Something old, something new

New addition to my collection — hand-carved wooden sculpture, approx. 3.75"W x 3.5"H x 3.5"D

This small, dark wooden sculpture of a seated man bent over with his hands covering his face caught my eye at a silent auction earlier this month. I picked up the piece — smooth, curved, with interesting hand-carved detail all around, about the size of a large softball. The man appeared to be created from a single piece of pretty-grained hardwood.

He felt comforting to hold in my hands. Really interesting. I showed it to a glee club sister looking over my shoulder who mentioned it was a Buddha. But I’d not seen a Buddha like this before. He wore a loin cloth, and his legs were crossed, but not in a lotus position. I couldn’t see his eyes. In any case, I thought he would complement my Kwan Yin statue.

I dared to place my bid. Nothing to lose unless I won. DH muttered, “Too low.” At the end of the day, nothing. “Oh well,” I thought. A full week later, the Daughters of Hawaii who had presented “A Day at Queen Emma Summer Palace” and ran the auction phoned. I’d won!

When I asked, the museum had no information about the item to give me, and I was still unfamiliar with this figure. My friends at dinner — I’d rushed to claim the prize on my way to meet Susan and Becky in Waikīkī — had not seen him either as I pulled out my treasure from the bottom of my handbag, but they agreed he felt good to hold.

Later that evening I Googled “man bent over with hands in face statue”. It turns out he is “The Weeping Buddha” who “takes away the grief and troubles of the world. In return, he bestows peace and provides strength to all those who rub his back.” Did you know about The Weeping Buddha? http://www.buddhagroove.net/television/ My cousin Paul who’s a frequent visitor to Japan said smaller versions are very popular as netsuke.

I’ll be rubbing my Weeping Buddha’s back every day.

P.S. As I get ready to publish this post, I notice as of this moment there have been 20,035 visits to Rebekah’s Studio. Thanks, everybody, for stopping by! ~ RL

Copyright 2011 Rebekah Luke

Hana hou: A Day at Queen Emma Summer Palace

Actors portray King Kamehameha IV (Alexander Iolani) and Queen Emma at “A Day at Queen Emma Summer Palace”

So sorry for the short notice : tomorrow’s the day of  “A Day at Queen Emma Summer Palace” in Nuʻuanu Valley. My friends, you asked me to remind you of this enjoyable annual event!

The Punahou Alumni Glee Club—I’m singing alto and dancing hula—shares the stage once again with a line up of entertainers including the Royal Hawaiian Band, Vicky Holt Takamine’s hula dancers, Jerry Santos and friends, the hālau of Kahaʻi Topolinski, Naluhoe, Kualoa, and several others.

This is my favorite fall-winter season holiday festival/Hawaiian arts & craft fair/food/one-day aloha event. It’s exceptionally gracious and lovely. Adult admission is $6 that includes entry into the museum cared for by the Daughters of Hawaii. But, bring more money because you will want to buy things.

The music tent under the miulan tree. Islanders and visitors relax and enjoy the day throughout the grounds of Hānaiakamalama, Queen Emma Summer Palace.

Here’s the link to the letter I wrote last year with more photos and a full description of what you’ll likely experience when you go on October 1. Gates open at 9 a.m. Come early for good, free parking. You can recognize our glee club by our blue palaka aloha shirts and muumuu. We go on about 10 a.m. Hope you’ll plan to attend. Aloha!

Copyright 2011 Rebekah Luke

A gleeful day at Queen Emma Summer Palace in Honolulu

Umbrellas dot the entrance to Queen Emma Summer Palace for the day

Please view my photos of the loveliest and most gracious one-day island festival that I have had a part in. One of the enjoyments for me is performing Hawaiian music there with the Punahou Alumni Glee Club. This was my fourth year of singing and dancing hula.

The Daughters of Hawaii maintain Hanaiakamalama, that is Queen Emma Summer Palace and its surrounding gardens, in Nuuanu, ma uka (toward the mountains) of downtown Honolulu. Each year they invite the public to a day of Hawaiian arts and crafts—both traditional and contemporary, live entertainment, good eating, and an inside view of the museum.

Usually scheduled the first Saturday in October, I think of it as the first winter holiday festival. Some years it is the only one I attend and support. The quality is so good, and while I’m there I love to browse the museum shop for more gifts.

Peter Rucci and Vicky Hollinger

Our glee club performed especially well this morning. We are blessed with the leadership of two talented musicians Peter Rucci and Vicky Hollinger in our first performance since our late director Hattie Eldredge Phillips passed earlier this year.

We’re pretty much a pick-up group. Different members show up at each weekly rehearsal, and the final complement of singers, dancers, and musicians is often unknown until the day of the gig. Somehow, it always works out!

This morning’s audience of adults and children responded enthusiastically to our new sound and format of alternating choral numbers, kanikapila with a Hawaiian trio, and hula. That was wonderful encouragement for us to sing our best! And we did!

Copyright 2010 Rebekah Luke

Blue palaka muumuu and yellow lei identify the women of the Punahou Alumni Glee Club

Queen Emma and King Alexander Liholiho (Kamehameha IV) portrayed by actors Leah and Marcus return to the summer palace

Mature trees grace the grounds

Starfruit among other tropical produce, jams and jellies, baked goods and refreshments

Mamaki leaves are harvested and dried for Hawaiian tea

Bougainvillea, chrysanthemum, ieie, bleeding hearts and palapalai decorate this lauhala hat

Lauhala hat weaver Suzanne Swartman with her exquisite creations

On Native Hawaiian sovereignty

Yesterday  morning, I performed with the Punahou Alumni Glee Club at the 33rd annual “Day at Queen Emma Summer Palace.” Yesterday afternoon, I attended a meeting to reorganize Ka Lahui Hawaii, the Native Hawaiian initiative for sovereignty. It was an interesting juxtaposition of Saturday events for me.

