Hawaiian New Year festival ʻAha Makahiki in Hāmākua amplifies native culture, history

ʻAha Makahiki, the Hawaiian New Year festival, celebrates ʻāina and communal abundance and encourages reflection during the season of harvest, peace and celebration.

ʻAha Makahiki honors the akua (god) Lono and marks the change in seasonal weather patterns, aligning with the rainy season between mid-November to late January or February.

Hui Mālama i ke Ala ʻŪlili, or huiMAU, a community-based organization of ‘ohana from Paʻauilo in the Hāmākua District of Hawaiʻi Island, will be hosting its first public ʻAha Makahiki at Paʻauilo Park on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The group decided that a free ʻAha Makahiki could encourage engagement in traditional Hawaiian games and food, and educate the community on the core foundations that carry Makahiki (the season) from the time of kūpuna (ancestors) to now.

“Makahiki is a time for ceremony, celebration, and regeneration that lasts for four lunar months. Historically, ceremonies open and close Makahiki season,” Executive Director Noʻeau Peralto said. “It was a very involved, ceremonial time in traditional Hawaiian society. It was a time for communities to come together, and for the aliʻi nui (the high chiefs) to assess the abundance of the ʻāina (land) and the health of the people.”

Aliʻi would take part in a procession around the island and stop at every ahupuaʻa (district) to gather hoʻokupu (offerings) and take part in ceremonies that included gatherings with food, games and hula.

Competition in sport and games would be used to assess the health of the people with some games displaying strength and others engaging peoples’ intellect and strategy skills.

“The games are more than just games. They served as a function to hone the skills and gifts of the people,” Peralto said. “All the different games served a different purpose and kuleana (responsibility) in society.”

Hukihuki is comparable to tug-of-war and tests a competitor’s strength and endurance either individually or as a team. ʻUlu maika places two stakes in the ground a few inches apart with the goal of rolling a stone between the stakes as a test of accuracy and skill. Kōnane is a board game that most resembles chess that tests competitorsʻ intellect and strategy.

While Makahiki is a time to feast, celebrate and compete, it is also a time to rest and rejuvenate both the land and the people while honoring Lono, the Hawaiian god of fertility, agriculture and rain.

“This time of year is about bringing people together to celebrate abundance in honor of Lono,” Peralto said. “Lono has many different forms. Lono is the storms, the winds coming from the south this time of year, the rains that fill our aquifers. Lono takes the form of plants, the kukui tree, ferns in the forest and ipu (Hawaiian gourd). Lono is also some of our fish and animals like the āholehole and the pig.”

The forms of Lono tie back to the different processes that generate abundance and sustain people historically and presently. Rainy season generates growth by creating a blanket of moisture on the greenery in the forests and farms while the pig is a symbol for fertility as they often turn the soil, preparing it for planting.

“All of the forms of Lono represent life and that’s what this time of year is about – reflecting and assessing where we are individually and together, and the health of the ʻāina, hopefully celebrating a year done well,” Peralto said. “If there is not an abundance to share, it is time to ask what we did wrong, or did not do well. What do we need to change in what we’re doing as humans to generate abundance for the year to come?”

At ʻAha Makahiki, Hāmākua kūpuna and lifelong kumu (teachers) Nalei and Ku Kahakalau will host Makahiki games and huiMAU will host an ipu workshop and provide Mea ʻai Pono (healthy, Hawaiian food).

Local fishermen will be providing freshly caught fried fish. Hui Hāaloa will host kuʻi kalo, which is the Hawaiian process of pounding taro into poi. Lanakila Mangauil will be leading a hula
workshop. Kanaka Kava will provide ʻawa and there will be live music by Stephen and Pohai Henderson.

huiMAU hopes to make ʻAha Makahiki an annual event to continue lifting the traditions of Native Hawaiians and to keep building relationships in the communities of Hāmākua. The event on Saturday is one aspect of an effort to revitalize Hawaiian culture and bring it to the forefront of community consciousness.

There are not many events like this in our community, so we want it to be intentional and to focus on more than just the celebration. We want to uplift cultural practices and values of Makahiki as a common thread to bring our community,” Peralto said. “We are inspired by the organizations and individuals who have been hosting ʻAha Makahiki much longer than we have, so we want to do our part and work toward this being something normalized across Hawaiʻi again.”

huiMAU is continuously working toward its mission of strengthening ʻohana to live and thrive in Hāmākua for generations by re-establishing the systems that sustain community and promote collective physical and spiritual health.