An Immersion In The Craft Of Pahu

The first thing you notice on the drive to Wahiawa is the gentle Wahiawa ua ( rain ) that comes in waves to grace the nostrils with that all too familiar smell. To grace lake Wilson with the sweet ua that accumulates on the river bank, enlarging the home for the aquatic life that resides there. I pass the hale ( house ) twice before kumu ( teacher ) calls and tells me where would be an appropriate place to park. A wave and a shaka is our first physical greeting to each other since early 2020. How I have longed to speak to this Hawaiian, it has been too long. I grab my tools and head to the gate of his hale.

Today would be the start of the glorious adventure of pahu ( drum ) making. It is mid afternoon and the grass is bright green as it should be. With all the Wahiawa ua, the town itself is painted green with no mountains for a reference, you just have to be there. There are pahu stumps lined up at the brim, some bare, some finished, some unfinished. I greet the wahine ( woman ) that would be accompanying me on this journey with a honi ( kiss ) and a hug. This class is just the wahine, kumu, and I although there were notes of her kane ( man ) coming later. Even though we are in a pandemic, it seemed appropriate to show love and familiarity as it is our first time greeting each other. For kumu I brought gifts, a six pack of Hawaiian Sun iced tea for his ohana ( family ) to enjoy at their convenience. The wahine sparks a stogie and leans into the conversation. We talk about the spiritual aspect of music, instruments, and Hawaiian crafts. Kumu tells this story of a young wahine who was on the island of Kaho’olawe and walked up to a heiau ( temple ) to make a lei po’o ( head lei ). In this story the wahine gets tired and lays down to take a nap, she gets up and realizes the lei po’o was pau ( finish ). In her confusion she walks back to the group where they were staying, and the story goes that they looked up and thought they saw an old woman walking down towards them. It was the woman who made the lei po’o, the difference was that her hair was completely grey down to the roots! This young wahine, according to this story, has a full head of grey hair and hasn’t dyed her hair back to its original color since and has embraced what the Gods have gifted her. Grey hair isn’t necessarily a sign of old age but a sign of wisdom and experience. We were in awe at this story as there was no immediate logical explanation for this, someone or something was watching over this woman.

We sit and talk story, hit our puff bars and ease our conversation from lahui ( nation ) gossip to pahu making. Kumu hands us our own notebooks to chart down the different parts of the pahu and the steps we would take to make them. He tells us the different types of pahu and the ones we would be making. We will be making a hula pahu. This is a pahu for hula ( Hawaiian dance ), oli ( chants ), and any other recreation a hula pahu would be used for. Behind the wahine I was working with was a big pahu heiau ( temple, church, sacred ). It must've been over 500 pounds and stands upright at about five feet with a three foot circumference. A pahu heiau is used mostly for ceremonies and big events. I was in awe at the sheer unperfected beauty of this pahu as it is the biggest I’ve ever seen and it carries a lot of weight. I know this pahu will bring sounds to shake any gathering it is present at. Kumu points and informs me that my pahu is the brother pahu to the large pahu heiau sitting at the base of the garage. This excites me greatly because I can see how special the pahu heiau is so I know mine will be exceptionally important. My pahu will stay in my family for generations. Kumu shows us the different pahu he’s made as a reference to ours to see what we want to have come out of our creation. A pahu to the left catches my eye as it has a long rectangular pattern, as I am very fond of boxes or shapes with 90 degree angles. Kumu instructs that this design is called a kukulu, or pillars, that hold up the Hawaiian faith and the sound of the drum. This pahu looks accessible and easy to maneuver with, unfinished, it’s potential awaits. Kumu explains that the best wood to use for pahu making is niu ( coconut ) or ulu ( breadfruit ). These two trees have been the most popular in the circle of pahu perpetuation in the Hawaiian culture for generations. Our first step in making the pahu is to debark the stump. This is not a DIY guide ( do it yourself, I just recently learned this term when I went to City Mill ) so please ask a kumu or someone who has made pahu before for help, it is always good to get a second opinion or a guide. This process feels sacred, and should be held as such. Everything about this process is so aesthetically pleasing as the tool to wood feels so good on the hands. My companion and I begin to debark our pahu as there is already a perfectly carved pahu in this niu stump, we just need to find it. As this is our first time, we find out what works best for us and feel out how the chisel feels in our hands. The next part is the draw blade. They don’t sell draw blades in Hawai’i so our kumu was gracious enough to let us use his. It is a pulling motion and a back and forth to get all the little pesky husks off of the now debarked stump. After the draw blade I begin to sand with an electric sander from Habitat For Humanity. Habitat For Humanity is such a great company as it has so many used tools for cheap, it’s like a goodwill for hardwear. I begin to sand with kneading motions, back and forth back and forth until the pahu is relatively smooth. We do this to get off any rogue fibers so carving is a lot easier. The husk on my workmates stump was difficult so she spent ample time husking.

The smell of dog whisked in the air and reminded me of my uncles house right down the road next to Leileihua high school. We would gather every Thanksgiving and Christmas to sport holiday cheer and catch up with whatever happened throughout the year. That time is creeping up again, but with the pandemic and high covid numbers that opportunity to visit again is shy as our families elderly are getting older and the children are now having babies. Hopefully our family can reconnect in the coming years.

The sun starts to set on the flat land horizon and we begin to wind down for the night. I spark a few stogies between each break and look up at the sky, how the sky is beginning to turn gold, how the birds make themselves known. The boyfriend of my workmate shows up to the scene and begins to help his partner with her pahu. Hawaiian with skin like mine with a medium build. He brought Reese's Peanut Butter Cups to munch on as it indeed has been a long day. He helps her husk and puts his back into it, tiring himself by doing sprints of pulls with the draw blade.

Kumu shows me how to mark the pahu in halves and in thirds, indicating which line will be used for what as you don’t want to get too close to the middle bumbai ( because ) the sound of the strike will not be as poignant and or the space in between the opu ( belly ) and bottom breaches. We begin to chisel away at the top of the pahu just to get an outline so I know what I’ll be doing on my time away from the hale of kumu. The dog of kumu, girly, climbs up my body while I sit and gives me honi honi as I listen to kumu give instructions on what we will be doing in the next class. The sun has set, and we go over what our homework is for the week, say our aloha , and make our way back into town.

