► Chinese Lore for Chinese-Hawaiian - 5: Lantern Festival

Honolulu Star Bulletin. Friday, February 8, 1957 - Tales about Hawaii, Clarice B. Taylor  

     If your Chinese grandpa came to Hawaii from China, He probably celebrated the Lantern Festival held on the two days of the full moon of the first month (February 13 and 14 of 1957).

     The Lantern Festival is no the big event in Honolulu today that is in China, where it is  part of the 18 days of the Spring Festival.

     The Chinese pray for the "homeless spirits" during that festival in obedience to the instructions of the Lord Buddha to ask the Buddhas to intervene for the spirits of those ancestors who did not have the opportunity to hear his teachings.

     For Buddhists, this festival compares in importance with the Full Moon Festival of the seventh month which the Chinese call the Ghost Festival and the Japanese the Bon Festival.

     The Ghost Festival is held to welcome the spirits of the dead who are believed to come back to earth at that time.

     The Lantern Festival as it is celebrated in China may be Buddhist in origin,  but like all other great festivals,  it is confused with T'aoist mythology.

     In China a great parade is held on the evening of the 15th in honor of the moon goddess. The parade ends at her temple where the offerings are made in the belief that she will intercede for the ancestors.

     Chinese societies compete for honors in constructing beautiful floats lighted with rows of lanterns for the parade.

     They are built on a platform carried on the shoulders of 12 men. Outside the carriers are other men with torches made of woven bamboo wrapped about a burning rope.

     Chinese houses are decorated with lanterns within and without. Rich people have the lanterns arranged so that they twirl constantly.

     The streets are gay with people carrying lanterns in the shape of a hare or rabbit. Each rabbit lantern has pink eyes and is lighted with a candle from within which shines through the rabbit eyes.

     Some rabbit lanterns are carried; others are drawn about the streets by a string.

     The hare or rabbit is believed to be the spirit of the Moon Goddess as she appears on earth.

NEXT: Gift giving

► Paradise Gained and Lost - 5: Rearing Kepakailiula

The Saturday Star-Bulletin, Honolulu, T.H., January 12, 1957 - Tales about Hawaii, Clarice B. Taylor   

     Kepakailiula (the red skinned person) whom the brothers at once called "Ke-paka" was a beautiful child.

     Kiinoho quickly rewrapped the baby in his feather cape and left the child for 40 days and nights beside the fireplace. (The Hawaiian fireplace was a hole in the ground - "puka" - with rocks around it.)

      When he reopened the feather cape, the child had grown into a beautiful boy. He had red skin, red eyes, a straight back, open face, no deformities and no pimples.

     Kiinoho called to his brother Kiihele to look upon "our son."

A RAINBOW
     Kiihele noted that a rainbow stood stood over their house when Kiinoho called to him. The rainbow matched in beauty the fires which glowed from Kilauea volcano - fires made by the goddess Pele.

Kilauea Volcano eruption 
and lava flow

     Keiki a kaua (our son) grew up on a diet of bananas. As a small boy he ate a bunch of bananas for each meal.

     Time flew by for the brothers Kiinoho and Kiihele as they watched the boy grow into sturdy manhood.

     One day they looked at their son and realized that he was a man. Kiinoho said to Kiihele,

     "You must look for a suitable wife for Kepaka."

     Kiihele gladly went on his errand. He traveled about the Island searching out each woman or girls said to be a beauty.

     He was sadly disappointed during the first days of his search. Each beauty had a fault of some kind.

     It was not until he reached Kona that Kiihele found a girl as beautiful and perfect as the full moon.

     He made an agreement with her parents and quickly returned to Paliuli to tell he brother and Kepaka of the charming Makolea.

ALL PREPARED
     Kiinoho had prepared everything for the wedding. When Kiihele returned, the three were able to set out for Kona within two days time.

     Those two days were spent in saying goodbye to all the loved things in Paliuli.

     When the three set out, with Kepaka wrapped in his fine feather cape, Kiinoho said a prayer to the gods asking them to care for Paliuli.

     Upon their departure, the gods "closed up" Paliuli with a great mist and no mortal has ever found it since.

He Mana'o...

This segment of the story intrigues me! What was the author trying to convey in this story/version? There didn't seem to be an obvious plot or point. As a reader, I was left in suspense.The girl mentioned in the story was named "Makolea." I would have liked to know more about her. Being that there is no reference title at the end of the story to another segment, I assume this segment was the last and concludes the "tale."