The presence of modern Hawaiian warrior, Haunani Kay-Trask, is depicted as an ancient night marcher suspended in air. It is a tribute to a woman with intelligence, heart and courage who fought to preserve Hawaiian culture and land.
Haunani - Night Marcher
Materials: Amate paper and Kapa
Dimensions: 6 ½” x 6 ½” x 31 ½”
Technique: Cartapesta
132 hrs
Haunani-Kay Trask was a scholar, poet and champion of sovereignty for the Hawaiian people who decried what she called the colonization and despoliation of her native land. In her best-known book, “Notes From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii” (1993), Dr. Trask called Hawaii “once the most fragile and precious of sacred places, now transformed by the American behemoth into a dying land.”
“Only a whispering spirit remains,” she wrote. Dr. Trask was not afraid to make waves as a leader of what became known as the Hawaiian Sovereignty movement.
“I am a nationalist. I am asserting my claim to my country.”
“I am not soft, I am not sweet, and I do not want any more tourists in Hawaii.”
She rallied against the tourism industry, in her poetry as well as her academic work. She challenged its marketing of the Hawaiian islands as an acquiescent paradise, a depiction that she felt ignored the history of violence against the land and its Native inhabitants.
Dr. Trask’s poetry employed imagery suggestive of a sentient island bleeding from the violence of colonialism. In one poem, “Colonization,” she wrote:
Hawaiian at heart: nothing said, about loss, violence, death by hundreds of thousands.
With her sister Mililani B. Trask, Dr. Trask was a founding member of Ka Lahui Hawaii, an organization that promotes self-determination for Native Hawaiians. She believed, as she wrote in “Notes From a Native Daughter,” that “the secrets of the land die with the people of the land,” and thus that preservation of Indigenous lands should be paramount.
In 1993, she helped lead a march of Native Hawaiians, known as Kanaka Maoli, who were seeking to reclaim lands held in trust by the state. The march, one of the first major protests calling for a return of native lands in Hawaii, took place on the centennial of the overthrow of its last queen, Liliuokalani. Ka Lahui drew up a constitution for Hawaiian self-government along the lines of the “nation within a nation” model found in American Indian tribal lands, and demanded that the territory be ceded to them. Bills were introduced in the state Legislature, but they failed to pass.
At the march, Dr. Trask took to the podium in front of Honolulu’s Iolani Palace and proclaimed: “We are not American. We will die as Hawaiians. We will never be Americans.”
She continued: “The Americans, my people, are our enemies, and you must understand that. They are our enemies. They took our land, they imprisoned our queen, they banned our language, they forcibly made us a colony of the United States.”
In Hawaiian mythology, Nightmarchers (huaka'i pō or "Spirit Ranks,"'oi'o) are the deadly ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors. The nightmarchers are the vanguard for a sacred King, Chief or Chiefess.
On the nights honoring the Hawaiian gods they are said to come forth from their burial sites, or to rise up from the ocean, and to march in a large group to ancient Hawaiian battle sites or other sacred places. The legend says the night marchers are normal-size warriors, dressed for battle, carrying spears, clubs, and some beating war drums and blowing conch shells to announce the advancing of their march. They are suspended in air; their feet do not touch water or ground as they traverse through the night, and they leave no evidence of their visitations.
The group marches in darkness continuously after sunset until just before sunrise. Anyone living along their path may hear chanting, sounds of blown conch shell, and marching noises in the night. Their torches get brighter and brighter as the night marchers get closer, and they are accompanied by a foul and musky “death-like” odor.
Nightmarchers might appear during the day if they are to escort a dying relative to the spirit world. Ancient Hawaiian beliefs state that any mortal looking upon or being seen in defiance toward the marchers will die violently. Barriers placed in the path of night marchers will not deter them. Some people maintain that if the mortal lies motionless, face down on the ground, they are showing proper respect, fear, and deference to the night marchers, and they will be spared.
Additionally, mortals can avoid harm or death from night marchers by being fortunate to have an ancient ancestor marcher present to recognize them. As they encounter the mortal, they will call out "Na'u!", which means "mine" in Hawaiian. No one in the warrior procession will harm them. The Goddess Pele, is often within the night marchers.