ʻŌhiʻa lehua blossoms are a favorite food source for Hawaiʻi's endemic forest birds.
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ʻŌhiʻa Lehua
Lush vegetation inhabits the Hawaiian Islands. The endemic Hawaiian tree ‘ōhi‘a lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) is special to the Hawaiian culture, and its wood and blossoms are used for hula, building hale (houses) and wa‘a (canoes), and making lei. There is even a story of how the ‘ōhi‘a lehua came to be.
The mo‘olelo tells of a handsome warrior named ‘Ōhi‘a, who was in love with a woman named Lehua. Pele, the volcano goddess, was also in love with ‘Ōhi‘a, but he did not feel the same. Because of that Pele turned ‘Ōhi‘a into a twisted tree and Lehua into a flower on the tree, hence the name ‘ōhi‘a lehua. If you pluck the lehua blossom from the tree, you are separating the lovers, and their tears will cause it to rain on the same day.
Today the ‘ōhi‘a lehua is threatened due to the spread of the Rapid ‘Ōhi‘a Death (ROD). ROD has been killing ‘ōhi‘a lehua on the Island of Hawai‘i and was recently detected on Kaua‘i Island. Explore more about ROD and ways that you can help protect the beloved ‘ōhi‘a lehua!
Kīpahulu is referred to as the land of the love snatching wind
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Love Snatching Wind of Kīpahulu
All winds in Hawaiʻi have a name. The Ka 'Āina o ka Makani kā'ili Aloha or the Love Snatching Wind of Kīpahulu refers to the wind which originates in the mountains and blows down towards the sea. The author of this specific story told below writes, “this story was told to me by Mr. Joseph V. Marciel and Josua Ahulii and Mr. Alapai Kapaeko of Nuʻu Maui.” The full original story is found in Nupepa, Ke Alahou, Volume I, Number 6, 1 May 1980.
There lived in Kīpahulu two men and a woman. One of these men married the woman while she kept up a relationship with the other man. They all were agreeable to this relationship and enjoyed living like this for many years. After a time the wife went off with the other man to Oʻahu, leaving her husband and Kīpahulu behind. The other man and the wife went off to Oʻahu, and they forgot all about Kīpahulu. While the husband waited for his wife to return, his longing for her grew.
The husband’s grandfather, Haipu, who was well versed ln the ancient ways, appeared, and told his grandson that his wife would soon return if he did as he was told. Eagerly he agreed. They began the old rituals using the wife's favorite calabash (gourd). Haipu gently whistled into the calabash a poignant love chant. When the chanting was over, he held his breath concentrating on a prayer for all the ancestral spirits of the sky, earth, and sea. When the prayer was ended, he exhaled his breath into the small calabash and let it upon the water. Then, Haipu invoked a prayer to the spirits of the wind to carefully take the calabash to Honolulu. As the prayer was called, a strong wind carried the calabash out to sea it disappeared in the surging waves. The calabash was released on the first day of the week and it took a full week for it to reach Honolulu.
It came ashore at Waikīkī and just then the wife began to crave for the lipoa, a limu (seaweed) found there. While she was picking up the lipoa she saw a small calabash. She went to pick it up and grasping it said to herself, "This calabash looks like the one we had at home". She opened the lid and the fragrance of her husband was released from inside the calabash. Her heart swelled with love for her long-forgotten husband. She quickly left Waikīkī towards Hanauma Bay and found passage on a canoe to Molokaʻi. From there she took another canoe to Lahaina. She walked past Olowalu, Makena, Kahikinui, Kāupo until finally reaching home—Kīpahulu. When she arrived her husband made her wait to kiss him—to fufill Haipu’s instructions that if she waits, she will stay with him and so the couple lived in Kīpahulu for the rest of their lives.
