Is Theilen of DLNR the new Moi Wahine?

Last night I was thinking about some past events at the Palace. After the incident with Akahi Nui at the Palace, the Hawaiian organizations had Sovereign Sunday; ignored Pohukaina and proceded to the front the Palace steps to pay homage and kowtow to Thielen of DLNR, who came from the Palace front lanai to stand half-way down on the steps. The ali'i organizations and the Hawaiian Civic Club Association gathered at the bottom and presented Thielen with maile lei and ho'okupu as she looked down over them from where she stood.It struck me odd that the Ali'i societies should break protocol and kowtow to Thielen (DLNR) as if they were maka'ainana or Kauwe to her and she was the Moi wahine. Their representatives have even gone to Washington D.C, to support the Akaka Bill. I find all this really upsetting. This leaves me to believe all this ali'i stuff is just a charade and full of crap.Tane
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of maoliworld to add comments!

Comments

  • Aloha e Ululani:

    You weren't there to witness the event; I was. I relayed my mana'o on it. Don't read more into it than naught. I, too have and had family in those organizations. I know the difference between proper protocol and kissing ass to Thielen/DLNR.

    In ceremony, her head is NOT supposed to be higher than theirs; which they have allowed.
    She may be a dubious official of the alleged state who has been assaulting Hawaiians and their rights, but that does not give her the privilege and status as being superior to them. To put her above them is unsulting to their station. I would have never tolerated that in ceremony and proper protocol.

    Incidently, they are also supporting the Akaka Bill both here and in Washington ,De Ceit. This also tells me they are readily willing to give up their status as a Hawaii subject/national to become a tribal entity. Are they there as participants for pagentry and just for show or are they truly ali'i? All the Po'o were there. They didn't even acknowledge the burial mound where there are still some 20 + ali'i buried there. They walked past them without even looking toward the mound as if it didn't exist. Some of them are even descended from some of those ali'i. They were there strictly to ikowtow to the State of Hawaii' DLNR Director, Thielen who actively snubs Hawaiians. So if I am dissing these organizations, you're right and you now know why. Your snide remarks and question then becomes frivolous. I still love you, you know!
  • Aloha kaua e Tane.

    I'm curious why you diss ali'i. Are you ali'i? Or... are you makaainana and have a problem with ali'i? BTW one does not exist without the other.

    Ali'i "stuff" is protocol. It bring order among disorder. It is also our past and without our past we would not have our present or future so why diss ali'i???

    By the way my kupuna belong and/or belonged to most if not all of the ali'i "high" societies. Some of those who speak do not speak for all ali'i. Some are posers too. Some ali'i also purposefully do not make themselves seen or known. Some even join in order to create strife and disagreements. Things are not necessarily as they appear.

    E malama pono.
  • this is from culture just wanted to bring this piece to your attention.

    Reply by Makana Risser Chai on December 26, 2009 at 2:20pm
    I got so mad about the Huna, I spent the last 4 years researching the question of is Huna Hawaiian and have a book coming out on it. What I found (by comparing Long's books to the classics of Malo, Kamakau, 'I'I, Pukui and oral histories in the Bishop Museum Archives) was that Max Freedom Long did accurately describe ho'oponopono, la'au kahea, weather control, lomilomi, 'ana'ana and other practices. However, his theories about how it was done (three selves, aka cords) and his practices (deep breathing to "increase mana," using pendulums) are not kahiko Hawai'i. Then other people since have built upon his inaccuracies and added to them. Serge King changed the names of the three selves from aumakua, uhane and unihipili to Ku, Kane and Lono. The idea of taking the ancestors, or the gods, and making them part of the "self" is simply Western egoism.

    I love Kauhi's comments. I am reminded of the cartoon character Linus who said, “I love mankind … it’s people I can’t stand!!” In the case of the Huna people, they love Hawai‘i, but not necessarily Hawaiians. They are fascinated with kahuna lore and haole kahunas, but not Hawaiian kāhuna.

