Today is King Kamehameha Day. While some have the day off and will celebrate with festivities, others are conflicted as it is a reminder of Hawaiʻi’s colonial past.
Ioane Goodhue grew up remembering King Kamehameha Day celebrated with parades and pageantry.
"You would see pāʻū riders and paniolos on horse and buff warrior uncles in the regalia, and so there was a lot of pageantry involved with Kamehameha Day, which shines a light to our history," Goodhue said.
Goodhue has also starred in a local short film, “Kūkini.” It’s set in the late 1700s, when King Kamehameha, with foreign weaponry, invaded Maui.
Goodhue’s family lineage traces back to Maui, Molokaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island.
"If you were a Maui chief at the time and rooted in a very different tradition, Kamehameha would have looked like something very different to you. He would have looked like a very scary, marauding war chief who was coming with a million guys to take over your island, you know, and they were vicious. They were brutal."
Before the Hawaiian Kingdom was established in 1810, there was warfare between chiefs throughout the islands. King Kamehameha of Hawaiʻi Island sought to unite the islands — and he also had advanced weapons like guns and cannons.
Kainoa Daines is chair of the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission. He says folks who want to celebrate the day have conflicting feelings.
"I think, had we not been unified when colonial powers began looking to Hawaiʻi, America, Great Britain, Russia, the East, the West, etc. We would have become a disjointed Hawaiʻi. I think, you know, you look at American and Western Samoa, French Polynesia, you know, you need different passports to get around the Pacific from outside powers. And that's what Hawaiʻi may have become had we not been a unified Hawaiʻi under Kamehameha’s rule."
King Kamehameha Day was created by Kamehameha V in 1871.
