Hawaiian
Proverbs - This inspirational words of wisdom that can guide
us in our daily lives - were very important to the Hawaiian
people. What often distinguishes Native Hawaiian proverbs
for the native is a reference to the natural world. Mary Kawena Pukui
Mary
Abigail Kawenaʻulaokalaniahi
iakaikapoliopelekawahine
aihonua Wiggin Pukui,
known as Kawena,was a Hawaiian
scholar, dancer, composer, and educator.
Mary Kawena Pukui (1895-1986) teacher, author, historian, translator, genealogist, composer and kumu hula-.was born in Kaʻū, Big Island, to Mary Paʻahana Kanakaʻole (a native Hawaiian woman) and Henry Wiggin (originally from Massachusetts). In the traditional custom of hānai she was initially reared by her mother’s parents. Her grandmother, a traditional dancer in the court of Queen Emma, taught her chants and stories, while her grandfather was a healer and kahuna pale keiki (obstetrician) who used lomilomi massage, la'au lapaʻau (herbal medicine), hoʻoponopono (forgiveness), and pule (prayer). Her great-great-grandmother was a kahuna pule (priestess) in the Pele line.
She was educated in the Hawaiian Mission Academy, and taught Hawaiiana at Punahou School. Pukui was fluent in Hawaiian, and from the age of 15 collected and translated folk tales, proverbs and sayings.
Kawena worked at the Bishop Museum from 1938-1961 as an ethnological assistant and translator. She worked closely with anthropologists, ethnologists, biologists and others. In fact, she co-wrote the Hawaiian-English Dictionary (1957, revised 1986) to help them; co-author of additionally many of the stories and chants she translated were published; it’s estimated she co-authored more than fifty books and over 150 songs.- An extraordinary accomplishment for a person who quit high school after being punished for speaking to a classmate in Hawaiian. (Kawena would later graduate from the Hawaiian Mission Academy in Honolulu at age twenty-six.) She also taught Hawaiian to several scholars and served as informant for numerous anthropologists. She published more than 50 scholarly works. Other books: Place Names of Hawaii (1974), and The Echo of Our Song (1974), a translation of old chants and songs.
Her book, 'Ōlelo No'eau, contains nearly 3,000 examples of Hawaiian proverbs and poetical sayings, translated and annotated. The two-volume set Nānā i ke Kumu, Look to the Source, is an invaluable resource on Hawaiian customs and traditions. She was a chanter and hula expert, and wrote lyrics and/or music to more than 150 Hawaiian songs.
In addition to her published works, Mary Kawena Pukui's knowledge was also preserved in her notes, oral histories, hundreds of audiotape recordings from the 1950s and 1960s, and a few film clips, all collected in the Bishop Museum.
She was named a "Living Treasure of Hawai'i" by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawai"i in 1977. In 1995 she was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame.
