Ironman Kailua Kona Mural

Event: Women's IRONMAN World Championship 

Theme: Resillience

This mural honors the life of Princess Ruth Keelikolani, Governess of Kona, Hawaii and beloved alii nui of her people.  She was a strong and resilient chief and Hawaiian woman who was a fierce protector of her people, Hawaiian culture, and her loved ones. The story of the scene depicted is taken from a letter by Queen Emma to another alii cousin, Ihilani (Flora Wood Jones) telling of the day Princess Ruth died. 

She arrived in Kailua Kona on May 23, 1883 with Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop - to be with and I’m assuming to also care for Princess Ruth, but she writes that Princess Ruth was joyful on their arrival, full of jokes, and giving instructions for the people around her to fix accommodations for her guests. They did not suspect in that moment that by the next morning she would be gone.

The depiction of Princess Ruth in the mural is in the nighttime before the weakness of the morning sets in. I have read in Nana i Ke Kumu by Mary Kawena Pukui that Hawaiians would have death visions where they would see “ao aumakua” or personalized ancestor gods ready to welcome their loved one into the realm of po and aumakua, having prepared a place for them.

I imagine in the peace and quiet of this warm Kona night, she hears her loved ones calling her from po and she finally decides she is ready to be with them again and to find her rest.

The word “hala” means “pass” and is used to say “someone has passed on”, but it also means completion or reaching a new level of achievement, an appropriate use to multiple meanings of the word.  

The veil brimmed with a lei hala is lifted by the hand of an aumakua and she (I imagine in my mind) can almost make out their shapes like the way the smooth edges of pahoehoe formations catch the light of the moon at night.

She, alii high birth, is between realms. In her hale olelo on the grounds of Hulihee palace she has her dear Kamehameha cousins, Pauahi, and Emma close by. In the realm of her ancestors she has all of her family, her -great grandfather Kamehameha the Great beckoning her home.

Mele: HULIHE‘E

English translation of the mele by Kapalaiula de Silva

Design (2 Sides 1 Wall) Location: Hale Halawai

Big mahalo to Lydia8, Ironman, Nanea Armstrong-Wassel, Kukolu, Pualena Pakele and Cabot, Pilimanaikamalio, the Kona community, and Kaalala for helping to make this possible.