    Unfortunately, there are Hawaiian Huna kahuna also, and Hawaiians who follow haole Huna kahuna. I feel sad any time Hawaiians say they are the "last kahuna" without saying they are the last in their lineage. By so doing they feed into the Huna mystique, and dishonor other lineages.

    Plenty kanaka maoli have spoken at the Huna conferences, for example in 1980 there was a conference where Morrnah Simeona, Charles Kenn, Dr. Abraham Pi‘ianaia, Ph.D., Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell, M.D., Col. Arthur Chun, Professor Rubellite Kawena Johnson and author John Dominis Holt all spoke. I've seen the DVD of it and none of them endorsed Huna. Most never mentioned it, a couple used the word "huna" to refer to Hawaiian spirituality, and Kenn specifically refuted many of their ideas, such as the three selves. One speaker was asked, "What does this have to do with Huna?" and he replied, "I don't know." I loved that part!

    I try to remember, as Kauhi says, that most Huna people have good intentions, they are simply ignorant. For the haole, if they want to go the Huna way, so be it, though I wish they would not call it Hawaiian (and some have stopped calling it Hawaiian - they call it Hunian or Lemurian). But it is my hope for the Hawaiians who think Huna is Hawaiian that we can gently educate them with aloha about what is the true 'ike of the ancestors.
  • Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I have memories of our homless children standing on the stairs and chanting in the exact same place that the queen ascended from her prison of less than two years. Kaohi
  • Just wanted you to read this beautiful piece of writing.

    Reply by Kelea K. Levy-Sandfort 23 hours ago
    I think this is a really good discussion because by comparing these two sisters that have been acting as part of our leadership, it helps to think about what we want to see in the future.

    I personally don't see myself in the work that the Danner sisters are doing. It seems totally foreign to me - probably because they align themselves with so much American policy. Sometimes people say that they do all they do just for the money, and while that may be true, I'm not sure. I can see from their point of view that they think their way is just better for everyone. The fact that they think they can just come along and make decisions about what is good for everyone's futures without aligning themselves with any form of our people's consent however isn't good no matter how you look at it.

    The Trask sisters are a different story to me however. Just from my own testimony of what these women mean to me, even if I've never known them personally, no matter what houses or other things they've collected, if I had something else to give them for what they've done for us, I would. I know to some people that words don't seem important, but the words the Trask sisters have said and written has personally given me, and I know countless others, the strength and the knowledge to keep moving forward in our struggle. These women have fought against enormous bureaucracies and have said things to people at times that no one else could say or had the right words to say which were so important and necessary for us to progress. They helped create part of the language that we use today in our current struggle. Not only that, their actions also have reflected the fact that they very much drew from our own people the directions that they chose to go. They are not the isolationists that the Danners are who never seem to tap into the true movement of our people and who are advocating for us to become Indian people instead. The Trasks sisters instead have worked to liberate us in every sense of the word, not just on the outside, but on our inside too. We can't blame them that they didn't accomplish everything for us or that they were imperfect. No one is perfect or can accomplish everything.

    As for the future, we can't depend so much on the Trasks. They have worked for a long time now. In recent times, their presence has faded. To me, when we stopped hearing so much from them, this wasn't a betrayal. These women have given almost their entire life's work to us and at some point, we have to pick up where they left off. This is just life - the truth of each generation. People become older, and good old people spend their time trying to teach us - like Haunani has done by working to build the Hwn studies program, but they leave a void that we have to fill eventually.

    For me, I learned from both Haunani and Mililani that there was a whole other world outside of our little colonized box and to be fearless in trying to break down those walls. The Danner's to me are like part of the wall of colonization around us and they show me how vigilant we have to be as our generation moves forward into the void left by our Kupuna in acknowledging who we really are. They are the difference between people who worked to make it so that we had the rights to live by our own values vs. people who live by other people's values who have worked to impose those on us without our consent. In the future, I hope to see more leaders who will value our people's opinions and our vision for the future. And I also hope that we will see people who are unafraid and who are willing to fight against American institutions.
  • I am glad to hear you notice it.
    Mahalo for your truth of voice..

    Aloha
This reply was deleted.