Cultural Practitioners
Analū Kameʻeiāmoku Josephides Cruze
Analu Kameeiamoku Josephides Cruze was born and raised in Waianae, Oahu to a Kanaka Maoli-Portuguese mother and a Greek-Cypriot father. Analu holds a B.A. in Hawaiian Studies with a focus on traditional Society, an MLISc in Library and Information Science with a concentration on Indigenous & Native Hawaiian Librarianship and preservation and conservation of archival records; and is currently a Ph.D. student at SUNY University at Buffalo, Graduate School of Education – Information Science Program. His academic research focus is on developing an indigenous information literacy framework and how ancestral knowledge can contribute to student learning in a two-year institution. He is a renowned and lauded Kanaka Maoli Genealogist with over 30 years of experience having been trained, mentored, and groomed by his Mahoe and Kaawa kupuna. His professional genealogical work includes, but isn’t limited to repatriation of funerary objects, protection of iwikupuna, traditional burial practices, documenting of Kanaka Maoli genealogy for scholarships and blood quantum, working with the United Nations on Indigenous Peoples issues, and working with PBS New York on their award-winning television program Finding Your Roots. He currently resides in West Hollywood, California where he is pursuing his film and stage career with four films under his belt, 3 stage plays with the Santa Monica Playhouse, and an author of both non-fiction and scholarly work.
Dalani Tanahy
Dalani Tanahy is a native of San Diego California with roots in Maui and O’ahu. Her maternal grandparents are Edward Bailey and Emily Kane of Wailuku, Maui. Her paternal grandparents are Emily and Arthur Enos of La’ie, O’ahu. She grew up spending her summers in La`ie and knew she would return to live in Hawai’i one day. As a child, she enjoyed the slow tedious work involved in crocheting, knitting, embroidering and quilting. Dalani made her first i`e kuku and hohoa beaters over sixteen years ago through the help of Kawai Aona-Ueoka. Her first experience teaching kapa started at the Cultural Learning Center at Ka’ala in Wai’anae. She found the perfect marriage of art and education through creating and sharing the art of kapa and was inspired to start Kapa Hawaii. Kapa Hawaii teaches people about the types of Polynesian bark cloth collectively known as ‘tapa’ with a special emphasis on the tapa or ‘kapa’ made in the Hawaiian Islands.
Kawaikaulā’au Aona-Ueoka
Kawai Aona-Ueoka was born and raised in Nānākuli. It was through her love of hula that she began her journey to find kapa. Kawai uses both wauke and mamaki, and cultivates as well as gathers her own materials. She has done extensive research, interviewed kupuna, and through pule, and trial and error, has created a kapa of high quality for utilitarian and artistic purposes. In 1992, Kawai founded KAPA, “Kapa Aloha Perpetuation Association, Inc.”, a native Hawaiian non-profit organization for the advancement of native Hawaiian traditional and contemporary fine arts. It is her dream that hālau be established on each Hawaiian island where various cultural disciplines can be taught, learned and developed and improved upon. “We need to be in control of our arts and culture, and promote both excellence and quality in all that we do.” Kawai has taught Hawaiian Kapa Workshops throughout the state of Hawaii, other states, as well as in Germany, and Aotearoa. Her work has been exhibited in various venues around the world. She has worked with Hui Mālama I Nā Kupuna O Hawaiʻi Nei teaching lineal descendants Hawaiian Kapa making and producing Hawaiian Kapa for the Repatriation of Hawaiian Ancestral Remains. She trained in kapa preservation at the Smithsonian Institutions; produced a video about kapa-making and is the author of Kapa Aloha: The Fine Art of Hawaiian Barkcloth Making Puke Hana.
October 12, 2024
A’ohe pau ka ‘ike i ka hālau ho’okāhi. Not all knowledge is learned in one school. Pili Ka Moʻo ʻohana continued their learning journey lead by Nā Maka Kahiko’s Nalu Andrade. With their new skills, the keiki of Pili Ka Moʻo try their hand at carving their ʻohana ʻohe kapala as well as learning other mea kanu that can create beautiful and intricate designs.
