Читать книгу Unwritten Literature of Hawaii: The Sacred Songs of the Hula - Nathaniel Bright Emerson - Страница 11

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In every halau stood the kuahu, or altar, as the visible temporary abode of the deity, whose presence was at once the inspiration of the performance and the luck-bringer of the enterprise--a rustic frame embowered in greenery. The gathering of the green leaves and other sweet finery of nature for its construction and decoration was a matter of so great importance that it could not be intrusted to any chance assemblage of wild youth, who might see fit to take the work in hand. There were formalities that must be observed, songs to be chanted, prayers to be recited. It was necessary to bear in mind that when one deflowered the woods of their fronds of íe-íe and fern or tore the trailing lengths of maile--albeit in honor of Laka herself--the body of the goddess was being despoiled, and the despoiling must be done with all tactful grace and etiquette.

It must not be gathered from this that the occasion was made solemn and oppressive with weight of ceremony, as when a temple was erected or as when a tabu chief walked abroad, and all men lay with their mouths in the dust. On the contrary, it was a time of joy and decorous exultation, a time when in prayer-songs and ascriptions of praise the poet ransacked all nature for figures and allusions to be used in caressing the deity.

The following adulatory prayer (kánaenáe) in adoration of Laka was recited while gathering the woodland decorations for the altar. It is worthy of preservation for its intrinsic beauty, for the spirit of trustfulness it breathes. We remark the petitions it utters for the growth of tree and shrub, as if Laka had been the alma mater under whose influence all nature budded and rejoiced.

It would seem as if the physical ecstasy of the dance and the sensuous joy of all nature's finery had breathed their spirit into the aspiration and that the beauty of leaf and flower, all of them familiar forms of the god's metamorphosis--accessible to their touch and for the regalement of their senses--had brought such nearness and dearness, of affection between goddess and worshiper that all fear was removed.

He kánaenáe no Laka

A ke kua-hiwi, i ke kua-lono,

Ku ana o Laka i ka mauna;

Noho ana o Laka i ke po'o o ka ohu.

O Laka kumu hula,

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Nana i a'e ka tvao-kele, ³

Kahi, kahi i moli'a i ka pua'a,

I ke po'o pua'a,

He pua'a hiwa na Kane. ⁴

He kane na Laka,

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Na ka wahine i oni a kelakela i ka lani:

I kupu ke a'a i ke kumu,

I lau a puka ka mu'o,

Ka liko, ka ao i-luna.

Kupu ka lala, hua ma ka Hikina;

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Kupu ka laau ona a Maka-li'i, ⁵

O Maka-lei, ⁶ laau kaulana mai ka Po mai. ⁷

Mai ka Po mai ka oiaio--

I ho-i'o i-luna, i o'o i-luna.

He luna au e ki'i mai nei ia oe, e Laka,

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E ho'i ke ko-kua ⁸ pa-ú;

He la uniki ⁹ e no kaua;

Ha-ike-ike ¹⁰ o ke Akua;

Hoike ka mana o ka Wahine,

O Laka, kaikuahine,

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Wahine a Lono i ka ou-alii. ¹¹

E Lono, e hu' ¹² ia mai ka lani me ka honua.

Nou okoa Kukulu o Kaniki. ¹³

Me ke ano-ai ¹⁴ i aloha, e!

E ola, e!

Footnote 3:(return) Wao-kele. That portion of the mountain forest where grew the monarch trees was called wao-kele or wao-maukele.

Footnote 4:(return) Na Kane. Why was the offering, the black roast porkling, said to be for Kane, who was not a special patron, au-makúa, of the hula? The only answer the author has been able to obtain from any Hawaiian is that, though Kane was not a god of the hula, he was a near relative. On reflection, the author can see a propriety in devoting the reeking flesh of the swine to god Kane, while to the sylvan deity, Lâkâ, goddess of the peaceful hula, were devoted the rustic offerings that were the embodiment of her charms. Her image, or token--an uncarved block of wood--was set up in a prominent part of the kuahu, and at the close of a performance the wreaths that had been worn by the actors were draped about the image. Thus viewed, there is a delicate propriety and significance in such disposal of the pig.

Footnote 5:(return) Maka-li'i (Small eyes). The Pleiades; also the period of six months, including the rainy season, that began some time in October or November and was reckoned from the date when the Pleiades appeared in the East at sunset. Maka-li'i was also the name of a month, by some reckoned as the first month of the year.

Footnote 6:(return) Maka-léi. The name of a famous mythological tree which had the power of attracting fish. It did not poison, but only bewitched or fascinated them. There were two trees bearing this name, one a male, the other a female, which both grew at a place in Hilo called Pali-uli. One of these, the female, was, according to tradition, carried from its root home to the fish ponds in Kailua, Oahu, for the purpose of attracting fish to the neighboring waters. The enterprise was eminently successful.

Footnote 7:(return) Po. Literally night; the period in cosmogony when darkness and chaos reigned, before the affairs on earth had become settled under the rule of the gods. Here the word is used to indicate a period of remote mythologic antiquity. The use of the word Po in the following verse reminds one of the French adage, "La nuit porte conseil."

Footnote 8:(return) Kokúa. Another form for kakúa, to gird on the pa-ú. (See Pa-ú song, pp. 51–53.)

Footnote 9:(return) Uníki. A word not given in the dictionary. The debut of an actor at the hula, after passing the ai-lolo test and graduating from the school of the halau, a critical event.

Footnote 10:(return) Ha-íke-íke. Equivalent to ho-íke-íke, an exhibition, to exhibit.

Footnote 11:(return) Ou-alii. The Hawaiians seem to have lost the meaning of this word. The author has been at some pains to work it out somewhat conjecturally.

Footnote 12:(return) E Lono, e hu' ia, mai, etc. The unelided form of the word hu' would be hui. The final i is dropped before the similar vowel of ia.

Footnote 13:(return) Kukúlu o Kahíki. The pillars of Kahiki. The ancient Hawaiians supposed the starry heavens to be a solid dome supported by a wall or vertical construction--kukulu--set up along the horizon. That section of the wall that stood over against Kahiki they termed Kukulu o Kahiki. Our geographical name Tahiti is of course from Kahiki, though it does not apply to the same region. After the close of what has been termed "the period of intercourse," which, came probably during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and during which the ancient Hawaiians voyaged to and fro between Hawaii and the lands of the South, geographical ideas became hazy and the term Kahiki came to be applied to any foreign country.

Footnote 14:(return) Áno-ái. An old form of salutation, answering in general to the more modern word aloha, much used at the present time. Ano-ai seems to have had a shade of meaning more nearly answering to our word "welcome." This is the first instance the author has met with of its use in poetry.