I met my parents fishing at Kakaako, the stars shone bright as there was no moon in sight, it indeed was a new moon that night. I talk about my first day of pahu making, my mother seems very interested and my father is reserving his curiosity for later. I hop back in my car and head back to our humble abode in Makiki as I needed to find street parking. This day for me was such a blessing all around as it is a first step to a legacy and a first step in doing my part to continue to perpetuate my culture. As I pulled onto my street a car stall directly across from our apartment opened up! Thank God! The night went by quick as before I knew it, it was a new day.

A few days have passed since I worked on my pahu on that fateful Saturday. I bring my tools, chair, Dr. Pepper, cigarettes, and pahu downstairs in our parking stall to work more on my pahu. I begin to saw off a jagged edge of the pahu and my neighbor approaches me. Apparently back in her day she made her own pahu for hula as well and now it acts as a night stand in her room. At least the pahu is being used and not rotting in some storage unit I thought. We talked a little more story, gave our aloha and she was on her way. Who knew sawing off wood was so tedious. It probably took me two hours to saw off the part of the pahu I wanted which was lopsided to the bottom of the pahu. Of course, I was sparking stogies and sipping on Dr.Pepper in between. By the time I finished, it was night and it had started to drizzle. The thing about Makiki rain is that it feels like a gentle blessing and it is never overbearing and if it begins to rain hard it is much needed precipitation. I chiseled out the top for about fifteen minutes, making it careful not to go past the one inch marker where the ili ( skin ) will be tied. I decided it’s time to go up stairs so I cleaned up, boxed my things and brought my tools and pahu to my room.

Several days later on Saturday I pulled up to the hale of kumu. It is early afternoon, the sun high in the sky. There was another kane there who had known kumu from different cultural events, and had previously made pahu with our kumu in times before. Light skinned with colored tattoos, this man has definitely been places. We greeted each other, the handshake was a bit awkward, but that happens sometimes with new people. What ya gonna do, am I right? I set my tools down and talk story for a few before we begin to work. Kumu instructs me to mark my pahu all the way around at the third marker and the half marker. So marking I did. One of the tedious parts of pahu making, I sat there and I marked and I marked. The kane started sanding down his pahu, and would sand it throughout the day. His pahu was smaller than mine but it had a real nice shape too it . It looked like a big gourd. Kumu said it’s called a pahu opu because it’s shaped like a full belly. It had a fish scale crescent moon like design which I am told it’s called an a’ahu, and he expressed how long it took to carve out his design. Long. The couple from our first session shows up and they begin to sand as well. They took turns sanding which showed me they weren’t afraid to put in the work. A friend of kumu pulls up with awa and pupus ( snacks ) to share with the group. He was about 6ft with a heavy build, light skinned with glasses. This slowly turns into a kani ka pila ( talk story, hang out ) sesh as knowledge and stories are passed around about the latest in the lahui and what is past and current in Hawaiian culture. I sit back to observe and absorb all that I can. All good fun, talking story, perpetuating craft. Kumu explains that we will be having a blessing ceremony when this workshop is pau.

My next step was to mark my pahu again with my design that I wanted. As I stated before, I am fond of squares, so that’s what my design would be. We measured and cut out a rectangle shape from a Manila folder and I was instructed to trace on the bottom half of the pahu. This would be the kukulu or the pillar design. To me, this pahu design is more than a kukulu. This design means to me the pillars that hold us up, and the gates we enter. After this I begin to carve the pahu with my chisel and hammer. The chisel feels good in the hands, the sun starting to set behind me. The darker skinned kane let’s me borrow his mallet, it’s smaller than mine, but highly effective because there wasn’t a large reverb. The awa man walks around to pour more awa in everyone’s cup. It really dialed down and allowed focus to reign through the group. We had an invigorating conversation about how Hawai’i was a nation, a territory, a republic, then a state. Hawaiians have been fighting for re-sovereignty since Hawai’i was annexed in 1893. Hopefully by perpetuating culture, and having conversations like these, and writing stories like these, it will spark a light in the vastly dim world that is politics.

Kumu teaches the kane of the wahine a new hula which was pleasing to watch, to watch him learn, make mistakes, and then correct them. This hula had combinations of moves that I haven’t seen put together, it was a powerful hula.

The kane that showed up with the awa said something thoughtful he said “I think I have a thought, but I don’t remember!” Ha! Classic, I love literary pieces such as ones like that, it brightens the day to have comedic, mind titillating relief while working. To be creative with words and storytelling is truly a gift. I could tell this kane had plenty of mana'o ( knowledge, power ) about his culture and he tells me the significance of his name which I appreciate because I believe names are very important, names tell a story all of their own. He plays a few mele Hawai’i ( Hawaiian music ), some mele I don’t recall the name of but I know and recognize the tune. One song he played which always gets me in the feels was “Listen To The Rhythm Of The Falling Rain” by the Ka’au Crater Boys. The Ka’au Crater Boys are one of my most favorite Hawaiian contemporary artists, and this kane doing a rendition of their song is breathtaking. He’s got some serious pipes.

Kumu brought out an ipu heke ( a Hawaiian musical instrument made out of a gourd ) for us to ogle at and it was gorgeous. Great in size it stood at about three feet and it had a shiny mahogany sparkle to it. Kumu explains how he had been repurposing the ipu heke because it had some cracks from being so old, 200 years old as a matter of fact. He explains that this ipu heke was used in King Kamehameha the 1st family and was passed down throughout the bloodline till it got to a kumu of kumu, and she gifted it to him. Just by looking at it you know this instrument contains a lot of mana ( power ) and the sound coming from each strike was one of the best and purest strikes I’ve ever heard. The kane with the tattoos inspects the ipu heke and elaborates that he works at the Bishop Museum and he handles ancient Hawaiian artifacts. He says for an object of that age it is in great condition and is something you’d find in the museum archives. I take a break and spark one, letting the inhales and exhales take me and relax me.

