Anahulu Hoʻonui 10/3 – 10/12/24

Aloha e nā hoa heluhelu, 

For this new anahulu, as we read through this passage of Hoʻoulumāhiehie’s version of Ka Moʻolelo o Hiʻiakaikapoliopele, let us also consider the ways in which we see the weather shifting to the rainy season. 

ʻO ko lāua nei wā nō hoʻi ia i neʻe aku ai a pili ma hope o Hiʻiaka. Ua hele maila ua moʻo nei ʻo Kamōʻiliʻili i ia wā a ʻano pāpalu pono ma luna o lākou nei. Ke kokolo lā ka liʻa haʻukeke o ka makaʻu weliweli i loko o Lohiʻau, ʻoiai ʻakahi nō ʻo ia a ʻike maka maoli i nei mea he kino moʻo wahine. 

ʻO kāna mea i ʻike ai i kēia moʻo, ʻo Kamōʻiliʻili, he kino wahine kanaka maoli kona mai ke poʻo iho a hala iki iho ma lalo o nā waiū. ʻIke akula nō ʻo Lohiʻau i ka ʻōpū o ua wahine moʻo nei, he ʻōpū maoli nō o ke kanaka. He ʻano hoʻoluʻu ʻōlena, ʻo mua o ke alo ma kekahi wahi, a mai ke poʻo iho a hōʻea i ka umauma he ʻano kekea ka hoʻoluʻu. He mau wāwae nō hoʻi o ka moʻo a me ka huelo. ʻO luna iho o ke kua he ʻano kōkala ʻoʻoi, a ua like paha ia me ke kōkala o ka moʻo moe wai o nā ʻāina ʻē i kapa ʻia he korokodila. 

They moved close behind Hiʻiaka. The moʻo, Kamōʻiliʻili, attacked, and came right down on them. A shuddering chill of abject terror came over Lohiʻau, for this was the first time he had ever seen the physical form of a moʻo woman. 

Gaping at Kamōʻiliʻili, he saw that she had a human female shape from her head down to just below her chest. Her belly was also rather like that of a normal person. Some parts of her front were yellowish, and from the head down to her chest was nearly white. She had the legs and tail of a reptile. On her back, there was a sharp ridge, similar to the ridge of the aquatic reptile of other lands known as a crocodile. 

While this passage certainly describes the form of Kamōʻiliʻili in relation to the body of a human, there are many characteristics of the landscape of this area that contain such features as well. Many of the sheer cliff faces of Mānoa contain the described colors of kekea and ʻōlena, particularly in the form of the white and yellow-ish lichen that cling to rocks along with vibrant patches of green moss. The bright white of cumulus clouds are also perhaps another example of kekea, and the shape of the clouds might even be similar to the ridged back of Kamōʻiliʻili.