PUHI — There will be no school on Monday for the Kawaikini New Century Public Charter School because Nov. 28 is La Ku‘oko‘a, or Hawaiian Independence Day.
“It always was a holiday, from long ago,” said a chaperone to the march and sign waving on Wednesday by the 167 students ranging from kindergarten to grade 12 of the Puhi school.
The march and sign waving were presented and coordinated by the school to raise awareness of La Ku‘oko‘a, the Hawaiian flag, and Kawaikini, said one of the school coordinators.
“La Ku‘oko‘a is a part of Hawaiian history,” said Kawaikini Director Chad Schimmelfennig.
Students waving Hawaiian flags trooped from their campus near the Kaua‘i Community College lo‘i (taro fields) and parked safely behind the chain-link fence separating them from busy Kaumuali‘i Highway. There, the group’s message was reinforced by the horn honks from passing motorists.
La Ku‘oko‘a was established as a national holiday on Nov. 28 during the Hawaiian kingdom to celebrate the official recognition of Hawai‘i as an independent country by world powers, including England, France and United States of America in 1843.
King Kamehameha III, according to a report aired on Hawai‘i Public Radio, was the first Hawaiian monarch to send a delegation to the United States and Europe to secure recognition of Hawai‘i’s sovereignty. His achievement was celebrated as a national holiday known as La Ku‘oko‘a from 1843 until the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893.
The state’s Office of the Historian said the United States formally recognized Hawaiian independence in a treaty signed on Dec. 23, 1826.
Hi‘ilei Berg, a Kawaikini student and the reigning Miss Hawai‘i Sr. Elementary America 2023, added her thoughts to Hawaiian Independence Day.
“As a child of Hawaiian ancestry, a student of Kawaikini, and a Punana Leo O Kaua‘i graduate, La Ku‘oko‘a to me is a celebration of the hard work my kupuna did in the past, allowing me to honor it in the present and continue to share the history of Hawai‘i so it is not forgotten in the future,” Berg said.
“On Monday, Nov. 28, we celebrate La Ku‘oko‘a by proudly waving our hae Hawai‘i (Hawaiian flag) in remembrance of our Hawaiian independence. ‘Ka hae nani o Hawai‘i, e mau kona welo ‘ana,’ or, the beautiful flag of Hawai‘i, may it wave forever.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