We work into the night, the UH football game is playing in the house next door. The wahine and her kane begin to finally mark their pahu. The design they have is absolutely beautiful. It’s a diamond with triangles between each diamond. I am told this is called a pa’a design. Kumu informs us that we must carve the design first, if we don’t and we decide to carve out the bottom then the design, the pahu might crack. Kumu has seen it happen.

I began to pack my things slowly. The couple is learning a new hula from kumu, one that I have seen before on the Mauna many moons ago. The wahine and kane who were learning the new hula through kumu have been kind to me, they all have, but those two kept complimenting me on my pahu work and that is much appreciated.

The mana’o of kumu about Hawaiian culture is so immense and his stream of knowledge always comforts in the fact that more and more of Hawaii's youth like him are delving deeper and deeper into culture and perpetuation. It is rare that you see someone as young as our kumu —who just turned 23— be so deeply immersed in the culture so much that he can teach it with pride. We say our aloha and head back into town.

Two days pass and I find myself working on my pahu in my room. My mom says the wood is gonna give her allergies so she closes the door. I think about how I need a new chisel as the one I have is not working so well. My chisel that I bought is actually for concrete according to kumu and I felt that, this chisel doesn’t feel like the kind of chisel you’d be using for wood. I chisel away at the top where the strike would be happening, chip chip chip chip away and put the chiseled pieces on a towel to the right of me. An earwig crawls out of the wood and makes its rounds around the pahu. I ended up losing track of where it went, so now there’s an earwig freely roaming around my room TAX free, these gosh darn earwig commies I tell you. My mother and I go to Home Depot to get a new chisel, also in hopes to see my cousin who happens to work at Home Depot. I get to the chisel section and I contemplate all the situations that would occur if I bought from Home Depot. I wanted to support local and go to City Mill, but I have a busy week and I might only get this opportunity to go to Home Depot once, and I need to start working on my pahu again. I have a lot to do before next class. So I bought the chisel pack and we headed home. The Home Depot parking lot had an aroma of burgers and fries as the food truck there was winding down for the night. I really wanted a burger, but we had food at home, and money for me is tight right now, so the Mac and Cheese and smoked sausage will be my delectable meal for the time being.

The next day I work on my pahu with my new tool. I ran a few errands when I woke up in the morning and headed back home to work. It was a scorching day. The work is a lot easier and smoother with my new chisel from Home Depot. How it glides on the wood with just a few strikes. I started to work a technique where I angle my chisel even more to chip away at a wider circumference rather than starting off by digging deep. I get into a groove and I bang out two rectangles on my design before I put my pahu down for the night.

I took a day break as my hands were shaking from chiseling the previous day. With repetition and commitment, my hands will be more conditioned to chisel in the future.

I would take my pahu to point panics to watch my dad fish and work on my pahu. Today, I will be in a serious groove. The move was to get in the mood for two cool dudes to work on their craft while watching surfers crash on their raft. It was the act of the fact that it was a beautiful day to have a craft like kanak attack. The grass was spotty just like the sound of the bells ringing from the fishing pole. The pole finally roared and my dad got up to reel in the fish. Hanapa’a ( fish on ) ! He reels in a po’opa’a which is a Hawaiian hawkfish. I have seen people use this fish to deal with uluas and big game aquatics. We admired it for a minute and threw it back into the ocean as we weren’t going to eat this fish, too small, he will live to fight another day. My father plays the song “America” by Ray Charles while I work on my pahu design. How ironic this song plays while perpetuating Hawaiian culture as American ideologies and Hawaiian ideologies have had their clashes in the past and present. I understand that there is a part of America that holds the idea and concept of freedom and sovereignty true to themselves in a sense of patriotic emblems not for the white America that has been painted in popular media but an indigenous brown America that upholds the foundation of the United States on the backs of immigrants ( who happen to be native to the continent of America itself, and they’re called immigrants go figure! ) and the indigenous black and brown that called Turtle Island home before the invasion of the European. Why did they tell you that all black people were brought over from Africa when America is composed of more than one hundred million negros. You think that they brought over one hundred million negros over on slave ships over the course of fifty to seventy years on a three month voyage and they just so happened to all be ready to work? Where are these slave ships today? If a ship can house a max of three hundred negros for three months — and keep in mind the common literature states that most slaves died or chose the sea on this voyage — how did they get one hundred million of us to the Americas? The jury’s still out on this but I’ll tell you, we were already here in America. The America negro suffered the same gentrification and erasure of culture just like any indigenous culture that has suffered at the hands of this colonizer. We are indigenous. Our history is long forgotten, but hopefully to be redirected and resurrected in the great kingdom of heaven. That’s where beauty awaits. The drum beat of America is a bit different than the drum beat of Hawai’i, it is faster paced in America with distinguished strikes whereas the drum beat of Hawai’i is more poignant and deep, hitting marks for distinct more organized strikes to compliment the chant that accompanies it. Both very great cultures, both in which use drums for their omnipotent chants and storytellings.

My father sees his friend pull up to the point panics parking lot and goes to greet him. He tells me I can man the speaker so manning the speaker is what I did. I turn on to some modern Hawaiian music then switch it over to my soundcloud playlist to save battery. My father returns and we have a conversation about his battle with cancer and his ailments, and how precious life really is. It was a touching conversation, as we get older our bodies transition from absorbing our environment to transmitting ourselves from our environment.

Back to pahu making. Like I said I get into a groove, and carving becomes like therapy. I chisel away in ways I know my pahu would enjoy, I get smoother and smoother with every stroke leading deeper and more accurately than the previous stroke. By the time the sun sets I have accomplished the majority of what I have aimed to accomplish. I finished carving the outline of the design, I have started to carve out the bottom, and I have reached my depth on the top of the pahu.The bottom is halfway carved out, the design is pau, all that’s left is fine tuning. The more I work on my pahu the more I begin to realize that it’s such a spiritual experience working with your hands to create something that’s solid and tangible, something that is of use, something that can bring people together, an object that acts on its own and an object that can be commanded. Venus shines bright in the evening sky reminding me of my Taurus lovers out there. I pack my tools and head home. My Dad's friend gave him an 18 pack of Budlight, worked on my pahu, had good conversation, caught a fish, great night indeed.

