Lonoikamakahiki!

According David Malo,[1] “The Makahiki was a time when men, women and chiefs rested and abstained from all work, either on the farm or elsewhere. It was a time of entire freedom from labor, and the people did not engage in the usual religious observances during this time, nor did the chiefs; their worship consisted in making offerings of food. The king himself abstained from work on the Makahiki days.” During the season of Kau (approximately March through September), the people worshipped, but then rested during the months of Makahiki, from October through February. In the Makahiki season of Hoʻoilo, rituals were dedicated to the akua Lono and were much milder and comfortable than those conducted at the time of Kū. Lono was the benefactor of agriculture, atmospheric and weather phenomena. Thus, dark coulds, heavy rain, thunder and lightening, earthquakes, wind and whirlwinds, funnel clouds, waterspouts, and most cumulonimbus clouds, known as ao puaʻa, were evidence that indeed, the time of Hoʻoilo and Makahiki was here. Lono was also the akua connected to the medicinal arts of healing or laʻau lapaʻau.

The Makahiki festival, in honor of Lonomakua (the Makahiki god), commenced with the first rising of the constellation of the Pleiades or Makaliʻi, over the horizon at sunset. ʻAuhau or tribute for Lonomakua, the Makahiki god, was made up of things such as, “Feathers of the ʻōʻō, mamo, and ʻiʻiwi birds, puaʻa or pigs, kapa, and bundles of pounded kalo or paʻiʻai, to serve as food for those who carried Lonomakua. When enough ʻauhau had been collected from the ʻāina to satisfy the demands of the tax collector, the kahuna who accompanied the idol came forward and uttered a prayer to set the land free. This prayer was called a pule hainaki.”[2]

Lonomakua continued to make a circuit around the island. Upon the return of the Makahiki idol, the aliʻi sailed forth in a canoe accompanied by his retinue of warriors, to meet the Makahiki god on his return from his tour, a ceremony which was called Kaliʻi. When the aliʻi came to where the Makahiki god was, there was a large body of warriors with spears in their hands drawn up at the landing as if to oppose him. The king was accompanied by one of his own men who were experts in warding off spears. This man went forward in advance of the king. And as the king jumped ashore, one of the men forming the company about the Makahiki god came on the run to meet him, holding in his hands two spears bound at their points with white clothe called ʻoloa. One of these he hurled at the king and it was warded off by the warrior who went in advance. The second spear was not thrown; the man merely touched the king with it.

The work of closing the Makahiki began with the dismantling of the Makahiki idols which signaled the return of Kū. After the idols were put away in the luakini, the kahuna closed the services of the day with prayer. It was then that the Maoloha ceremony was initiated. A net with large meshes was then made which, being lifted by four men supporting it at the four corners, was filled with all kinds of food such as taro, potatoes, breadfruit, bananas, coconuts, and pork, after which the kahuna stood forth to pray. When the kahuna uttered the word hapai (lift) in his prayer, the four men lifted the net and shook it back and forth to make the food drop through the meshes, such being the purpose of the ceremony. This was called the net of Maoloha. If the food did not drop from the net, the kahuna declared there would be famine in the land; but if it all fell out, he predicted that the season would be fruitful.
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Today, Makahiki ceremonies are conducted throughout the Hawaiian Islands honoring Lono with the sharing of food and music, the making and teaching of arts and crafts, poi or kalo ponding, and the interactive sporting competition of the Makahiki games. Some of these games are Kōnane, a two-person strategy game similar to the game of checkers. Ulu Maika, where a disc-shaped stone is thrown between two stakes. Moa Paheʻe, a dart sliding game similar to Ulu Maika. Haka Moa or standing chicken fight, where two players hold their left leg with their left arm and try to grasp their opponentʻs right arm and wrestle them to the ground is a favorite, but perhaps most challenging is the Ōʻō Ihe, where spears or javelins are thrown at a target, usually a banana stump, by the contestant. Many of these Makahiki games take skill and practice, but both those who are experienced and those new to Makahiki games, enjoy the event having eaten good food, listened to awesome local music, and the opportunity to practice their own skills at the Makahiki games while participating in an educational cultural event. As we say at this time of the year, Lonoikamakahiki!


[1] David Malo, Hawaiian Antiquities. Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum, 1992, page 141.

[2] Ibid., 331.