| Natural History
BANANA, MAIA
(Musa paradisiaca)
 The fruit of most banana plants was forbidden to Hawaiian women in ancient times. (They were allowed to eat three of the more than 70 varieties, but it was rare that these fruits were offered to them. They were never offered to girls or women who were still of child-bearing age.)
It was said that Wakea, the revered ancestor of all Hawaiians, had declared them off-limits to women. One explanation was that the banana tree was respected as an embodiment of the great god Kanaloa, who had brought the plants to Hawaii from Kahiki (Tahiti) his ancestral homeland. Since it was connected to such a male being and since the plant was regarded as a person and a symbol of humanity (and therefore sacred), it was considered inappropriate for girls and women to eat the fruit although even commoners who were male were allowed to eat it.
It was even considered to be bad luck to encounter a person carrying a bunch of bananas and even today local fishermen believe that carrying along bananas to the beach as a snack will adversely affect fishing luck.
When the young chiefess Kapi'olani and her girl-companion Keoha were caught eating a banana and breaking the kapu, only their royal rank saved them from dire punishment. However, because it was such a great transaction and someone had to pay for it, their tutor was drowned. From the time she was a child, the high chiefess Kapi'olani questioned the validity of the kapu system. In later years, she became a one of the first Christians and as a demonstration of the strength of her faith, she defied the goddess Pele by eating the 'ohelo berries which were considered sacred to Her.
Among the Polynesians, the Hawaiians may have been the only people possessing such stringent regulations about eating bananas. Old stories say that the legendary Menehune, the people who probably lived in the islands before the arrival of the Hawaiian voyagers, apparently had houses made of banana leaves and subsisted primarily on bananas and fresh-water shrimp. They apparently had no such restrictions.
The all-purpose fruit are staple items in the diets of all Pacific peoples, and on the smaller island atolls of the Pacific, banana plants were used in hundreds of ways that never appeared in Hawaiian culture, where the plants were surrounded by so many kapu. Then, too, the Hawaiian people were able to substitute better alternatives in raw materials for many of the typical uses to which other Pacific peoples put the banana. For example, banana fiber is fine for string and netting and baskets if you have nothing better. However, Hawaiians found the endemic plant olona, Touchardia latifolia, whose fibers are among the strongest in the world, was better.
Hawaiians used banana leaves and tree trunks extensively for cooking in their imu, underground ovens (which were constructed and utilized by the men). Banana trunks were used by canoe-builders as rollers to help move the canoes over land and the sap from the skin, leaves and trunk was used for medicine or as a dye. The fruit, along with pigs, 'awa and coconuts were among the finest offerings to their gods. (The only sacrifice that would be more choice was a human being.)
Because bananas were a symbol of humanity, it was very important to observe the rituals, prayers, and "proper" procedures connected with the planting and the care of the plants. "Magical potency was believed to affect the plant through acts, postures and words, for the banana plant was regarded as a person," says Handy and Pukui in NATIVE PLANTERS OF OLD HAWAII.
Planting a banana tree is basically digging a large hole and making sure it drained well. The plantings need to be kept well mulched. Good fertilizer like chicken manure and ashes is especially needed during fruiting. This fairly straightforward practice was complicated by having to consider, for example, the best planting times. Some people said the most favored time of day was high noon, "when the shadow rests within the plant" sending strength into the trunk and fruit. Others believed the plants were best when planted on the night of the full moon when the moon was shining directly in the hole. (It depended on the tradition you followed and the family to which you belonged.)
The need for proper prayer and propitiation of the god Kanaloa was also important. Some families still believe that it is bad luck to have a member of the family plant the trees in their own garden; it must be done, it is said, by a male who is a close friend, but not related by blood. Other elaborations were common as well.
Banana plantings were ubiquitous in protected valleys along streams or beside taro terraces where water was plentiful.
The banana plant is the largest herb in the world. It can rise forty feet from base to crown and contains no wood tissues. Its thick succulent trunk is made up entirely of fleshy, overlapping leaf bases. If you cut a banana trunk crosswise, the concentric circles make it look like a giant cut onion.
