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| Alalakeiki | |
|---|---|
| Name | Alalakeiki |
| Birth date | c. Ancient |
| Birth place | Hawaiian Islands |
| Title | Chiefess |
| Parents | Kawelo and Kanoena (traditional) |
| Region | Kauaʻi |
| Religion | Native Hawaiian religion |
Alalakeiki is a figure from traditional Hawaiian oral history and chiefly genealogies associated primarily with the island of Kauaʻi and its chiefly lines. In surviving chants, genealogical chants, and missionary-era notebooks she appears as a high-ranking aliʻi whose lineage connects to other noted personages and dynasties of the Hawaiian archipelago such as Kamehameha I, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, and houses traced to Chiefess Kaʻahumanu. Transmission of her name and stories occurred through chanters, kahuna, and early ethnographers including Samuel Kamakau, David Malo, and Abraham Fornander.
Traditional sources render the name in variant orthographies recorded by 19th-century scribes and later historians. Variant spellings noted in manuscript collections and catalogues include forms recorded by William Ellis, Richard Henry Dana Jr., and Judd (Gerrit P.) in missionary and explorer journals. Polynesian comparative linguistics connects the morphological elements of the name to common components found in other chiefly names from Tahiti, Marquesas Islands, and Samoa, a pattern commented on by scholars such as Te Rangi Hiroa (Peter Buck) and Edward Winslow Gifford. Ethnohistorical editors like Martha Beckwith and Mary Kawena Pukui contextualize orthographic differences against the backdrop of 19th-century orthography reforms advocated by Hiram Bingham I and taught in mission schools associated with leaders such as Lorrin A. Thurston.
In the cosmological frameworks preserved in chants and mele, Alalakeiki is associated with themes common to Hawaiian and wider Polynesian mythic corpus, paralleled in sagas related to Pele, Kāne, Lono, and Kanaloa. Comparisons in hymnody and ritual song link motifs surrounding descent, land stewardship (ʻāina), and chiefly tapu with narratives found in accounts by William Ellis and later analyses by anthropologists at institutions such as the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. Mythographers including David Malo and Nathaniel Emerson recorded genealogical recitations situating Alalakeiki within networks of kapu and reciprocity echoed in legends tied to Waimea (Kauaʻi), Hanalei Bay, and other place-names invoked in traditional chants referenced by Judd (Gerrit P.) collections.
Genealogical chants attribute to Alalakeiki relationships with a constellation of aliʻi whose pedigrees intersect with trans-island principalities. Her putative relatives and descendants appear alongside names recorded in key genealogical compendia such as those compiled by Fortran? and well-known chroniclers including Samuel Kamakau, David Malo, and later historians like Noelani Arista. Lines traced through marriage and descent link to historic rulers of Kauaʻi and clauses of kinship reaching toward chiefs of Oʻahu, Maui, and Hawaiʻi Island, reminiscent of kin networks involving figures such as Kaumualiʻi, Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku, and Kalaniʻōpuʻu. Genealogists and chant keepers in the 19th and 20th centuries—among them Martha Beckwith and Mary Kawena Pukui—preserved variants that show alliances with families associated with specific heiau and ahupuaʻa at sites like Kīlauea and Kapaa.
Major narratives featuring Alalakeiki circulate in oral traditions that often combine historiographic detail with mythic motifs. These tales, recorded in fragments by collectors such as Nathaniel Emerson, Samuel Kamakau, and Abraham Fornander, include episodes of contested chiefly succession, voyages and exchanges with other island polities, and episodes that intersect with broader legendary cycles involving Pele, Hiʻiaka, and voyaging heroes akin to those in stories of Māui. Several manuscripts preserved at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum and at archives associated with Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy and university collections contain chant fragments where Alalakeiki functions as a nexus for claims to land, ritual eminence, and chiefly legitimacy during periods paralleling historic events such as the arrival of Captain James Cook and the consolidation of power culminating in the era of Kamehameha I.
Ritual locales and sacred sites connected by tradition to Alalakeiki include named heiau and coastal place-names on Kauaʻi where rites of ʻawa, oli, and offerings were performed by aliʻi and kahuna. Ethnographic descriptions in missionary records by Hiram Bingham I and collectors like William Ellis and John Papa ʻĪʻī make reference to ritual practice contexts—though often refracted through Christian-era interpretations—while museum inventories list artifacts and chant fragments tied to those sites. Modern cultural practitioners, including kānaka ʻōiwi elders and mālama ʻāina groups, reference these sites in initiatives associated with organizations such as the Kauaʻi Historical Society and educational programs at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa aimed at revitalizing chant and place-based protocols.
Contemporary scholarship approaches Alalakeiki through interdisciplinary lenses combining historiography, oral literature studies, and indigenous knowledge revitalization. Academics including Kealani Cook, Noelani Arista, and curators at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum analyze how colonial-era documentation by writers such as Lorrin Andrews and David Malo mediated these narratives. Modern reception includes cultural programming, reenactment in festivals at venues like Kapaʻa and Hanalei, and references in community genealogy projects supported by institutions such as Hoʻokahua Cultural Center and university archives. Debates persist among scholars and cultural practitioners regarding historicity, the role of chant as legal testimony in land claims, and the ethical stewardship of genealogical knowledge as exemplified in broader discussions involving entities like Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Hawaiian Civic Clubs.
Category:Royalty of Hawaii