these centuries is impressive both for the amount of works that were produced and for the variety of topics they covered. These moʻolelo are found in the newspapers, but in also private manuscripts held in different archives. Other important archives of ʻike kupuna include the interviews that Mary Kawena Pukui, a renowned cultural expert and translator, recorded with kūpuna across the Hawaiian islands from the 1950s to the 1970s, as well as interviews with kūpuna on the Hawaiian-language radio shows, Ka Leo Hawaiʻi, hosted by Larry Lindsey Kauanoe Kimura from February 22, 1972 to January 16, 2000.
Moʻo Momona's first publication is projected for late 2022, which is a moʻolelo by Moses Manu, a prolific contributor to Hawaiian-language newspapers, about a great battle between two well-known akua (plural, nā akua; deity): Pele, the premier volcanic deity, and Waka, a moʻo (Hawaiian reptilian water deity). This moʻolelo was a series in the newspaper Ka Loea Kalaiaina. It began in May 13, 1899 and ran for at least 26 installments but because a few newspaper issues have not be preserved, the date of its last installment remains unknown. That said, while the last installment implies that another will follow, the story seems to have reached its conclusion. Pukui performed a very rough translation of this account, which is preserved in the Bishop Museum, but a polished translation has never been published for the public. A second project is also being translated for the first time, which is Hoʻoulumāhiehie's version of the tradition of Haʻinākolo, a high-ranking aliʻi wahine (a woman belonging to the ruling class). This account was published in the newspaper Ka Na'i Aupuni and has over 200 installments and ran from January 1 to June 20, 1907.
Moʻo Momona takes its name from Alohalani's homestead in Kapuʻeuhi on Hawaiʻi Island. "Moʻo momona" has been purposefully composed to reflect multiple meanings. "Momona" denotes "fruitful"and "fertile" as in productive and abundant, which in turn connotes "prosperity"; "rich" as in arable soil; and "plump," plumpness being a desirable quality. Thus, "moʻo momona" can be interpreted into English as "prosperous descendant"; "rich moʻolelo" in the sense of abundant oral/written traditions and in the sense of a genre in which our ancestors planted their thoughts like sprouts in fertile soil; and "plump lizard descendant" because Alohalani has a moʻo ʻaumakua (ancestral guardian deity).
The Moʻo Momona Production Team
Marie Alohalani Brown is an Associate Professor in the Religion Department, specialist in Hawaiian religion and literature, at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
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kuʻualoha hoʻomanawanui is a Professor in the English Department, specialist in Hawaiian Literature, at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
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Alohalani also has a personal professional website: http://www.mariealohalanibrown.com
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