Uka Kava Big Island Organic Hawaiian Hiwa Kava ('Awa)

HAWAIIAN WOOD WORKING
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There is a fantastic new book out:
Hawaiian 'Awa
Views of an Ethnobotanical Treasure
Edited by Ed Johston and Helen Rogers
Association for Hawaiian 'Awa
The below has been reproduced with permission
Aloha, Cliff

UKA KAVA
P.O. BOX 7207
HILO, HAWAII 96720

Hiwa

"Hiwa, the darkest of all varieties, was the ritualistic awa used by the kahunas and may have been reserved for such use. All the other varieties were common awa which anyone might use" (Handy 1940, 204).

Oscar P. Cox, in a letter to G.R. Carter in 1930, comments on Hiwa: "They also use this kind of 'Awa in the sacrificial ceremonies of Pele-worship."

Kawika Winter's thesis (2004, 239) provides a quote from H.E.P. Kekahuna's unpublished papers, housed in the Hawai'i state archives:

The most highly esteemed liquor of ancient Hawai'i was the 'awa drink, favorite beverage of the gods, priests, and chiefs, and a first and most essential of the offerings to deity.... There are approximately two dozen Hawaiian varieties, some of which are known by different names in different localities, each of which shares its name with the drink it produces.

The most sacred of these varieties were the 'Awa hiwa, with dark green somewhat long stem internodes, dark at each node when mature; and the 'Awa mo' i, with dark stems and intemodes not quite as long as those of the 'Awa hiwa. The drink from these varieties was especially offered to mighty Volcano-Goddess Pele and other deities. A chant was offered, and then the drink itself. This involved dipping one's finger into the 'Awa and snapping it either upward, backward, or both. The essence of the drink (ke aka, literally the shadow) was first offered to the gods, whereupon it was the duty of the priests (kahuna-s) to ceremonially consume the remaining substance (ke kino, the body; ka 'i'o, the flesh).

The great chiefs, for their pleasure, also imbibed the sacred 'Awa, permitting only the use of non-sacred varieties to the humble commoner, unless a kahuna used a sacred variety to treat a sickness.

The reverence for Hiwa in old Hawai'i is evident in this portion of a chant recorded by N.B. Emerson refers to the cup of sacramental 'awa brewed from the strong, black 'awa root ('awa hiwa) which was drunk sacramentally by the kumu hula":

The day of revealing shall see what it sees:
A seeing of facts, a sifting of rumors,
An insight won by the black sacred 'awa,
A vision like that of a sacred god!

Winter (2004, 51-52) describes a hula prayer for inspiration which contains the line, "He 'ike pa 'awa hiwa." Pukui and Elbert (1986, 96) translated this as "a knowledge from kava offerings." Winter explains that 'awa, especially of the Hiwa variety, was offered to hula deities in return for knowledge and inspiration.

Hiwa has long internodes with few lenticels. The plant has an erect growing habit and may reach heights of eight feet or more in the full sun.

Reproduced with permission from
Hawaiian 'Awa
Views of an Ethnobotanical Treasure
Edited by Ed Johston and Helen Rogers
Association for Hawaiian 'Awa
Hilo, Hi
©2007

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