History & Culture

 (Spring/Summer 2000) Four massive bronze statues honor the great warrior King Kamehameha—the original at Kapa‘au on the Big island, a replica at Ali‘iolani Hale (the judiciary building) in Honolulu, another...

 (May 1994) The Big Island of Hawaii has one of the oldest and most historic trail systems in the islands. For visitors interested in Hawaiian antiquity it offers a means to...

 (June 1998) More than any other coastline in Hawai'i, the northern Kohala Coast, stretching from Kawaihae around the northernmost tip of the Big Island to beyond the end of the...

(Fall/Winter 1995-1996) The crystalline sound of cups resonates through the rugged mountains of North Kohala. Japanese ditch-men are drinking their sake, after a grueling day of work. The year is 1905.

 (Fall/Winter 1995-1996) Surf's up. The waves are too rough for fishing. Yet the breeze is calm, and the Hawaii sun invites yet another languorous and pleasant day under the palm trees....

 (July 1997) Slender canoes cleave the Hawaiian waters. In the golden light of dawn and dusk, paddlers work in perfect unison, their strokes disciplined, strong, and smooth. Canoeing, called "paddling"...

 (April 1998) Auntie Margaret Kalehuamakanoelulu'onapali Machado held both my hands in her firm grip and prayed softly in Hawaiian. "'Amene," she concluded, peering intently into my face. 

 (August 1998) Secretly, in the dark of night, the ancient warriors practiced the deadly moves involved in the art of self defense called lua. It was a discipline that required balancing...

 (Spring/Summer 1999) At Moku‘aikaua Church in Kailua-Kona, beside a display of the 19th-century brig, Thaddeus, are pages reproduced from the diary of the Big Island’s first missionary wife, 24-year-old Lucy...

 (Fall/Winter 2002/2003) In ancient Hawaii, marriage between a man and a woman, called ho'ao pa'a, was a lasting relationship. A man did not leave his wife nor the wife her husband. 

 (April 1997) Sixty years after Queen Ka'ahumanu, King Kamehameha's wife, had forbidden the dance in the name of Christian values, Kalakaua gave hula back its glorious crown.

(Spring/Summer 2002) Excerpts in this article are from the books, Hawaiian Tour by William Ellis, published 1826, and Polynesian Researches, Hawai‘i, Journal of William Ellis, published 1969.

 (January 1998) The insistent throb of shark-skin-covered drums, the yearning twang of slack key guitars, and the soft, mellow strains of a duo singing the "Hawaiian Wedding Song" are sounds that...

 (October 1997) Each language holds a history and culture, giving identity and roots. Yet, worldwide, 4 languages die every two months. Of the 6000 languages known, only 3000 will be left...

(Winter 1999) Sugar Time: Days of hardship bordering slavery; of friendships before the impersonal electronic age; and of survival skills that have disappeared with time.

 (Spring/Summer 2005) The following passages were reprinted from the 1823 Journal of William Ellis. The reverand William Ellis (pictured on the right) and his party were the first non-Hawaiian group...

(January 1994) Overlooking the village of Kawaihae in North Kohala sits the ancient religious structure called Pu'ukohola Heiau, meaning, "hill of the whale". The massive rock structure which is the...

 (Fall/Winter 2001-2002)  While at sea level the summer temperatures average 85 degrees and winter temperatures 78 degrees; with each 1000 foot rise in elevation, temperatures can drop 3.5 degrees. 

 (February 1998) Speculation ran rampant after two ancient caskets containing the bones of Big Island ali'i, King Liloa and his great grandson, Lonoikamakahiki, disappeared from O'ahu's Bishop Museum in February...

(Spring/Summer 2000) Fifteen years ago, in 1985, Kona resident and Hawaiian history lover Joseph Castelli traveled to Honolulu for a leisurely research session at the Bishop Museum.