Handout
Healing

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE KA WAI KAU MAI O MALEKA "WATER FROM AMERICA: THE INTOXICATION OF THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE"

Kimo Alama, Scott Whitney

Kava is the one psychoactive drug known throughout Polynesia and its ceremonial and medicinal use continues to this day in Fiji, Samoa, and other parts of the Pacific.

There is one clear message from Hawaiian mythology about kava: it is the food of the gods.

As the food of the god[s], 'awa [or kava] became the medium by which the ali'i (chiefs) and the kahuna (priests) communicated with the realm of the spirits. 'Awa was thus seen by the ali'i as the first link in the chain of connection to their deified ancestors.

The use of 'awa was strictly proscribed along lines consistent with Hawaiian cultural domains [beliefs]. Some evidence indicates there was a daily ceremonial use of 'awa in the house of commoners.

[The] 'awa ceremony [was] performed during three occasions:
  1. During the rituals performed by [the] kahuna
  2. At the welcoming of a guest
  3. At times of war
Kahuna and ali'i were at risk for 'awa addiction. Symptoms included: persistent redness in the eyes and scaliness of the skin.

After the overthrow of the kapu system (a network of behaviors and beliefs which regulated everything from the smallest detail of food preparation to the grandest temple ceremonies) in the early 1800's, 'awa, along with the newly introduced alcohol, became unregulated and available for recreational use and abuse.


(During the late 1700's, rum was first tasted by Kamehameha which was brought in by Captain Maxwell. Kamehameha saw the dangers of local production of alcohol and took steps to control it).

With the overthrow of the kapu, a void was left in the kingdom. Commoners and chiefs were left wondering how much of traditional practice was to be honored. In the realm of alcohol regulation, it was the missionaries, arriving shortly after the abolition of the kapu, who were to take the lead.

The early missionaries saw the overthrow of the kapu as a sign from God that Hawai'i was to become a kingdom based on Christian principles.

The decades from 1820 to 1840 were the high point for the members of the holy community. The missionaries had been marginal people in their own culture and found new status and power in the developing kingdom. They viewed Hawaiians as children or heathen. They found themselves increasingly influential in the Westernization of the government and its legal system.

The penal code in 1849 stated: "It shall be a crime for anyone to sell or furnish ardent spirits to any Native of the Kingdom of Hawai'i." This meant that the law was directed only at native Hawaiians. Foreigners were free to buy and sell liquor to each other as they saw fit.

By the 1850's and 1860's the missionaries had lost their influence in the government of the Kingdom. And a new group of foreigners, motivated by economic concerns and playing on the inter-racial tensions rampant in the Kingdom, were finally to engineer the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893.

The loss of the monarchy created great demoralization among Native Hawaiians and an intense nostalgia for the old ways.

At the turn of the century, availability of 'awa decreased and gin replaced it on alters and [in] traditional ceremonies. The Hawaiian people were fond of the odor of gin and viewed it as a [sic] highest form of spirit.

One must remember that from the end of the 19th century through the first half of the 20th, Hawaiians were assumed (by themselves as well as by others) to be a dying race. Hawaiians died in great numbers from disease, poverty, and alcohol, but they also died as a people each time a story or a word or a behavior was lost to the new stories and words and behaviors of the foreigner.

King Kalakaua, who brought hula back to public life and who drank while composing gracious and inventive Hawaiian songs, died quietly of a stroke in San Francisco. His last word, spoken into Mr. Edison's new recording machine, were, "Tell my people I tried."

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