Description: Oh where are you, 'Ulalena rain? The mind reaches out, To be near the loved ones. With a single glance. A thrill possesses me, With this thing called love.
Written Circa 1879 by Nakulula
Be still at the moment between daylight and dusk and you will sense the uniquely Hawaiian phenomenon of Ulalena, the whispering wind that the ancients and moderns alike revere for its sense of cleansing and hope.
A lone, sustained, haunting wail of the ‘ha, or breathe, forced through the conch shell calls the audience to attention. Chatter ceases and all eyes are cast upon the stage as a lone man enters carrying the coffin of his ancestral bones upon his back as he makes his way to a new, unknown land. An earthy, a cappella chant from the goddess, Mo’o, signals a stirring in the mana, or life-force and sets the stage for discovery.
Life springs forth as journeyers from the distant islands of Polynesia make their was across the stage in outriggers and sails being guided by the great Shark-god toward the land of the volcano goddess, Pele. A demi-god, Maui, has pulled the island up from the sea and captured the sun in his fishing net. Visions abound. Swimming fish, fluttering birds, cascading waterfalls, the lizard-god and half-pig/ half-god beast we will come to love are introduced into the story and the lives of the new inhabitants to Maui.
The life and culture of the Hawaiians is portrayed beautifully and rhythmically with dancing and chanting, whether by the pounding of kapa and taro, the struggles between forces, or the feasting and merriment that Makihiki Harvest brings to the community.
Ulalena. The winds bring change with the arrival of the sails of the great god from the sea, Captain Cook. Seduced by the magnificent items he offers, the mirrors, and gold and gun powder, the islanders mistake him for a god, as his banners appeared to them to be in reverence for the agricultural god, Lono.
Missionaries and seekers of wealth arrive along with immigrants to work their fields; people arrive from the Phillipines, China, Japan, Malaysia, and Portugal to work the sugar fields. In its state of flux and change the ways of the kapu, or total respect and reverence for the natural order of things, is lost.
A great disturbance between old ways and new threatens. Caught between two worlds, the last remaining monarchs attempt desperately to bridge the gap, but it is to no avail. The tides have turned and Pele explodes.
But the determined and forceful passion of the Hawaiians remains intact, as if the kapu system has never really left them. In accepting the ebb and flow of progress and development, and by embracing the winds of Ulalena they offer us all the promise of hope and joy in the wake of the destruction. It is a truly inspiring and beautiful story, told in the most passionate and moving manner.
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