Kanaka Maoli flag
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The Kanaka Maoli flag was said to be the original flag of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This flag symbolized the flag of the Native Hawaiians since the present Hawaiian flag is mainly a hybrid of British and American symbolism, smacks too much of colonialism.[1] The colors are red-green-yellow an alternative to the common red-white-blue, British union jack flag, said to have been Kamehameha’s personal flag, and reintroduced by Kamehameha III. [2]
Gene Simeona of Honolulu, says he resurrected the "original" Hawaiian green, red and yellow striped flag, destroyed by British navy Captain Lord George Paulet when he seized Hawai‘i for five months in 1843. Simeona says he ran into a descendant of Lord Paulet on the grounds of ‘Iolani Palace in 1999 who told him the present Hawaiian flag is not the original. That provoked Simeona to scour the Hawai'i State Archives, where he found the design, then reproduced it. Since then, he and his business partner Stan Fonseca have been churning the emblem out in hopes that it’ll catch on as a fresh, noncolonial symbol of the restored Hawaiian kingdom.
[edit] Symbolism
At the center of the flag is a green shield bearing a coat of arms of the kanaka maoli, made up of the kahili, the original Hawaiian royal standards. Crossing this kahili are two paddles, representing both voyaging traditions of Hawaiians, and Kamehameha’s ‘Law of the Splintered Paddle’.
There's nine stripes unlike the eight striped flag of the present State of Hawaii. Each stripe represents one of the major Hawaiian islands inhabited prior to the arrival of Western civilization. They are Hawaii Island, Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai, Niihau and one more, Nihoa.[3] Nihoa was also once on the State flag but was removed after Annexation. Red – Mo’oku’auhau (genealogy), blood, na ali’i; Green – ‘Aina (land), na maka’ainana; Yellow – La (Sun), spirituality, na Kahuna. According to Fonseca, the green in the flag represents the maka‘ainana (commoner) caste, the land and goodness; the red represents the landed konohiki who served the ali‘i, genealogy and strength; and the yellow represents the ali‘i, spirituality and alertness to danger. [4]
To some this flag represent the Flag of the Native Hawaiian people and their quest for sovereignity. Other Hawaiians supporting the sovereignty and/or independence movements continue to use the state flag as their symbol.