The next day I head over to the hale of kumu early, this session would start in the A.M.. I am the first to arrive and kumu helps me gather my things from my car. I gave him a gift for his birthday ( a photo of Jupiter at Makua, some apples, and an avocado ). We talk story for a bit before we enter into working on our pahu. Kumu elaborates on the first pahu I saw at his hale and because I asked him what the design of the rectangles mean on his carvings, he tells me that they’re called kukulu which is the Hawaiian word for pillars which all makes so much sense to me. He tells that this pahu would be called Kukulu O Kahiki or the Pillars Of Tahiti paying homage to our ancestors from the place we migrated from. He had a iwi bird carved onto one of the pillars which I thought was an outstanding design for this pahu as the iwa bird is one of the many signs of nearby land for seafarers. Kumu has played pahu at many events at the capitol as we talk about Hawaii protests, politics, and standing in solidarity.

Kumu tells he would like all of us to have a hand on working on the 500 pound pahu heiau so we can say that we helped work on this marvelous instrument. You can summon Gods and invite spirits with the power of instruments especially with drums. This pahu heiau will do mighty things in its forever journey. Before the rest of the class gets to the hale of kumu we get to have a little one-on-one personal time to talk about pahu and life outside the day to day. He tells me stories about when my father and he used to work together at Whole Foods. I miss their dynamic. I would ask my father how kumu was doing at work and he’d tell me. Now kumu is asking me how my fathers doing at work go figure! Kumu brought out some pahu from his house to have them soak in the sun. He tells that letting the pahu sit in the sun brings a deeper, more lustful sound. He explains how he has made pahu shells ( unfinished pahu merely for decoration and observation ) for the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and they had just contacted him to finish the pahu. This kane goes and plays a few beats, and sits back down on the chair. The air is crisp and the sun shines bright with not many clouds in the sky. Today is going to be a productive day.

The rest of the gang shows up, a new face today, a kane who is of the same Hawaiian bloodline as I am, Pi’ilani of Mau’i. A strong willed Hawaiian with a knack for storytelling and holds himself in great stature. The wahine I started class with arrived with her keiki ( child ), a child who’s laid back and a real keen observer. Over the coming weeks there is much to be done, polishing our hula, gathering our ho’okupu ( gift ), lei making, and I have to figure out how to put on a malo ( traditional Hawaiian garb )! The new kane says he can help me put on my malo which relieves some of the pressure. This kane tells me about our ancestor Pi’ilani and how he was named rightful king of Maui for a strategic weeks-long battle in Hana. Kumu explains that the full name of the island of Mau’i is Pi’ilani O Mau'i, the island being named after that beloved chief, our beloved ancestor. Every time this Hawaiian told a story it was so intriguing because it is told with such passion a vigor you know it was coming from the heart and soul of this Hawaiian. He said something that struck me which was “working pahu is a form of meditation” and I couldn’t agree more. Working on the pahu is so therapeutic as you can put your mana into something you can physically shape with the force of your instruments and strokes. The concept is similar to making a baby.

The wahine is working on sanding today and right when I was pau with fine tuning my design and the base of my pahu I would be doing the same. Her design came out nicely, the pahu design reminded me of some pahu I’d seen when i was a child if I remember correctly. Her keiki watches videos and plays games on his phone, typical keiki stuff, he doesn’t get in the way and is very observant and respectful of the workspace. I chisel finer and finer points until I feel it’s time to sand. I go out into the sun and take a look around to ground myself in my new work setting. I begin to sand. Coconut dust fills the air and lungs, covering the body. The wahine and I are sanding away at our pahu making it smoother and more refined. Kumu gives me a new sander to use, one that has a circular motion, and actually works well with my pahu. ‘I need to get better tools’ I thought. The kane that had told me the story about Pi'ilani begins to talk about a cultural exchange between native tribes and how he wants to set up a group of Hawaiians to go to Peru to trade mo’olelo ( stories ), practices, and medicine with the native tribes there. It was a fine idea. I believe indigenous cultures should get together with one another to share thoughts and ideas and connect our stories that have been separated from each other by bodies of water and moon cycles. His pahu had a Mauna design on it going around the brim and down towards the piko ( center ) of the pahu. The mauna design is basically triangles going in unicent, like the connecting Ko’olau mountains. He has made a piko at the bottom of the pahu where his wahine and him would be placing a stone that was gifted to them by an aunty. It is said to have been glass from a meteor that struck Hawai’i a long time ago. This stone is iridescent and see through, it looks like a big triangular chunk of stained blue and green glass, a representation of Ku and Hina. All interesting designs coming from this kane and wahine, I can’t wait to hear the mo’olelo behind their choices of craftsmanship. I take a stogie break and ponder what I had to offer this hui ( group ) , mo’olelo sure, but I’m the kind of person who opens up rarely to strangers and it really takes a while for someone to truly know the gifts and joys I bring to this word, like a surprise candy in the box. I have a great eye. I can tell you that. I love conversations like the ones we were having but I tend to reserve my comments for the second time the conversation arises because if that topic comes up a second or third time that’s how I know it is a solidified idea that has been meditated on. We work for about twenty more minutes and head into the hula for our pahu. Kumu explains that this is going to be a tribute to Lono as Makahiki season is upon us. We know it is Makahiki season because Makahiki season is when the constellation Makali’i is on the eastern horizon directly at sunset. Makali’i can be identified as the constellation Taurus or the star cluster “The Seven Sisters”. When I was younger I would participate in the makahiki games and I was very good at it too, tug of war, chicken fighting, spear throwing, and foot racing all in my forte, but the one thing I wasn’t so styled in was hula. I have always had difficulty dancing hula because of my coordination being not so well and I always was the kid who had to stay later with the kumu for extra help BUT that is no excuse for me not trying now, the other two I am in fellowship with are very cultured in the world of hula and I want to do right by my kumu and them so I do the thing that most people don’t even attempt to do, try. The wind would blow gently and rough at times while we were practicing hula, I would take these times to look around and collect myself and focus my center around hula motions. We learned a full hula in about an hour, and let me tell you I was rusty and I looked like I had two left feet, but I will practice in the coming weeks leading up to our blessing of the pahu. This hula is also in commemoration to King David Kalakaua who was one of the reigning kings in the Hawaiian Kingdom. We sit down and go over what needs to be done this week. The wahine tells that we can go flower picking together to gather items for our leis. I can already tell this hui ( group ) will be in touch for the years to come. You never really think you’ll make lasting relationships in a class ( I actually do but it’s common that people don’t see their classmates after a lecture or workshop ) but kumu always says we are in this wa’a ( canoe ) together, if we huki ( paddle, move ) we all huki, if we huli ( flip ), we all gonna huli, so it’s best to not only think of ourselves, but the others also in the canoe. I help kumu pack a stump into his car, someone will be making a wood carving out of it for him. I say my aloha and head back into town.