March 9, 2024
With the completion of our kapa module, these families worked so diligently to finish their ʻohana kapa works of art. Our families gathered to share stories, laughs and techniques as they used their ohe kapala to share their stories with inks, dyes. As their ink dries and becomes permanent, so does their understanding and perpetuation of this very special hana noʻeau.
February 10, 2024
The sound of kūkū kapa echoed throughout the site today while our ohana took to their kua, and iʻe kūkū. I ka wā kahiko kapa making was a task normally reserved for women, but we had the pleasure of witnessing kāne, wāhine, keiki and pēpē all participating in our kapa beating circle while other members of their ohana worked so diligently on creating their ʻohana ʻohe kapala (Bamboo stamp).
January 13, 2024
As the saying goes it takes a village. Our ‘ohana focus today was to work toward the compilation of their mea pono kapa or kapa making tools. They began making their niho ‘oki and kua today. Each member of the family was tasked with a separate kuleana as well as collaborative work. Generations (present and future) came together to accomplish their common goal.
December 9, 2023
The ‘Ohana persisted in crafting and perfecting their kapa tools, including the hohoa and ‘ie kuku. Kumu Kawai Aona-Ueoka worked with our keiki in learning the first steps to kuku kapa, scraping and stripping the outer skin (‘ili) of the wauke, then beating them with the hohoa. Our keiki gaining knowledge from a legend in kapa making and an incredible woman is an exceptional and memorable experience!
December 2, 2023
A heartfelt thank you to our dedicated Genealogist Analū Kameʻeiāmoku Josephides Cruze for generously sharing your time with us, inspiring our ʻohana on their moʻokūʻauhau journey. We had our entire ʻohana work with him in the day with family research, and one-on-one mākua mentoring sessions in the evening. Definitely a productive and mana full day of family history work!
November 11, 2023
Kuku kapa, to pound bark cloth. ʻOhana proudly displayed their pōhaku that they gathered from various beaches and dry streams in their communities. These pōhaku are to be used in the first pounding of the kapa. Kumu Dalani shared the next step in pounding the kapa they worked on in the previous session. ʻOhana got right to work. They learned to use both the hohoa and the ʻIe kuku. Today was also the start of creating their own tools. Kumu gave instructions on how to start making the hohoa and ʻie kuku. Participants were productive and created beautiful pieces of kapa.
October 14, 2023
We begin our journey learning kuku kapa with Kumu Dalani with the sounds of i’e kuku echoing throughout our ‘ili ‘āina. She shares the many different types of kapa or tapa throughout the South Pacific.
APRIL 18, 2024
MARCH 21, 2024
FEBRUARY 15, 2024
NOVEMBER 16, 2023
OCTOBER 19, 2023
THE LEGEND OF HOW KAPA CAME TO BE
These children are listening to their kumu or teacher, tell the Hawaiian story of where kapa came from……
Once there was a man named Maikoha and he lived with his daughters, Lauhuiki and La’ahana in the cool valley of Nu’uanu on the island of O’ahu. Everyday he went into the mountains to take care of his kalo and ‘uala so that he could feed his family. When Maikoha was up high in the forest, little people called the ‘e’epa would send the cold winds and rain to chill him right to the bone. The ‘e’epa people did not like humans in their forest home. Maikoha would go home cold each night and he became very sick and knew that he would die soon. Maikoha loved his two daughters and did not want them to be cold. One day he told them, “I will be leaving soon to go to the land of spirits, but after I die, I want you to bury my body by the stream and watch for a tree to grow on my grave. From that tree you will be able to make something that will keep you warm.”
Now Lauhuiki and La’ahana were very sad to hear this news, but promised to do as their father said. Soon after, he passed away. They buried his body by the stream and placed lei maile on the grave. They would cry sometimes and water the grave with their tears. One day, just as their father had said, a tree appeared. The sisters cared for it as it grew and when it was tall and straight, they cut it down and prayed for help. Lauhuiki discovered how to remove the bark from the stem and beat it into cloth. Laʼahana discovered how to dye the kapa with the colors of the rainbow and how to stamp beautiful patterns on it. These two sisters and their father became the ‘aumākua or the gods of the kapa makers and women would pray to them for help as they made their kapa.
