Nahienaena's Pa'ū
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nahiʻenaʻena's Paʻū is the largest known Hawaiian feather cloak in existence. A feather skirt or pa’u made nearly 180 years ago for the Princess Nahienaena who didn't desire it. Without the okina pa'u would mean stop. This pa'u is the only known Hawaiian feather skirt in existence.
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[edit] Story
The pa'u, or feather skirt, was made for Princess, the daughter of King Kamehameha I and Keopuolani, a highborn chiefess considered the most "sacred" of Kamehameha's wives. Descended from ali'i on Maui and the Big Island, Keopuolani was of higher rank than Kamehameha himself. Nahi'ena'ena and her brothers were of very high rank and were seen as "the strength and purity of the Hawaiian people." The princess was of high ali'i rank, and this is a special piece that symbolizes that rank. It is symbolic of the times of that period and of the Kamehameha line. The pa'u was a ceremonial garment, and the princess is known to have worn it only once, when the bodies of Kamehameha II and Kamāmalu were brought back from Great Britain, by request and apparently reluctantly, in 1824, when she was about 9 years old, about the time the only engraving of her was ever drawn. However, she was conflicted with her religious beliefs having converted to Christianity like Keopuolani and Ka'ahumanu after the death of Kamehameha I and abolishment of the old religion which the pa'u represented. [1] It is recorded that she would run away and hide when ceremonial occasions demanded she wear the pa'u.
[edit] Description
The garment was 20 feet long and 2 1/2 feet wide, Nahe'ena'ena wore it by wrapping it around her.[2] But was cut in half and resewn after Nahi'ena'ena died in 1836. It is now 10 feet by 5 feet. The pa'u is made mostly of yellow feathers from the now-extinct 'o'o and mamo birds. Both birds were mostly black but had patches of yellow under their wings and tail. A geometric pattern of alternating triangles of black 'o'o feathers and red-orange feathers of the now-endangered 'i'iwi bird lines the edge of the pa'u. The birds were not hunt into extinction by the native Hawaiian, as many believe, but rather of recent events.[citation needed] The triangles are thought to represent shark teeth and some say they represent mountains, which are both symbols of power, but it still remains a mystery. Small bundles of a half-dozen or fewer feathers, about an inch long, are tied into the eye of netting made from olona, a fiber made into cord. On the cloak there is an estimated of a million feathers and a 200,000 birds were probably involved.
[edit] Aftermath
The princess met the identical fate of the Princess Kaiulani, both dying of a broken heart after living nearly 20 years in the two-side world that was Hawaii. After the death of Nahi'ena'ena, the pa'u remained in the royal family and then was kept at Iolani Palace. It was reconfigured and worn by dead Hawaiian royalty while lying in state. There is a single reference that it was used at the funeral of Kamehameha III in 1854, and photos show it covering the coffin of King Kalakaua in 1891. It has been at the Bishop Museum for more than 100 years. It is kept in a secure temperature- and humidity-controlled room for protection.
The pa'u was displayed for one day only at the Bishop Museum's Polynesian Hall on June 11, 2003 which was Kamehameha Day, as a tribute to the princess and her father. The rare artifact was guarded by practitioners of lua, the Hawaiian martial arts, in traditional garb. This is the first public showing of the pa'u in 10 years, though it was displayed at a Bishop Museum fund-raiser in 2003.[3]
