Makana
Encyclopedia
Kauai
Kauai or Kauai, known as Tauai in the ancient Kaua'i dialect, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle",...
, where it rises 1115 feet (339.9 m) above Limahuli Valley at 22°13′5"N 159°34′47"W.
Makana is a Hawaiian language
Hawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
term meaning gift or reward. It is often used as a person's name or as part of a name.
Limahuli Garden and Preserve
Limahuli Garden and Preserve
The Limahuli Garden and Preserve is a botanical garden and nature preserve on the north shore of Kauai island, Hawaii. It is one of the five gardens of the non-profit National Tropical Botanical Garden.-Description:...
preserves the valley below. It was featured in the 1958 film adaptation
South Pacific (film)
South Pacific is a 1958 musical romance film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, and based on James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific...
of the musical South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
as Bali Hai
Bali Ha'i
"Bali Ha'i", also spelled "Bali Hai", is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.-In musical South Pacific:...
, a name that is still used to this day.
Makana Mountain is one of only two locations where the fire-throwing ceremony, ōahi, was performed in ancient Hawaii
Ancient Hawaii
Ancient Hawaii refers to the period of Hawaiian human history preceding the unification of the Kingdom of Hawaii by Kamehameha the Great in 1810. After being first settled by Polynesian long-distance navigators sometime between AD 300–800, a unique culture developed. Diversified agroforestry and...
an times. The ōahi was a celebration of very special occasions such as the graduation of students from the hālau hula
Halau hula
A hālau hula is a school in which the ancient Hawaiian dance form called hula is taught. The term comes from hālau, a workshed, and hula, the traditional dance of the Hawaiian Islands. Prior to European contact, the Hawaiian language had no word for "school," as children learned from their parents,...
(hula
Hula
Hula is a dance form accompanied by chant or song . It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians who originally settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visual dance form....
school) at Kēē or the visit of an alii
Ali'i
Alii is a word in the Polynesian language denoting chiefly status in ancient Hawaii and the Samoa Islands. A similar word with the same concept is found in other Polynesian societies. In the Cook Islands, an ariki is a high chief and the House of Ariki is a parliamentary house...
(high chief). On the day of the ceremony, skilled firethrowers climbed the steep cliffs to the very top of Makana Mountain laden with light, dry logs of pāpala (Charpentiera
Charpentiera
Charpentiera is a flowering plant genus in the pigweed family, Amaranthaceae. It consists of five species endemic to Hawaii, where they are known as pāpala, and one species found only on the island of Tubuai in the Austral Islands...
spp.) or hau (Hibiscus tiliaceus). When night fell, they set the logs afire and hurled them out over the ocean. Ridge lift
Ridge lift
Ridge lift is created when a wind strikes an obstacle, usually a mountain ridge or cliff, that is large and steep enough to deflect the wind upward....
s created by trade wind
Trade wind
The trade winds are the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the tropics, within the lower portion of the Earth's atmosphere, in the lower section of the troposphere near the Earth's equator...
s hitting the sheer cliff of Makana kept the firebrands aloft, soaring as far as 1 mi (1.6 km) out to sea. The result was a night sky filled with sparks and fiery torches tracing long arcs of light.
It is sometimes called "Fireworks Cliff".