One event honored Queen Emma who stood for Hawaii remaining autonomous as its own sovereign nation in an earlier Hawaii ruled by monarchs, and the other represented a continuing call for self determination by the indigenous peoples of the Hawaiian Islands.

The Queen Emma Summer Palace museum is operated by the Daughters of Hawaii, founded in 1903 by seven daughters of American Protestant missionaries “to perpetuate the memory and spirit of old Hawaii and of historic facts, and to preserve the nomenclature and correct pronunciation of the Hawaiian language.”

Queen Emma (Emma Naea Rooke 1836-1885) was the wife of Alexander Liholiho (Kamehameha IV). Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV supported the Hawaiian people through major good deeds, namely the establishment in the late 1850s of Queen’s hospital in Honolulu, originally intended for sick and indigent Hawaiians, and the establishment of the Episcopal Church in Hawaii in 1861 that included the gift of nearby land for St. Andrew’s Cathedral.

Alexander Liholiho died in 1863, shortly after their son Prince Albert Kauikeaouli died at age four. After the reigns of Lot Kamehameha (Kamehameha V) and William Lunalilo, in 1875, Emma ran in an election against Kalakaua to become the next ruler of Hawaii and lost. Emma was unhappy with Kalakaua’s rule, and she considered America an enemy for wanting to possess the Hawaiian Islands. (Source: Hawai‘i the Royal Legacy by Allan Seiden, Mutual Publishing Co., Honolulu, 1992)

The proceeds from yesterday’s fundraiser will help to restore and preserve Queen Emma Summer Palace as well as Hulihee Palace in Kailua-Kona. Queen Emma Summer Palace is a most beautiful spot, built where cool breezes blow down the valley and through a lovely landscaped tropical garden. Imagine women in long white dresses and parasols enjoying tea on the patio or strolling beneath a spreading Chinese miulan tree (Michelia champaca).

Actors portray King Kamehameha IV (Alexander Liholiho a.k.a. Iolani) and Queen Emma (Kaleleonalani) on "A Day at Queen Emma Summer Palace"

On a day like yesterday, $6 bought admission to the palace, the grounds, free parking, and a whole day of live Hawaiian music and hula beginning with the Royal Hawaiian Band.  Additionally there were demonstrations of native Hawaiian art—pounding kalo (taro) into poi, weaving lau hala (pandanus leaves), Hawaiian quilting, and sewing lei hulu (feather lei)—and a fashion show. You could buy native plants, very good quality arts and handcrafts, ono (delicious) food, books about Hawaii and curios. The relaxing time was a well-organized la-di-da affair for the public.

The Hawaiian place name of Queen Emma’s summer home, located in upper Nuuanu Valley, is Hanaiakamalama, meaning “the foster child of the light (or moon).” It was here that a docent recommended to me Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen by Liliuokalani as a primer for learning about Hawaiian history.

Soon afterward, in 1993, one hundred years after Queen Liliuokalani and the Hawaiian nation were overthrown by American businessmen and therefore the United States, I became an active citizen of Ka Lahui Hawaii, the grass-roots Native Hawaiian initiative for sovereignty. I started to learn what it was to be Hawaiian through Ka Lahui Hawaii.

Ka Lahui Hawaii was in the news and led the sovereignty movement until about five, maybe seven, years ago. There are many reasons why Ka Lahui Hawaii fell “off the radar,” to quote the words of a fellow citizen. It’s my opinion that activism requires great stamina and wherewithal for success, as well as good organization and support. It can be tiring.

Then some weeks ago I learned that a meeting to reorganize Ka Lahui Hawaii would be held on October 3. Curious about what would transpire, and wanting to support, I went after the Queen Emma gig and unfurled the flag.  I can report first hand the good news:

Ka Lahui Hawaii is alive and well. Twenty loyal citizens who could make it to Oahu—including all the past kiaaina (governors) as well as citizen representatives from Hawaii island, Molokai, and several Oahu districts—attended the meeting. By the time I arrived, they had formed the Ka Lahui Hawaii Working Group (because the nation is already formed) that is scheduled to meet on Oahu at 9 a.m., the first Saturday of every month, place to be announced.

Some of the members of the Ka Lahui Hawaii Working Group with the national flag—the Makalii (Pleiades constellation) on a blue field—at the Oct. 3, 2009, meeting in Honolulu. Mililani Trask (seated second from left), Josiah "Black" Hoohuli (seated fourth from left), and Lehua Kinilau (seated fifth from left) each held the office and served as Kiaaina (governor) in the past.

The group decided its mission would be threefold: 1) to reorganize Ka Lahui Hawaii, 2) to communicate and 3) to represent Ka Lahui Hawaii. The group identified and listed current Native Hawaiian sovereignty issues and agreed to make known the Ka Lahui Hawaii position on these issues. They made committee assignments and plans for communicating on the different islands and among islands.

The sentiment was, perhaps in its prior years Ka Lahui Hawaii was ahead of its time. Yesterday the citizens appeared rested, more learned, more mature, and ready to rally once again. When I first became a citizen, women overwhelmingly outnumbered men. Yesterday there were equal numbers of men and women. Perhaps we as individuals have become more balanced, and that quality is now transmitted to the group. Hoomakaukau. (Prepare and make ready.) I truly hope all Ka Lahui Hawaii citizens and honorary citizens will pitch in and unite for the cause.

Copyright 2009 Rebekah Luke

If you want to know more about Ka Lahui Hawaii, please read FAQ by clicking on this link here.

Contact me if you would like a copy of the October 3, 2009, KLH Working Group meeting notes emailed to you.