It is Wednesday and I find myself working on my pahu on my lanai ( patio ). The sun is not beating down so it is relatively cool. There are apartment buildings surrounding mine with an open grass lot directly across from the lani so I have an unobstructed view for about 100 yards. I fine tune and chip away any lopsided pieces of wood to make my pahu more aesthetic. I work on the top, chiseling down towards the center, emptying the wood shavings accumulating on the bottom when needed. I have to be careful because I don’t want to over chisel too deep to where I have to warp the rest of the pahu to the one deep stroke I made. When I feel it is primed and ready to be sanded, I work on the design on the bottom. This is a bit easier because I just have to chisel at lines making things straight and not in a circular build like my previous endeavor. This is the least time consuming. I take a break to sip my home made smoothie, reflect, and enjoy my time, admiring the work I had just done. Next I work on the bottom center of the pahu. This was a tad bit more difficult as angling the chisel into the center of the design is tedious and for this project I don’t have much room to work with. If you work with your hands a lot you’ll understand partly the pleasure of working on pahu let alone wood. For gamers I’d say it’s like hitting that perfect hit stick, that little rush you get when your controller vibrates and that feeling of ecstasy you get when you hit the right move again and again. Your hands become conditioned to perfection. I take a few more breaks to drink and smoke before ultimately putting my chisel and hammer down as the sun is almost to the end of the horizon. My pahu is ready and primed for tomorrow’s sanding, and I can’t wait to smooth out these edges.

I would sand for two days before we reached our last class. In the final pages of perfection and tidying up the pahu, I put my sweat and hard work into something that produces everlasting echoes said to the entire universe.

The next morning I get up early and go to Home Depot to grab a paint brush for the staining of my pahu. I fill up gas and head to the central part of Oahu, Wahiawa. I greet kumu upon arriving and immediately start working my pahu. Kumu lends me a file that is really ecstatic to work with. It’s the same like with the chisel you just want to keep filing and filing till you get the smoothest outcome and smoothest edge. The kane that works at the Bishop Museum shows up and is ready to work. While I’m filing away at my design they talk story about happenings that I am not too well versed in, but I tune in as every story has a purpose. The kane that just showed up starts filing and expresses that he’s been needing to file because there are some rough spots on his pahu and I could only relate. I do a rough sanding with the sander and then start using sandpaper to get out any jagged edges to refine, smoothen, and enhance the aesthetics of the pahu. I would sand with the sandpaper and my file for a few hours while the day gets warmer and the sun moves lightly around the sky. By this time at about 12 three more people show up, the wahine that started the class with me, the kane related to Pi’ilani, and his wahine. His wahine is new to me, she has South American features with light skin. She has markings on her face, specifically her eyes and nose. She explains that her markings on her face are the markings of a warrior in her culture, and plans to get them tattooed permanently in the future. I have seen facial markings like this on Inupiaq women but for the Inupiaq women they get those markings to signify that they are ready to get married. I believe in their legend it states if a woman doesn’t get those markings and doesn’t get married they would be damned to the underworld. Heavy stuff. There’s a lot of beauty in the horror of Native American cultures and the legends that they perpetuate, how they waged war, how they settled disputes, and their concepts on how we should relate to the land. Pretty much the same theme across the board for most indigenous cultures, but there’s something special about the mo’olelo of Pacific Islanders and Native Americans. There's true mysterious, and righteous beauty in our stories. The kane that is related to Pi’ilani shows up in a malo and begins to explain the concept of his pahu. His pahu is to be shared with his wahine and they have the symbols of Ku and Hina on it, the representation of divine masculine and divine feminine. He calls this the cosmic pahu. Ola ( life )! He files and chisels at the fine points of his pahu with his wahine.

The wahine I worked with on the first session arrives with a huli ( haul ) of kalo from the palehua variety, an excellent kalo for making anything with the lau leaves. I grab some to plant on the lanai of my house. Through circumstances her pahu suffered a casualty. So kumu let’s her work on one of his pahu, a smaller pahu with a wide center. Perfect for portable pahu playing. There’s always a second chance at life. By now if you don’t know now you know!

The awa man from the previous day has arrived. He comes bearing gifts, entering the gate singing kalo man as there were kalo leaves sprawled onto the ground on his entrance. It’s always a fun encounter when he’s around, making the situation light as day with a smile on his face.

One by one we head out onto the grass to stain our pahu. The stain is a mixture of kukui nut oil, red dirt, and ohia ash. We all natural baby ! Kumu teaches to let the brush drip onto the pahu, and then paint. So that’s exactly what I did. It took me about 15 minutes to stain the entire pahu including the insides, the kane with his cosmic pahu took him a bit longer as it is wider and heavier than all the rest. The wahine from the first class ( I hope you’re following the characters of the story bear with me if it gets confusing, you can scroll up to refresh yourself with the characters if you like ) has a conversation with the cosmic pahu kane and his wahine about life and how to help the Hawaiian community get back on their feet for complete spiritual sovereignty. They’re sitting on the grass having this conversation while the other kane including myself are sitting in the garage talking small stories, smoking, and just vibing out.

We practice our hula for our blessing ceremony for a bit while our pahu is drying in the sun. There’s a large dog turd sprawled on the grass and I make it second priority to not step on it, not messing up on the hula was first. We go over the hula, cosmic pahu kane teaches and guides his wahine the new moves she’s learning for the hula. She expresses the respect she has for this practice due to the complicity of hula and the dedication it takes to master hula in all of its entirety.

