Native Planters in Old Hawaii: Their Life, Lore and Environment
Originally published in 1972, Native Planters in Old Hawaii remains one of the most important ethnographic works on traditional Hawaiian culture. It has been reprinted with an index to subjects and chants, making this edition invaluable for scholars and laymen alike.
This pioneering study of cultivation practices, beliefs, and rituals is the fruit of a brilliant collaborative effort between the eminent Pacific anthropologist E.S. Craighill Handy and his wife Elizabeth, and the noted authority on Hawaiian language and culture, Mary Kawena Pukui. This volume extends their previous efforts to portray the lives of common folk before the advent of Westerners, by examining the Hawaiians' relationship to the land.
The authors maintain that "the Hawaiians, more than any other Polynesians, were a people whise livelihood, whose work and interests, were centered on the cultivation of the soil," and that horticultual practices and rituals provide keys to understanding the culture as a whole. The book begins by discussing the basic patterns of Hawaiian plantng culture, the gods worshipped, class and land divisions, water rights and irrigation techniques, tools, crafts, and general horticultural skills. Considering the different habitats of each island, the authors show how the people shaped their cutivation practices to the varied Hawaiian environment. Descriptions of myth and ritual connected to planting, including the central role of the Makahiki harvest festival, support the theme that Hawaiian identity is closely tied to the land.
$34.95
isbn 978-0-910240-11-6
softcover, 7x10, 641pp.
Available at Bishop Museum's Shop Pacifica (phone 808-848-4158, email at shop@bishopmuseum.org ) and other fine bookstores throughout the islands.
Tags: Bishop Museum Press, E.S. Craighill Handy, Hawaiian planting culture, Hawaiian Traditions, mary kawena pukui