It is no wonder that top-heavy fruiting banana trees are usually the first trees to fall during a severe windstorm. The plant is almost 80 percent water. There are a several old proverbs that contrast the seeming and actual strength of the banana. The first, "Nui pu mai'a 'ohaka o loko," means "it is large like a banana stem but soft inside." The other one, "He pu mai'a, loa'a i ke kikiao," says "He is like a banana stalk that falls when hit by a gust of wind," derides a person who looks strong but falls down in adversity. A third, is said of a weakling, He pumai'a ia kanaka, he wale. (Falls easily as a banana stalk.)
The fruit is actually a berry that originally contained numerous hard seeds. Historians think that its root was the edible part. It has been cultivated for at least 10,000 to 15,000 years. Early man propagated the species to give more fruit and less seed. In time, the seedless banana was produced. It is named for Antonius Musa, a physician to Octavius Augustus, the first emperor of Rome, 63 BC to AD 14.
Worldwide, there are about 40 species and 300 varieties of banana - tall plants and dwarf ones divided equally between sweet dessert types and starchy vegetable types. Fruits vary in size, color, shape, quantity and quality. They can be short and round or long and skinny in red, yellow or green. The flesh color ranges from dirty white through various shades of yellow and orange to pinkish salmon. Half the total world banana production is eaten raw and the remainder is cooked.
The underground rhizome of the banana has large roots that can cover up to thirty yards. Within nine to twelve months after planting, the banana attains 90 percent of its height and is ready to bear. The purple-red flower bud pushes through the leave and as the bananas form, the blossom opens toward the ground.
An upright blossom and fruit stem is found in some varieties of banana that grow in Tahiti, Fiji and other South Pacific islands, but most often, the flowering stem (which is actually the true trunk) bends over and heads downward towards the ground. The dark purple blossom of the banana is eaten in some countries, cooked in coconut milk or pickled. If allowed to mature, the blossom fruits within two or three months.
The flowers develop into a 'bunch" of bananas, each row of fruit is a "hand", each fruit is a "finger." The banana produces only one bunch and after the fruit is picked the tree is cut down. However, the plant has already put out shoots, called "keiki" (children) in Hawaii from its underground stem. In this manner, a banana plant may continue to produce for 60 years or more.
 One variety of Hawaiian banana was the hapai (pregnant) banana. The bananas mature two-thirds of the way up and inside the banana trunk. Ripeness is detected by swarming fruit flies or ants. One variety, the iholena bears bronzy leaf undersides and the fruit, which has apricot-colored flesh is best when cooked. It was one of the varieties women were allowed to eat.
Almost all the early types of bananas were cooked. They were steamed in an imu (underground oven), mashed into a poi, or roasted in hot ashes. Certain sweet varieties were used as a pupu (appetizer) by 'awa drinkers to quell the bitter taste.
A beautiful native banana is the ko'ae (tropic bird), which has striped leaves and can be found near Kona. It is mainly sold as an ornamental nowadays because it produces few fruit. Another wild variety is the tall lele, which means "to fly, leap, bounce, jump, sail through the air." It was almost always planted near altars and offered to the gods for love magic. The reason for its name is that the spirit of the banana was believed to fly up to the gods.
Common eating bananas include:
(a) Bluefieds, which are the largest and most common. They have a smooth, yellow skin and cream white flesh.
(b) Brazilian (also called "apple) bananas, which are small to medium in size with yellow skins. The fruit are squarish between the ridges with a blunt tip.
(c) Chinese bananas, which are small to medium in size with deep-yellow skins and yellowish, tender flesh.
(d) Ice Cream bananas, which are small and stubby with light-yellow skins that crack easily. Their flesh is white, tender and sweet.
(e) Cuban bananas, which are medium to large in size with skin that is yellow-orange with some red. The flesh can be creamy white to pinkish, with a strong smell.
(f) Hamakua bananas, which are medium to large in size. Their skins are light green or light yellow even when they are ripe.