We begin to work on ili ( skin ) for our pahu. The ili is made out of cowhide and is thick but mildly flexible. We set our pahu on our ili to mark them around by twos indicating where we would be punching the holes. Let me tell you if you think you're strong, nothing is more humbling than what we had to do to punch out holes in our ili. It starts to drizzle and we bring our pahu in to finish drying in the shade.

We soak our ili in water and wait for it to become soft so we can fasten it to the pahu. By this time the drizzle has turned into rain. Wahiawa is showing us what she’s about as flutters of rain accumulate overhead to be met with us pahu workers doing hula, drinking awa and talking story in the rain. The two wahine practice our hula in the rain while us kane are talking story solemnly, waiting for our ili to curate. Another friend of kumu shows up and is the brother to one of the boys I cruise with. He says he’s in town for a few days for a gig then he moves to Utah to live with his family. He shares some laughs, sings some mele Hawai’i, we catch up, and he goes on his way. When I was younger he used to play football with us at Roosevelt before we started football practice. When I say this is a small island, lemme tell you this is a small island.

The sun has set and that fall gloom has covered Wahiawa. It is time to lash the pahu. We take out our skins from the water and begin to lash. The wahine and I lash our pahu with a relatively the same lashing. But the cosmic pahu needed special attention for its oblong shape and size. Kumu would instruct and help us lash, he has a real gift for teaching. We fasten our pahu and about 30 minutes later it is pau. We put offerings to our pahu under the ili, a mix of kukui nut leaves and awa. This process is nearly complete.

With our fresh off the press pahu kumu teaches us an oli for our pahu about Kanehoalani who is the Hawaiian God of the sun. I really enjoy this oli and put my effort into getting the right strikes and chanting the right verses. I am proud that this would be my first oli for my pahu and it came to me so naturally. I had an underlying feeling that I would fumble my first oli for my pahu but this practice came to me real natural and smooth like I was supposed to be here, doing this, striking my pahu with pride. Kumu strikes my drum and tells me he likes my sound. The pahu I made stands at about three feet with a cylindrical shape, and has pillars and doors complementing the bottom half. My hard work paid off as kumu had noticed what I was able to put under pressure to make this diamond of a pahu. We go well into the night learning this oli to around ten as the neighborhood quiets down and the rain stops. We would leave our pahu with kumu so that he can tidy it up and make sure the skin has molded correctly. We say our aloha and head back into town.

Throughout the week I work on this story and write my prayer that I will be doing at the blessing ceremony. It came smoothly to me and I am very proud of what I have written. I practiced my prayer out loud about ten times to familiarize myself with the kadence of how I’d be chanting my prayer.

On Friday I head to the hale of kumu to make lei for the blessing ceremony the next day. Kumu instructs to pick 20 ti leaves from the bucket that I would see fit to make a lei with. He tells me to cut them down the spine, and make a pile for left and right. After he shows me how to wet the ti leaf with a cloth and to run it down a few times with a flat iron to get a specific texture that would cause the ti leaf not to crumble while twisting. For those of you who are not familiar, a ti leaf lei is normally a lei twisted together to form two connected, conjoined strands that almost look braided. If you’ve seen twisties on black hair, that pattern is fairly similar. Kumu says that how they would do ti leaf lei back in the day when there wasn’t a flat iron was they'd let the leaf soak in the sun all day then twist at night when the ti leaf is nice and pliable. After this I spark a stogie while kumu works on preparing for the ceremony tomorrow. He cooks kukui nut oil on a grill to stain the wooden Lono piece that would be presented at the ceremony the following day. He pours and rubs the oil onto the Lono making him extra shiney for the northern sun to see. I started twisting my lei going right over left, twisting, twisting, twisting then right over left continuously until it was about time for me to leave. We practice the Kanehoalani chant one more time, I say my aloha and I head back into town.

I would work on my ti leaf lei well into the night and in the morning when I wake up. This has been the first time since I was maybe in seventh grade that I had made ti leaf lei so all the muscle memory and thoughts of the times I spent twisting came flooding back to me, how my friends at the time were so funny and how it felt to be surrounded by Hawaiians all with the intention to perpetuate Hawaiian culture.

My cars brake pads were not in the most pristine condition so I would use my moms car to head out to Mokuleia for the blessing. I go to Times Supermarket to pick up some food and goods for the potluck we would be having afterwards. The suns beating down in town so I crank up the AC and then head north. I put a Cecilio and Kapono CD on repeat for the drive and I started singing as soon as I got into the Mililani area. Their music always takes me back to small kid days, simpler times when I would spend my days drinking Ices and lifting up rocks behind my grandmother's house looking for bugs.

I get to the pineapple fields and the group chat starts to buzz, we’re all posting when we would arrive in Mokuleia and where we are on our journey there. The drive is long, the salty air plaques the road and I wonder what it’d be like living out here with all the salt and what it could do to your lungs. Must be nice living this far out country away from the hussle and bussle of town. Excitement fills my body, I am ready.

I arrive at Mokuleia and I am greeted by kumu preparing the spot for the ceremony. I sit in my car and smoke my vape for about fifteen minutes, getting myself in the right mental space. I watch the tourists walk around and enjoy their time on the most northern part of the island. They’d take pictures, and have this perpetual face of awe as they wander around Mokuleia wishing they lived here permanently. The mountain in the background is large with a long steep slope only meant for the birds and mountain goats. Rain clouds surround the back of the mountain indicating there’s a storm brewing on the other side in Makaha and Kaena point. The wahine from the first class arrived wearing traditional Hawaiian garb, and we greeted each other with a Hā, which is how native Hawaiians would say hello. To perform a Hā one must connect foreheads with another person and share one intimate breath through the nostrils. The idea is that sharing the same inhale with someone connects you to their mind and spirit, a sort of temporary union of sharing the same air with whomever you are doing a Hā with. She tells me that if I ever need anything and if I ever need someone to talk to she will always be there for me which was very touching for me as people like this wahine are hard to come by nowadays. I have been noticing my life steering into a direction of more people aligned with my purpose and with the same heart and comforting mentality as I have. As I have gotten older people have been genuinely better to me and have been just pono ( righteous ) in the way they present themselves to the universe, and the way they communicate to me and others. I am very blessed to have her in my life. She does an oli for me, she closes her eyes and begins to chant. Then she wraps a la’i ( ti leaf ) around my wrist. She tells me that in ancient Hawai’i when someone had a fever or was feeling ill they would put ti leaves all over the body to draw out the heat and sickness from the afflicted person. This ti leaf is to represent health and protection.

