Makalapua (The Opening Flower) - Traditional

 

`O makalapua ulumâhiehie
`O ka lei o Kamaka`eha
No Kamaka`eha ka lei nâ Li`a wähine
Na wähine kîhene pua
 
Hui:
E lei ho`i, e Lili`ulani ê
E lei ho`i, e Lili`ulani ê
 
Ha`iha`i pua kamani paukû pua kî
I lei ho`owehiwehi no ka wahine
E walea ai i ka wao kele
I ka liko i`o Maunahele
 
Lei Ka`ala i ka ua o ka Nâulu
Ho`olu`e iho la i lalo o Hale`au`au
Ka ua lei kôkô`ula i ke pili
I pilia ka mau`u nênê me ke kupukupu
 
Lei aku la i ka hala o Kekele
Na hala moe ipo o Malailua
Ua maewa wale i ke oho o ke kâwelu
Na lei kamakahala o ka ua Wa`ahila
The sweetest and most fragrant flowers of the garden
For the lei of Kamaka`eha
The goddesses of the forest weave a lei for Kamaka`eha
The ladies with baskets of flowers
 
Chorus:
Here is your lei, o Lili`ulani
Here is your lei. o Lili`ulani
 
Kamani blossoms plucked and woven with ti
A lei to adorn the lady
Who enjoys to be in the distant upland
With leaf buds from Maunahele
 
Ka`ala wears a wreath of rain blown rain clouds
That pour their contents on Hale`au`au
Forming a rainbow mist that spreads over the pili grass
Where nênê grass grows close to kupukupu fern
 
Wearing a lei of hala fruit of Kekele
Hala of Malailua that lovers dream of
Swaying freely over lovers amid kawelu grasses
Kamakahala flower leis of the Wa`ahila rain

 

Source: The Harbottle family claims the Queen set the words to music during her month's stay at Boston in 1897, but others credit the adaptation to Eliza Holt. There is also a discrepancy as to the origin of the chant. Liliu`okalani attributes the words to Konia, her foster mother and natural mother of Bernice Pauahi Bishop and some credit David Nape with both the words and music. The Harbottle family claims the words were composed by Naha Harbottle Hakuole, Mary Adams Lucas and Mrs. Auld as a ho`okupu for the Queen composed on the night before her birthday. This song incorporates both names of the Queen, Lili`u (smarting) and Kamaka`eha (sore eyes) a name given to her at birth by Kina`u, her grand aunt who was suffering from sore eyes at that time. It was a Hawaiian custom to name a child for an important event at the time of their birth. Maunahele was the name of the gardens in the shadow of the pali on the windward side.These gardens were sacred to Lia, the mountain goddess of flowers. The Kamani tree (calaphyllum inophyllum) native of Hawaii has edible nuts and fragrant flowers. The ti or ki (cordyline ternminalis) an indigenious plant has leaves that are used for cooking, thatching houses and making hula skirts. The fibrous roots when cooked make a sweet candy and when fermented, produce an intoxicating beverage. Translated by Henry Kaalakahi