Miamaoli and Popoulu are two common cooking bananas. Miamaoli is a large, long and round banana that is full at both ends and with yellow skin, while Popoulu is small, very thick and short with round ends. The flesh of both these bananas is pinkish when raw, but turn yellow and transllucent when cooked.
After the fruit has been harvested, the trees are chopped down and the new plants surrounding the base of the old tree are allowed to grow. When the tree is cut, it is possible to retrieve the banana heart, a round, cylindrical white tube with a shiny, smooth covering at the center of the trunk. This can be steamed or stir-fried and has a taste and texture similar to bamboo shoots.
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| Arts & Culture
Kihei's Open Air Church
The renovated ruins of David Malo Memorial Church (built in 1853) is now known as the Trinity-by-the-Sea Chapel. The open-air chapel is dedicated to the memory of David Malo, a remarkable Hawaiian, who was a scholar, educator, historian, advisor to the king and (towards the end of his life) a licensed preacher.
Malo was one of the first students at the newly opened Lahainaluna High School in 1831. At the time he was already 38 years old. Malo was brought up in the household of the high chief Kuakini, who was the brother of Kaahumanu. After he was converted to Christianity, he lived with Reverend William Richards at Lahaina, Maui. He had learned to read and write in the Hawaiian language and helped Richards in his translations of part of the Bible.
Malo was among the best and the brightest of the young Hawaiian men of his time. Along with fellow students John 'I'i, Boaz Mahune and Timothy Ha'alilio, Malo helped King Kamehameha III draft the Declaration of Rights of 1839. (This work is sometimes called the Hawaiian Magna Carta.) The following year, the friends of the king produced the first constitution, laying down the basis for law in the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Malo was a complex man. He was one of the earliest to experiment with sugar in West Maui, growing cane in the 1840's in both Lahaina and Ka'anapali. He also tried to introduce cotton growing and cloth manufacture in the islands. He favored the land division called the Great Mahele and encouraged people to survey and register their lands. Yet, he warned High Chiefess Kinau against the influx of foreigners who might take over land and industry from the natives.
Another of Malo's interests was the preservation of the stories, history, and traditions of his people. He wrote down many of the chants, genealogies, and other Hawaiian traditions around 1840. His work, "Ka Mo'olelo Hawai'i" (now titled "Hawaiian Antiquities") was not translated into English until 1903. The translation by Nathaniel B. Emerson is still in print and serves as a resource for much of our knowledge of the Hawaiian people.
Perhaps one of the most telling things about Malo is the prophecy he is said to have authored in 1837, regarding the fate of the Hawaiian people. He said, "If a big wave comes in, large and unfamiliar fishes will come from the dark ocean, and when they see the small fishes of the shallows they will eat them up."
Malo became a licensed preacher in 1852 and spent the last year of his life as a minister at Kalepolepo in Kihei and in Keokea. They say that Sunday mornings were punctuated by the call of his conch shell calling his congregation to his service.
Malo's final wish was to be buried "high above the tide of foreign invasion." His gravesite is on Pu'u Pa'upa'u (now called Mount Ball).
Malo is honored every spring when Lahainaluna High School celebrates David Malo Day. Twice a year the students of the school visit Malo's gravesite with flower lei and songs. While they are there, they refurbish the giant "L" on the mountain behind the school, which is a landmark that is visible for miles around Lahaina.
The original building of the church was fifty-five feet long and twenty-two feet wide and was constructed of coral and stone cemented with lime. The area surrounding the church still has the gravesites of many members of the old Kihei families. The church, which was forgotten for more than a century, was refurbished by the Episcopal Church of Hawaii.
Worshippers of every denomination are welcome at the regular 9 a.m. Sunday services, held when the weather permits. (To reach it, take the second left south of the Maui Lu, at Kulanihakoi.)
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Far off the traditional path between Kahului and Lahaina lies one of the most overlooked spots on the island of Maui: Waiehu. Reachable via two converging paths; either straight through Wailuku's Front Street or on past the Kahului Harbor Beach road, Waiehu is a sleepy town with it's fair share of hidden gems. 
