Ku i ka pono; ku'e i ka hewa

My grandfather signed the Hui Aloha 'Aina petition against annexation to the U.S. at a young age. As a result of this encounter, he was recruited to go to Hilo Boarding School and left rural Kaua'i. He is here with my greatgrandmother who moved from Hana to Manana to Anahola to receive konohiki land from an 'ohana member. Most of the families of Anahola Kai singed the Ku'e Petition.
Read about this petition: http://libweb.hawaii.edu/digicoll/annexation/petition.html

Anti Annexation Memorial

Here I am next to the name of a relative who signed the Anti Annexation petition gathered by the Hui Aloha 'Aina. Nearly 21,000 signatures were gathered and presente to the U.S. Congress. The treaty never passed and so there was never a treaty of annexation as is mythologized. See http://libweb.hawaii.edu/digicoll/annexation/pet-intro.html

Ku Gods Return

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20100604_Gathering_of_the_gods.html?mobile=true

Headress of lightning, large squinting eyes, flared nostrils, infinity grin/grimaced mouths, muscled arms, cupped hands, bent knees. Ku!

A large image from the British Museum (central) and another from the Peabody Essex museum (right) reunited with the Bishop Museum one (left). They are carved in the "Kona" style, a style assumed to have arose after the advent of metal and contact with the european. It could have been carved by the same person because they are of the same style. They were carved of ʻulu or breadfruit and not ʻohiʻa as we would suppose. This would make sense since the Peabody records state that the image was a "god of medicine". It probably came from ʻAhuʻena since Kamehameha rededicated it to healing after his surviving a scourge. The others may have come from Hale o Keawe. The British Museumʻs back is also carved (the headdress/hair). Spectacular.
You cannot help but be in awe seeing them together.
Noelle Kahanu of Bishop Museum shared in a symposium after that the theme of the exhibit, "E ku ana ka paia" (taken from prophecy of Kapihe) came to be a rallying call for unification and hence its applicability to the unification of the statues. However, I think it also refers to the unificaiton of Hawaiians. She shares a beautiful story of master carver Rocky Jensen, Sam Kaʻai, and Keone Nunes sitting a talking before the images as if (my interpretation), they were family at a reunion. Previous to the symposium , at the opening, 3 halau united in hula pahu. The hula: Kaulilua, A Koʻolau, and Auaʻa ʻia blended well and also "spoke" to this theme of unification: in chant and in action. The ending hula, Ulei Pahu, says, "A he mea, a he mea ʻoe!" You have become someone of worth! Pololei.
HOw do we know they are ku images? The Peabody curator says that their records indicate that theirs is a "god of medicine". If that is true then the ku images are not the war god , Ku, as the British Museum has written as a description. If this is is Ku the god of reconcilliation and healing then their unification is even more significant for us Hawaiians.