"HAWAIIAN culture, largely repressed at the beginning of the century in favor of Western education, began a comeback in the 1960s and is in full flower today.

The "Hawaiian Renaissance" would have had trouble getting off the ground, however, if it had not been for the tools provided by educator Mary Kawena Pukui.

Pukui wrote or co-authored more than 50 books, as well as more than 150 songs.

She taught for a while at various schools before landing at Museum, where she worked for more than a quarter-century as "associate emeritus in Hawaiian culture."

For her work in placing Hawaiian cultural history into a Western, scholarly format that could be shared worldwide, Pukui was recognized as one of Hawaii's "Living Treasures" in 1976 and was twice honored by awards from the Hawaii Book Publishers Association."

"Aunty Mary Kawena Pukui is the spiritual inspiration of The Hula Pages. With dedicated effort, she and Samuel H. Elbert compiled the definitive and authoritative work on the Hawaiian language, the HAWAIIAN DICTIONARY. Their significant achievement was vitally important for the successful revival of ka `ôlelo Hawai`i (the language).

Aunty Kawena's was a true labor of The Aloha Spirit. Never a wealthy woman in the material sense, she was incredibly waiwai (rich and bountiful) in Hawaiian knowledge and life experiences. She did not hoard any of what she knew. She shared with an open heart filled with Aloha. She was, and still is, respected, revered, and beloved by her pupils and her people.

Aunty Kawena loved the hula; herself, a kumu hula, who had studied for years under Julia Keahi Luahine, a foremost kumu hula of her day and one of the last court dancers of King Kalâkaua and Queen Lili`uokalani.

Aunty Kawena was a tremendously sharing person. She must be delighted with this medium of communication and education, the Internet. Not only does the Internet allow unlimited exposure of her work, it furthers the fulfillment of her life's mission which was:

"…the appreciation, preservation and perpetuation
of the Hawaiian language and culture."

A cultural expert, translator, researcher, genealogist, composer, teacher, and author, Pukui stands alone in the history of Hawaii for her contributions to the preservation and revitalization of Hawaiian language and culture. The festive event will highlight music, dance and storytelling presented by some of Hawaii's renowned individuals and organizations who are actively perpetuating her legacy."

"Pukui is a "household word" and at least one, more likely several, books bearing her name are found on desks and book shelves all over Hawai`i, and throughout the world. Countless people are responsible for the "Hawaiian Renaissance" or the rebirth of the native culture here in the islands. There are composers and musicians, kumu hula, historians, political activists, writers and many others with significant contributions. In my opinion, central to this movement is understanding the language, the root of any culture, and communicating, sharing that understanding to large groups of people."

"Mary Kawena Pukui, among others, states that the 'ohana is a basic organizing principle of Hawaiian life, and that this concept resonates with the word 'oha, a synonym for kalo which refers as well to the plant's origins in the original stalk (Pukui, Haertig and Lee 166ff.).

To be a member of an 'ohana is then to be a node on the open-ended rhizomatic growth that both gives birth to and feeds each person. The 'ohana's rhizomatic network, says Pukui, includes connections to spirits, akua, ancestors and future generations, as well as to those people that Euroamericans might recognize as living family members.

To be Hawaiian, Pukui maintains, is to be a person configured within a particular 'ohana in an ever-evolving, living web. Writes Pukui, "Today the concept of 'ohana is often extended to include unrelated persons, community groups, or church membership" (in Pukui, Haertig and Lee 173). This is a corruption of the concept, Pukui maintains, as "The real 'ohana is a natural phenomenon" (173). It refers not to wishing for a relationship but to a unity of people due to their common ancestors living both in them and in the spirits who remain in palpable daily contact with the 'ohana."

" ... I intentionally chose these Hawaiians because their dedication to living the culture is noteworthy. They are optimistic, independent, hard-working people-role models for all of us. In sharing their stories and their history, I have tried to follow the advice of Mary Kawena Pukui, whose contributions to modern Hawaiian scholarship are unmatched.

Mrs. Pukui used to say, "Do not look back on the past with scorn and criticism, look back with understanding and appreciation."

"In Nânâ i ke Kumu, the late Mary Kawena Pukui reported a relevant personal experience. The incident took place around 1902, when Pukui was a child.

"Mary Kawena Pukui (1895-1986) was trained along with her adopted daughter Patience Wiggin Bacon (born 1920) by Keahi Luahine. Both were also trained by Joseph `Îlâlâ`aole (1873-1965) of Puna, Hawaii. Pukui was most active as a scholar, writing three important papers on hula (reprinted in Barr&egravere et al., 1980). Her knowledge, a rare combination of experience and scholarship, has made her one of the most significant living resources on Hawaiian culture. Pukui passed her repertory to her daughter, Pele Pukui Suganuma (1931-1979), but Bacon has been the sole practicing link to Keahi Luahine.

On Aunty Pat Nâmaka Bacon: "Aunty Pat, a cultural specialist with the Bishop Museum, is also knowledgeable in the areas of hula, mele and 'oli. As the adopted daughter of the late Mary Kawena Pukui, she says much of her knowledge was acquired from her mother… Aunty Pat studied with Keahi and Kapua … teachers are legendary…"

" [Ka`upena Wong] credits the late Hawaiian scholar, Mary Kawena Pukui as his most important teacher of Hawaiian chants, dance and Hawaiian cultural practice. About Pukui, Ka´ upena says "It was Kawena's intent that elements of the old tradition were not only to be studied but, indeed, they should continue to become a vital and living part of our islands' pluralistic cultural environment."

"Mary Kawena Pukui, a revered scholar of Hawaiian culture, who died in 1986 at age 91, explained: "As gods and relatives in one, [nâ aumâkua] give us strength when we are weak, warning when danger threatens, guidance in our bewilderment, inspiration in our arts. They are equally our judges, hearing our words and watching our actions, reprimanding us for error and punishing us for blatant offense."

"… the band, audiences and other composers encouraged him. Among these was scholar Mary Kawena Pukui. "I would take songs to her," says Dennis.

"She'd read them and say 'This is beautiful. You're writing not from today, but from some other lifetime.' I keep her words as a very special memory."