Blessing at Kaua‘i heiau begins Makahiki, season marking start of Hawaiian lunar year

Makahiki, the ancient festival marking the Native Hawaiian lunar New Year, has begun on Kaua‘i.

The 4-month season of Makahiki is observed throughout the Hawaiian Islands and is dedicated to the god Lono. It begins in late October or early November when Makaliʻi, the star cluster also known as Pleiades, rises over the horizon at sunset.

Makahiki is a celebratory time of harvest and new beginnings. Historically, athletic games, feasting and other festivities took place, and at times such events are still held. And, war was kapu (taboo) during the festival.

“During the Makahiki, everything is peaceful and quiet,” said Rupert Rowe. “There’s no hard feelings.”

Rowe is the poʻo (director) of Hui Mālama O Kāneiolouma, the nonprofit stewardship organization responsible for the restoration of Kāneiolouma Heiau in Poʻipū. It is a 13-acre cultural site under county jurisdiction and home to an ancient Hawaiian village.

Rowe and others gathered on Oct. 30 at Kāneiolouma Heiau to celebrate the beginning of Makahiki. There, they removed blindfolds from 16-foot-tall ki‘i (statues) representing Native Hawaiian gods. The ceremony and blessing also included an original chant composed by esteemed Hawaiian linguist Keao NeSmith.

The massive ki‘i at Kāneiolouma Heiau, which number four in total, include the deity Lono.

“He is the god of prosperity,” Rowe said.

Lono, rendered as Lonohiwa in a report prepared by historian Randy Wichman, is joined at Kāneiolouma Heiau by fellow gods Polohiwa A Kāne, Kūkulu O Kahiki and Polohiwa O Kanaloa. Each is oriented toward a sunrise or sunset occurring on a summer or winter solstice.

A “celestial understanding” was fundamental to the way ancient Native Hawaiians lived their lives, according to Wichman.

“Time is not seen in terms of the clock dial; rather, it’s measured by the 30 phases of the moon, the position of the sun during the seasons, and the star movements at night,” he wrote.

Day-to-day pursuits of fishing, farming, building, voyaging and more were regulated by astronomical cycles.

“This implies that all classes of society understood fundamental movements of the heavens,” Wichman continued.

The removal of the ki‘i blindfolds on Oct. 30, Rowe said, symbolized the slumbering gods’ awakening.

Yet the moment also represented a homecoming for the ki‘i first installed at in 2013. The massive carvings, made from ʻōhiʻa harvested on Hawai‘i Island, had been removed more than a year ago due to termite damage.

Rowe, who treated the damage, expects the ki‘i to last for many decades to come.

For more information about Hui Mālama O Kāneiolouma and its ongoing work at Kāneiolouma Heiau, visit kaneiolouma.org.