The awa man shows up and greets us with his smiles and jokes. He is also dressed in traditional Hawaiian garb as he will be participating in the ceremony with us. A friend of kumu, a photographer, makes his way out to Mokuleia to also be apart. He will be recording and documenting our ceremony. The cosmic pahu kane and his wahine arrive on the scene and I am greeted with a Hā and a smile. He helps me put on the malo and makes it extra tight so there wouldn’t be any sagging or a chance of it falling off. The wahine that wrapped the la’i around my wrist goes “you seen one you seen em all” which kind of eases the tiny bit of embarrassment I had dropping my pants in an open parking lot. We put on our kihei ( robe ) and head to where kumu is. Kumu instructs us to grab our pahu from the trunk of his car and carry it down to where the ceremony would take place. One by one we grab our pahu and make our way down to the sand. Kumu has brought his pahu with the kukulu design, he has finished his just in time for the blessing. I wanted to go barefoot to be a little more grounded to the earth like kumu was doing, it was rough as the walk from the parking lot to the sand was rocky but my intentions were pure and sometimes you just need to champ it out. As soon as we got down there I realized I forgot my prayer! So I quickly walk back to the car and grab my prayer from the front seat.

We are adorned with our ti leaf leis we made. The cosmic pahu kane suggests that we should say our intentions for this ceremony and that we did. We went in a square ( as there were four of us ) and said what we intended this ceremony to be to us. Each answer was beautiful, when it came my turn I said “my intention is to solely learn and to purely perpetuate my culture”. The awa man stands by the water, kumu about fifteen feet above him, the cameraman hovers around snapping photos at will, and our pahu are lined up in front of Kumu. There is a sandy bank with a fifteen foot wide bay in front of where we are standing, the bay encompassed by lava rocks. My feet sink into the sand as the ceremony is about to begin.

Cosmic pahu kane blows his pu ( shell used as a horn ) four times along with kumu to signify that the ceremony has begun. We line up from oldest to youngest. I being the youngest, I would be the last to say my prayer. Kumu does an oli to accept and enter us into the ceremony. The wahine says an oli first, she chants with her hands and motions to the pahu then back to the ocean, a very solemn and beautiful oli, I can tell she’s been keeping this oli dear to her heart. Next up was the cosmic pahu kane. He does a powerful oli, one that I have heard before sometime in my past. He gestures to the pahu and to the space around him. His wahine stands silently appreciating him. The sun rays beam through the clouds as the sun gives us one last finale to his gaze before the clouds take over.

Now it’s my turn, this is my pule ( prayer );

My dearly beloved,

you have been mine,

and I yours.

Your physique is so effortless and sleek,

like a gently flowing river of reverberated precipitation from the bank,

to only come back to you my river.

My land,

how you provide and gift us peaks and valleys for us to absorb like a sort of courted port in which motherships could resort for sport.

You have depth my child, you are the great works of my ancestors before me,

These hands will tell you stories I tell.

From energies and forces that have made themselves known since before the beginning of time.

My flame will never dim,

as your sound will shake and recognize the conceptualization of renditioned reality like how

ua

rejoices in this Hawaiian nation.

The anue’nue,

how you are the perfected beauty of the elements above

and below.

How you are the ua moving in ways and means to the beat of the light above,

and showing us what we need to know on the land below.

The wind will tell me what I need to know,

how seriously playful kamakani is with this resorted reverberation of realness to this reality of vibration and reciprocation.

Uahane,

won’t you visit me,

may I summon you everytime I kani this pahu.

Tell me what I need to know.

Mahalo.

Aloha e.

The wahine to the far left wipes tears from her eyes, comforting and consoling her face as her tears hit the sand. The kane to the left of me takes in a deep breath, and kumu does another acknowledging oli welcoming us into the space. We one by one give our lei to kumu and kumu passes the lei to the awa man for him to give to the sea or the God Kanaloa as an offering and a mahalo ( thank you ) for allowing us to use his space. There were a few tourists on the top of the bend taking pictures of us and watches us do our ceremony. Me in a malo? I hope they enjoyed the show. Next was our lei and offerings to Lono. We give our offerings one by one to the altar made by kumu to Lono as the energy from us is passed to kumu then to the altar of Lono. A rainbow brewed in the distance. The rainbow or anue’nue is one of the many signs of Lono. The Gods were watching.

Our last but not least offering is to be to our pahu. Every time we gave kumu a lei he squeezed our hands signifying the presents and the recognition that was taking place. I give my lei to kumu and he places it around my pahu.

Kumu starts chanting and strikes his pahu with deep powerful strikes. Three of us six do a hula as the sun starts to descend beyond the horizon line. The hula they did is similar to tai chi, which leads me to wonder how these steps were incorporated into Hawaiian dance as these moves were very fluid and not your typical hula moves. Following the tai chi hula, we go into the chant of Kanehoalani.

Kiʻekiʻe Kānehoalani

( Kānehoalani rises )

ʻAu Mokoliʻi kai

( From Mokoliʻi he rises above the sea )

He keiki maka hia pō

( As he is the blind child )

ʻO Nā Koʻolau

( From the uplands )

Lau Koʻolau Pena

( Traveling around world )

Pena wale i ka ʻino

( As he internalizes that into me )

He ʻino noa no e

( May he instill Peace with us )

“Words and translation isn't 100% accurate because it has been handed down from generation to generation by mouth and ear never by paper or electronic.”

• Hinano Pai’a.

This is my favorite out of all the oli and hula we did. This was the first official use of my pahu that is to be mine. I take a deep breath and connect to the people and places around me. The clouds on the horizon, the sand I am sitting on, and the plants adorned by the sea.

The cosmic pahu kane and I follow along to the next hula as I have seen this one done on the Mauna before. It has an alliteration based chorus and happened to be stuck in my head on the drive out of Mokuleia.

