The Traditional Literature of Hawaii - Sacred Songs of the Hula. Nathaniel Bright Emerson
Now comes the pith of the ceremony: the novitiates sit down to the feast of ai-lolo, theirs the place of honor, at the head of the table, next the kuahiu. The ho'o-pa'a, acting as carver, selects the typical parts--snout, ear-tips, tail, feet, portions of the vital organs, especially the brain (lolo). This last it is which gives name to the ceremony. He sets an equal portion before each novitiate. Each one must eat all that is set before him. It is a mystical rite, a sacrament; as he eats he consciously partakes of the virtue of the goddess that is transmitted to himself.
Meantime the olohe and friends of the novitiates, inspired with the proper enthusiasm, of the occasion, lift their voices in joyful cantillations in honor of the goddess, accompanied with the clapping of hands.
The ceremony now reaches a new stage. The kumu lifts the tabu by uttering a prayer--always a song--and declares the place and the feast free, and the whole assembly sit down to enjoy the bounty that is spread up and down the halau. On this occasion men and women may eat in common. The only articles excluded from this feast are luau--a food much like spinach, made by cooking the young and delicate taro leaf---and the drupe of the hala, the pandanus (pl. xviii).
The company sit down to eat and to drink; presently they rise to dance and sing. The kumu leads in a tabu-lifting, freedom-giving song and the ceremony of ai-lolo is over. The pupils have been graduated from the school of the halau; they are now members of the great guild of hula dancers. The time has come for them to make their bow to the waiting public outside, to bid for the favor of the world. This is to be their "little go;" they will spread their wings for a greater flight on the morrow.
The kumu with his big drum, and the musicians, the ho'o-pa'a, pass through the door and take their places outside in the lanai, where sit the waiting multitude. At the tap of the drum the group of waiting olapa plume themselves like fine birds eager to show their feathers; and, as they pass out the halau door and present themselves to the breathless audience, into every pose and motion of their gliding, swaying figures they pour a full tide of emotion in studied and unstudied effort to captivate the public.
DÉBUT OF A HULA DANCER
The occasion is that of a lifetime; it is their uniki, their debut. The song chosen must rise to the dignity of the occasion. Let us listen to the song that enthralls the audience seated in the rushstrown lanai, that we may judge of its worthiness.
He Mele-Inoa (no Naihe) 38
Ka nalu nui, a ku ka nalu mai Kona,
Ka malo a ka mahiehie, 39
Ka onaulu-loa, 40 a lele ka'u malo.
5
O ka malo kai, 43 malo o ke alii
E ku, e hume a paa i ka malo.
E ka'ika'i 44 ka la i ka papa o Halepó; 45
A pae o Halepó i ka nalu.
Ho-e'e i ka nalu mai Kahiki; 46
10
He nalu Wakea, 47 nalu ho'ohua. 48
Haki opu'u 49 ka nalu, haki kua-pa. 50
Ea mai ka makakai 51 he'e-nalu,
Kai he'e kakala 52 o ka moku,
Kai-ká o ka nalu nui,
15
Ka hu'a o ka nalu o Hiki-au. 53
Kai he'e-nalu i ke awakea.
Ku ka puna, ke ko'a i-nka.
Ka makahá o ka nalu o Kuhihewa. 54
Ua o ia, 55 nohá ka papa!
20
Noná Maui, nauweuwe,
Nauweuwe, nakelekele.
Nakele ka ili o ka i he'e-kai.
Lalilali ole ka ili o ke akamai;
Kahilihili ke kai a ka he'e-nalu.
25
Ike'a ka nalu nui o Puna, o Hilo.
[Translation]
A Name-Song, a Eulogy (for Naihe)
The huge roller, roller that surges from Kona,
Makes loin-cloth fit for a lord;
Far-reaching swell, my malo streams in the wind;
Shape the crescent malo to the loins--
5
The loin-cloth the sea, cloth for king's girding.
Stand, gird fast the loin-cloth!
Let the sun guide the board Ilalepó,
Till Halepó lifts on the swell.
It mounts the swell that rolls from Kahiki,
10
From Wakea's age enrolling.
The roller plumes and ruffles its crest.
Here comes the champion surf-man,
While wave-ridden wave beats the island,
A fringe of mountain-high waves.
15
Spume lashes the Hiki-an altar--
A surf this to ride at noontide.
The coral, horned coral, it sweeps far ashore.
We gaze at the surf of Ka-kuhi-hewa.
The surf-board snags, is shivered;
20
Maui splits with a crash,
Trembles, dissolves into slime.
Glossy the skua of the surf-man;
Undrenched the skin of the expert;
25
Wave-feathers fan the wave-rider.
You've seen the grand surf of Puna, of Hilo.
This