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THE LEGEND OF HINA THE KAPA BEATER
(Excerpted from M. Beckwith, Hawaiian Mythology, 1970; P. Cotum, Legends of Hawai’i, 1937; and W.D. Westervelt, Hawaiian Legends of Honolulu, 1963.)
In Kauiki, at the eastern point of the district of Hana, on the island of Maui, lived Hina-i-kapa-‘i·kua (Hina the kapa beater). There, Hina beat out her kapa cloth on a board that may still be seen in the shape of a long black rock above the surf line below Kauiki. Her husband’s name was Akalana. They had four sons, all named Maui. The youngest son is, the legendary, Maui-a-Akalana.
As Hina grew older, she was wearied with her husband’s kapu (restrictions), and she tired of the labors he gave her to do. One day, she was sent to fish up shrimps among the rocks with a net She cried out, “Oh, that I might go away from this place, and to a place where I might stay and rest myself.” The Rainbow heard her, and took pity on her. It made an arching path tor her from the rocks up to the heavens. With her net in hand she climbed the rainbow to the heavens, and then over to the Sun. She thought she would go to the Sun, and rest herself; but, it was too warm. The fire of the Sun burnt her terribly, and began to torture her, and shrivel her. She slipped back down the Rainbow to earth.
It was dark now, as she stood outside her house. Her husband, returning from fetching water, scolded her because she had not been there to bring the water to the house. As the nights coolness revived her strength, she looked up into the sky, and saw the full moon there. Hina said, “To the Moon I will go. It is very quiet, and there I can sit for a long time, and rest myself.” Then she went into the house for the ipu (calabash) that held all the things on the earth that were precious to her. When she came out carrying her ipu, there was a moon rainbow in front of the door.
She began to climb along the arch of the rainbow. Her husband saw her, and sprang up, and grabbed her foot in his hand. Losing his grip, he fell back, twisting and breaking her foot as he fell. Hina continued on, lamed and filled with pain, until she came to the Moon. So there in the moon, sits Hina, her ipu by her side.
The fine fleecy clouds that you see around the Moon, are really the fine kapa cioths that Hina beats out. When the fierce winds blow, and lift, and toss the cloud kapa, and roll off the stones which Hina has placed on them to hold them down, or when she throws off the stones herself, the noise of the rolling stones is the thunder which men hear. When Hina rolls the cloud kapa sheets together, the folds glisten and flash in the light of the sun. Thus, what men call lightning is the sunlight leaping from sheet to sheet of Hina’s kapa in cloudland.
Thus, Hina was also called, Hina-hanai-a-ka-malama, which means Hina nourished on the moon.
LEGEND OF MIKOHA AND THE ORIGIN OF THE WAUKE PLANT
(This legend also illustrates the origin of the different functions of men and women regarding making the kapa cloth. Men cultivated (grew, harvested, and prepared) the wauke plant, but it was the women who made and decorated the kapa. Excerpted from M. Beckwith, 1970; and 8. Krauss.
Mikoha is the son of Kipapa-lau-ulu, who is the brother of Hina-ai-malama. He was banished for sacrilege, and traveled to a place called Kaupo, on the island of Maui. He had two daughters, Lauhuki and La’ahana.
Before he died, he asked his two daughters, Lauhuki and La’ahana, to bury him. He told them that from his grave would grow a plant from which they would be able to make something warm to clothe their bodies. After he died his daughters buried him and discovered a plant growing from his grave. Lauhuki, who beat the first kapa cloth, became the aumakua (ancestor patron) for generations of Hawaiians who prayed to her for guidance on how to make the kapa cloth. La ‘ahana, who first decorated the kapa cloth, and who became proficient at making the dyes, became the aumakua for the dyes. Mikoha became the aumakua for those who cultivated the wauke plant