NO KEKAHI O KĀKOU KA PILIKIA MALAILA PU KĀKOU A PAU

roughly translated means:
“Should one of us get in trouble we will all go that way”

2010 Hawaiian Rain Forest Stamps

These handsome stamps feature a Hawaiian rain forest painted by John D. Dawson to remind us all of the important of preserving this habitat for the plants and animals that need shelter from civilization.

from the US Postal Service site:
Featuring a Hawaiian rain forest, the 2010 Nature of America issuance is the 12th stamp pane in an educational series focusing on the beauty and complexity of major plant and animal communities in the United States.

The setting for the colorful acrylic painting on the stamp pane is a rain forest on Hawaiʻi’s largest island, which is also named Hawaiʻi. Artist John D. Dawson painted the scene and each of the previous ones in the Nature of America series.

To illustrate the spectacular biodiversity of a Hawaiian rain forest, the artist depicted more than 24 different species. The scene itself is completely imaginary. Such a dense grouping was necessary in order to show as many plants and animals as possible in the stamp pane format. Even so, every species depicted could be encountered in a Hawaiian rain forest, and all of the species and their interactions are appropriate and were recommended by scientists.

A description of the rain forest and a numbered key to the artwork appear on the back of the stamp pane, along with a corresponding list of common and scientific names for 24 selected species.

In 1928 poet Don Blanding, sometimes referred to as the poet laureate of Hawaii, wrote an article in the Honolulu newspaper suggesting that a day be set aside to create leis, to keep this important tradition alive in the hearts of all Hawaiians. It was made an official territory holiday just a year later. It remains today an important day of celebration with parades and people wearing their hand crafted leis.

When Don Blanding died. in 1957, his ashes were scattered from lei adorned canoes off the beach in Waikiki a fitting farewell to a man who carried Hawaii in his heart.

KA HANA A KA MĀ, O KA HANA NO IA A KEIKI

roughly translated means:

“What parents do, children will do”

Aloha Spirit

The tradition of giving a kiss when presenting a lei was said to have begun by a USO dancer in World War II. She was dared by her peers to kiss an attractive Navy man and when she did she gave him her flower necklace and told him it was a Hawaiian tradition and made it so from that point forward. Hard to know if this is the true beginnings of this tradition but it certainly makes a great story!

Hawaiian Statehood stamp

First issued in August 2009 to celebrate 100 years of Hawaiian statehood this stamp was designed by the great Big Island artist Herb Kawainui Kane who died recently. Here’s what the postal service said about this stamp he adorned:

“Artist and historian Herb Kawainui Kane, who has dedicated much of his life to studying Hawaiian culture and history, created the painting on the stamp. In the art, a surfer rides a wave on a longboard, a popular choice among surfers for centuries. Next to him, two people paddle an outrigger canoe to shore. Kane has extensive knowledge and experience in surfing, a favorite pastime, and in canoe construction, a skill he developed from building a traditional sailing canoe himself.”

Herb Kane whose images keep Hawaiian history alive

Ki root

‘Okolehao is sometimes referred to as Hawaiian moonshine and was big business on the Big Island during prohibition. It is made from the root of the Ki plant more commonly called the Ti plant, combined with rice, and pure cane sugar all plentiful in Hawaii.

What’s ‘okolehao? A hard-to-find spirit, made from C. Fruticosa, better known as the ti plant, a flowering lily that has played a significant role in Polynesian and Hawaiian society for generations.

According to the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper article, by Will Hover that appeared in 2003,
“Waipi’o Valley on the Big Island was Hawai’i's ‘okolehao focal point during the Prohibition Era from 1920 to 1933. One of the most colorful Prohibition Waipi’o moonshiners was Luther Makeau, a Parker Ranch cowboy who, according to his daughter, Virginia “Auntie Lehau” Kapaku of Nanakuli, eventually went to prison for his outlaw activities.

“It was 100 percent alcohol, I know that,” Kapaku said. “They sold it by the gallon jug. What they’d do is chop up the ti roots and steam them in an imu.”

The fermented mash was then put in a homemade still, she said. Because the Prohibition was in full swing, the resulting beverage could sell for as high as $100 a gallon.”

It was said to have been introduced in the 1780s by a Capt. Nathaniel Portlock, on of Captain Cook’s crew, who taught the Hawaiians how to make a mildly intoxicating brew from the roots of ki — the plant more commonly known today as Ti. Around 1790, William Stevenson, an escaped convict from Australia taught them how to further distill a mash of fermented ti roots in the iron try-pots used to to boil whale blubber.

It’s fun to learn these lesser known stories of Hawaiian history and keep them alive.

Royal Hawaiian Feather Cape and helmet

HO’OKĀHI NO HULU LIKE O IA PO’E

roughly translated means:

“These people are all of the same feather”

Hawaiian
Ki Plant

Cordyline fruticosa in Hawaiian Ki may be best known to mainlanders as Ti.

Ti, or Ki, is a member of the agave family its scientific name is Cordyline terminalis. The plant originated in either southeast Asia or Australia. It has a woody base and stalks, and grows from 3 to 12 feet high. The leaves are blade shaped and grow 1 to 2 feet long, in a spiral cluster at the top of each branch. The leaf has a strong central vein.

There are several varieties of Ti. The most common is green, but red Ti is found often in Hawaii. Many other colors are found through Polynesia and Micronesia, including yellow, green, black and purple. Ti produces small red or yellow flowers that become red berries. However, it is rarely grown from seeds, but instead propagated from stalks cut from plants. These cuttings can be put directly in the soil, or rooted first in water.

Ti berries

The Laysan Rail or Laysan Crake (Porzana palmeri)

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