THE RETURN OF KAPAEMAHU
LIVE SHOW ON WAIKĪKĪ HULA MOUND
The legendary story of the healer stones of Kapaemahu - Hawaiʻi’s unique monument to healing and inclusion - can now be experienced as a live hula performance steps from the site of the sacred stones on Waikīkī Beach where the healers once lived and performed their miraculous cures. This extraordinary production is composed and directed by hula master Patrick Makuakāne, the first Native Hawaiian recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Genius Award.
FREE HULA SHOW ON WAIKĪKĪ’S Kūhiō Beach Hula Mound
EVERY WEDNESDAY 6:30-7:30 PM
PREMIERING JANUARY22, 2025
Composed and Directed by Kumu Patrick Makuakāne
featuring a cast of Hawaiʻi’s most talented hula dancers
The Kūhiō Beach Hula Mound is located on the beach side of Kalakaua Avenue, across from the Hyatt Regency Hotel near the Duke Kahanamoku Statue. Enjoy free, casual outdoor seating on the grass — low beach chairs, mats, and other seating comforts are welcome. Cameras are also encouraged, as is photo sharing with these hashtags: #kapaemahu #returnofkapaemahu #leipuaala #queerhistoriesofhawaii
There will be no shows when Kalakaua Avenue is closed for parades or street fairs.
The Return of Kapaemahu is a production of Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaiʻi. Additional sponsors include the City and County of Honolulu, Waikīkī Business Improvement District, and ʻUmeke, powered by Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority.
WATCH ANIMATED SHORT ON WHICH THE HULA SHOW IS BASED
An animated short film of the story of the Kapemahu and the great importance historically this tradition has been for Hawaii for many centuries through today.
THE STORY
Kapaemahu is a moolelo – a story that bridges the gap between history and legend. It was passed down orally by the noble families of Waikiki and recorded in writing in 1906.
Long before the reign of King Kakuhihewa in the 1500s, four Tahitian healers traveled to Hawaii from their home Moaulanuiakea on the island of Raiatea. Their names were Kapaemahu, who was the leader of the group, Kapuni, Kinohi and Kahaloa. They settled in Waikiki in a place near here called Ulukou
The healers were mahu – extraordinary individuals of dual male and female mind, heart and spirit. They were beloved by the people for their gentle ways, and their fame spread as they traveled throughout the islands administering their miraculous cures.
When it was time to depart, they asked that two stones be placed at their residence and two at their bathing place in the sea as a permanent reminder of the relief of pain and suffering from their ministrations. Four huge stones were quarried from the vicinity of the bell rock in Kaimuki, and transported to Waikiki on the night of Kane.
The healers transferred their names and spiritual power to the stones, placing mahu idols under each one. Tradition states that the incantations, fasting and prayers lasted a full cycle of the moon. Then the healers vanished and were seen no more.
This written telling of the moolelo is based on the handwritten manuscript of a story conveyed by James Aalapuna Harbottle Boyd, a colonel of the Hawaiian Kingdom and confidante of Queen Liliuokalani, to Thomas Thrum, publisher of the Hawaiian Almanac. It was published in 1907 with the Hawaiian title Ka Pohaku Kahuna Kapaemahu (The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu), and the English title “Tradition of the Wizard Stones Kapaemahu.”
The animated telling of the moolelo of Kapaemahu is narrated in Olelo Kanaka Niihau, the only form of Hawaiian uninterrupted by Western contact and closest to the language probably spoken by the mahu healers. This section of this web page uses the simple orthography that was employed in Hawaiian language literature and newspapers prior to the introduction of the diacriticals that aide students and teachers of Hawaiian as a second language.
Photo of The Return of Kapaemahu, Kūhiō Beach Hula Mound, by Mahina Choy-Ellis