We perform hula He Aloha No Na Pua next to show reverence to King David Kalaukaua for being instrumental in the revitalization and resurrection of hula and hula culture in the Hawaiian Kingdom. My two left feet start to balance out and my hula becomes watchable and my efforts become praisable on the north shore of Oahu. My counterparts are so well versed in hula, I know their experiences will take them far. You can find He Aloha No Na Pua on any music streaming platform performed by Mark Keali’i Ho’omalu. Hawai’i mele brings me so much peace and I know it will instill peace in you too, reader. He inoa no Kalakaua ( his name is Kalakaua )!

After this kumu blesses us. He takes awa and touches each of our hands, sprinkling some on our left side, right side, front, back, and head. He goes back to the water and the cosmic pahu kane stars to sing Hawai’i Aloha. The vibrations rise, the wind picks up and we join him in song full force, so that our intentions are pure, and the love that we are showing is recognized to whoever and whatever was watching. The sun has set.

Kumu does oli mahalo, a common chant used to end a ceremony or to say thank you when leaving a place. This chant is to say thank you to the space that is being used, to congratulate the ones that have allowed us to use the space, and to give awe and reverence to the places and people apart of this specific event. We all looked at each other and smiled as the ceremony was indeed pau. This feeling I have is so complete as I feel I have done something completely and purely right with my papa ( class ) , and not many people have the privilege to say that. I am feeling highly blessed and highly favored. It was almost as if in these moments time became ethereal and every care in the world and the mist of town had been lifted and for those very moments we were in fact, ethereal, one with time.

We grab our pahu and smile for the camera one more time and head back up to the parking lot. Some jokes were cracked in the relief that this climax was a success, and the process of pahu making was completed righteously in the eyes of our ancestors. I go to shishi ( pee ) and I head back to my car. Most of the tourists have left as it is now 75% dark over the land. I go to pull out of the parking stall and kumu explains that he won’t be able to make it to the celebration because his mother has called and needed him in town. I thanked him and we exchanged some “love you bro“ and he goes back to his car. The wahine who wrapped the la’i around my wrist tells me to meet up at the Starbucks in Haleiwa for kani ka pila at the house of the cosmic pahu kane. So we went to Haleiwa.

The drive is dark as there are no street lights on this long strip of road leading up to Haleiwa, Cecelio and Kapono comfort me on the radio as the drive seems endless. We make it to Starbucks and the cosmic pahu kane says we can park in his house but he just needs to go to the store first to grab fire wood. I tell them I’ll park in last because I’ll be leaving first and he asks if he can hop in with me to take him to the store a fast one since my car will be the closest to the entrance. “Forsure, rajah that!” I say. We head to the hardware store right down the road and have a conversation a little bit about where we’re from and who we are as we haven’t had this one on one time yet. It was refreshing to get to know this kanaka ( Hawaiian person ) as he is someone who is very active in the Hawaiian lahui. He tells me he really enjoyed my prayer. He asks if I make or write music and I tell him no but I studied journalism at Kapiolani Community College and I have a literary arts journal called Starlight Literature in which I publish short stories, journalism, prose, and poetry. He tells me he also writes and he has written children’s books and he talks about how important the art of storytelling is and how poetry and literature is embedded in our DNA and I couldn’t agree more. Hawai’i was once the most literate country in the world back in the 1800’s and most Hawaiian students were bilingual by the time they hit grade school.

We get back to the house of cosmic pahu kane and his wahine greets us at the fire pit. I grab my cooler and set it on the grass. The cosmic pahu kane explains that he’s been trying to grow plants in his yard but there’s rock under the dirt making it hard for the plants to root. He says the plants need a little more malama ( care ). The awa man was there with the wahine I started this pahu journey with. We sit under an awning as the rain begins to slightly show itself. Before we eat we say who we are and our intentions for this meeting. This is a great way to begin a prayer as our intention and purpose in this life is important. I fill up my plate with noodles, quinoa, fish, and poke. We talk story and eat, share stories about our past, our future, and the future of our culture. I mostly sit back and observe as a vessel for the Gods to use to see the world through my perspective and my eyes. I end my meal with a watermelon and it brings me back to a time where my father and I would have watermelon on hot summer days. I truly love watermelon. It's got to be one of the best fruits out there. I’ve had a psychedelic experience with watermelon where my thoughts purely came from the realm of Pō, the darkness of space. Like at one point while eating watermelon I was just thinking all these unique thoughts that could only be found by mixing all the colors together to get the darkest black there is. The seeds are black in a watermelon and that energy is transferred to the fruit itself. I’m saving my story of psychedelic foods for another time but I am just saying watermelon is important and it only makes sense that black people are drawn to it.

The wahine of the cosmic pahu kane had made ulu breadfruit pudding as dessert and the whole place was raving about it. I only had a few pieces as I was very full but it was so delicious. The story’s are going and intriguing, I zone in and become very attentive to the mo’olelo passed around in this group.

What a true blessing it has been to work with this papa and to get to know these truly wonderful and intentional people. The pahu that each of us have made are beautiful, and people will recognize the sound of the drum wherever the drums are present. I reflect on my moments with these beautiful mana kane and wahine, I thank God for putting these people into my life. It really takes one intentional move to get the ball rolling in life, and once you start you’re not gonna wanna stop. I am blessed to know someone as knowledgeable as kumu and I am thankful he was put in my path to help guide me to a higher purpose. I have learned so much in the past month and I am eternally grateful for these kanaka, the very ones that moved this canoe with purpose and dedication, the ones that forefront their culture and faith to be a perpetual vessel of education and perpetuation. My intentions are pure and my heart is open to all the love I have received in this month long glorious adventure of pahu making, in this immersion of pahu culture. A pahu is an instrument that is used throughout many indigenous cultures and it is the sound of the drum that keeps the heartbeat and mana of that culture alive. In life humans struggle to find purpose and the will to carry on, but as one day we are promised the golden gates of heaven, the realm of the ancestors, the realm of our beloved, everything becomes easier and our trials and tribulation begin to make sense. It’s funny, the things you love and need come at times you least expect it and at the most uncanny moments. I say my aloha and head back into town.