Monday, March 26 is Prince Kuhio Day, a state holiday in Hawaii, marked with celebrations and festivities honoring Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Pi‘ikoi.
“Without him, I wouldn’t be here,” said Dan Ahuna, the Kauai commissioner to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Saturday during the Eighth Annual Prince Kuhio Day Celebration at the Anahola Beach Park presented by Ka Hale Pono. “There would be no Department of Hawaiian Homes Land, there would be no OHA, there wouldn’t be a lot of things.”
During Kuhio’s tenure in Congress from 1902, where he was the first delegate to serve in Congress from Hawaii, Kuhio’s numerous accomplishments include the creation of county governments with elected officials, and the establishment of the Hawaiian Homes Commission which promised native Hawaiians homesteads. He was also the first to introduce a bill requesting Hawaii be admitted to the United States as a state.
This was his dream to save the rapidly declining Hawaiian race from extinction. Following the death of Queen Liliuokalani in 1917, the pure Hawaiian population numbered about 25,000, a decrease from the estimated 300,000 people when Captain James Cook arrived in Hawaii in 1778.
Kuhio’s dream was to return slum and tenement dwellers to the land, encouraging them to be self-sufficient farmers, ranchers, and homesteaders on leased parcels of reserved land.
Following the Anahola festivities, Prince Kuhio celebrations continue on the South shore with the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa hosting an opening protocol, Friday morning starting at 9 a.m.
Following the honoring of Kuhio and his legacy, Hawaiian cultural and art practices fill the resort with demonstrations including weaving, kalo, Hawaiian weapons, tapa, and lei making. A silent auction benefiting a local nonprofit will also be available.
Entertainment by Kauai’s kupuna lighten the air throughout the day.
“We honor Kuhio for not only his contributions to Hawaii that include the Anahola Hawaiian Homes, one of the first and largest programs,” said Alroy Enos, selected as an honoree at the Anahola celebration for having characteristics and traits similar to those of Kuhio. “He was born here. He’s a Kauai boy.”
Kuhio was born on March 26, 1871 at Hoai, Kualu in the Koloa District near Poipu. The youngest of three sons of Kauai High Chief David Kahalepouli Pi‘ikoi and Princess Kinoiki Kekaulike, Kuhio’s birthplace is marked by the Prince Kuhio Park, maintained by the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, Chapter No. 3 Kaumuali‘i.
The Royal Order of Kamehameha, a group that Kuhio re-established in 1903, and served as its Alii Aimoku until his death in 1922, will host its commemorative ceremony, Saturday at the Prince Kuhio Park starting at 10 a.m. with ho‘okupu offering by the various Hawaiian organizations and civic clubs.
Kuhio helped form the first Hawaiian civic club in 1918 in an effort to perpetuate and rehabilitate the Hawaiian people and their culture. This movement has grown to include 49 distinct organizations across Hawaii and the mainland.
More celebrations take place, Sunday at the Grand Hyatt Kauai when the Tsunami Taiko awakens the day starting at 10 a.m. and heralds the opening of a craft fair which continues at the resort through 3 p.m.
Monday, the Prince’s actual birthdate, will see the Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club hosting its annual Prince Kuhio observance in the lobby, starting at 10 a.m.
••• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
