Maunaloa cast an orange glow into the sky as lava ruptured from its summit on Hawaiʻi Island (native name: Moku o Keawe) in the late hours of November 27, 2022. This is the first time Maunaloa and Kīlauea have erupted concurrently since the last time Maunaloa erupted at all — 1984. As molten rock carves down the slopes of the largest volcano in the world, a deep feeling of reverence is instilled within Kānaka (Native Hawaiians). Eruptions symbolize the cleansing and rebirth of the land, and a reminder that the land is alive — that Hawaiʻi’s spirit is alive.
I summited Puʻu Huluhulu, a cinder cone formation nestled between sister mountains Maunakea and Maunaloa, the first night of the eruption. Less than 24 hours had passed since the summit crater, Mokuʻāweoweo, erupted just before midnight. Since then, fissures opened on the Northeast Rift Zone, flowing toward the two mountains’ saddle. Silenced by sheer awe, I looked upon the lava — then, several miles from the road—and felt humbled. Nature was shaping the world right before me. It is a reminder we, as mortals, are only guests.
Hawaiian Mythos: Pele
Pelehonuamea, “the earth-eating woman” and goddess of fire and volcanoes, is the both a creative and destructive force. Pele is the prominent figure within the Hawaiian pantheon who resides within Halemaʻumaʻu Crater of Kīlauea. Her legend has been both commodified for tourists and altered, casting her only as a vengeful, jealous goddess, but to Kānaka, she is the progenitor goddess responsible for reshaping the island. They call her Tūtū Pele, using the ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) word for “grandmother”.
Hawaiian creation stories speak of Papahānaumoku (Earth Mother) and Wākea (Sky Father): creators of the earth and sky, and the first ancestors of the Hawaiian people. To Kānaka, the natural elements are our primordial ancestors, and the indigenous relationship with the land is intimate, because it is one of family, or ʻohana.
Now, Pele’s eruption serves as both a gift and a warning.
A Divine Admonition
Maunaloa’s eruption follows shortly after the use of high-powered demolitions on culturally significant land by the United States military.
Pōhakuloa Training Area (PTA) is a U.S. military training base located in the saddle of Maunakea, Maunaloa, and Hualālai. Pōhakuloa, the name for the region, nestles at the piko (center) of the island. Piko also translates to “navel” in Hawaiian, where all life begins. It is the last remnant of our physical connection to our mother. The center represents the axis which all revolves around, the heart.
133,000 acres of crown lands, private lands, and ceded lands, which were entrusted to the state for the benefit of Kānaka comprise Pōhakuloa. Despite the land’s sanctity, the U.S. Government leases the region for a 65-year period at the price of only $1. The current lease expires in 2029, and Kānaka have called for the end of military occupation atop the mountain.
For this reason, the saddle of the mountain is a sacred site. Heiau (a temple or place of worship) and artifacts are scattered across the site. Many predate the arrival of Captain James Cook. The Department of Land & Natural Resources’ Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) has never had the opportunity to do a complete archaeological survey of the area.
The land cannot speak for itself, and Kānaka, many of whom view themselves as stewards of the land, have called attention to the U.S. military’s sacrilege, in addition to blatant disregard for Hawaiʻi’s ecosystem and people: Depleted uranium (DU) confirmed at PTA and the Schoefield Barracks in 2006–07, the ongoing Red Hill water crisis in 2021, and most recently, the poisoning of Pearl Harbor (native name: Wai Momi) in 2022. Kānaka activists wish to remind others that these places are still sacred.
Maunaloa rumbled awake only 18 days after the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC) Rotation 23–01 training concluded, which utilized live fire and explosives on sacred Hawaiian land to then perpetuate violence elsewhere in the world. As the fissures opened in the Northeast Rift Zone of Maunaloa, the lava was redirected toward Pōhakuloa Training Area, an auspicious act of defiance against the colonial presence from Tūtū Pele herself, on the day of Lā Kūʻokoʻa.
The Living Sovereignty Movement
Celebrated on November 28, Lā Kūʻokoʻa commemorates the signing of the Anglo-Franco Proclamation of 1843, in which France and Great Britain recognized the independence and sovereignty of Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina (The Kingdom of Hawaiʻi).
Following the Laplace Affair of 1839, Kamehameha III dispatched emissaries Timoteo Haʻalilio, William Richards, and George Simpson to secure the Kingdom’s independence and formal recognition. The delegation garnered verbal support from the United States, Belgium, France, and Great Britain. Meanwhile, British naval captain Lord George Paulet unilaterally occupied the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi in response to the Laplace Affair for five months, in what is now called the Paulet Affair. Kānaka would celebrate July 31, 1843 as Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, or Sovereignty Restoration Day.
Approximately 50 years later, in January 1893, the Committee of Safety—a 13-member annexation party comprised of Americans and American-descended subjects of Hawaiʻi—staged a coup d’état against Queen Liliʻuokalani. They received assistance from U.S. troops and the Honolulu Rifles, despite formal disbandment two years prior. They established the Republic of Hawaiʻi in 1894, with the goal of annexing it into the United States.
In 2000, Lance Larsen took the Hawaiian Kingdom and United States to court for a traffic ticket. In a 1999 court hearing, Larsen posed that the Hawaiian Kingdom had no law against driving without a license plate, and that if he abided by U.S. law, he would be committing treason. David Keanu Sai represented the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom with the goal of exposing the illegal occupation.
Consequently, the United Nations acknowledged this in 2018, but nothing has been done in redress.
To this day, the Hawaiian sovereignty movement celebrates Lā Kūʻokoʻa on November 28, in memory of the ratification of the Anglo-Franco Proclamation in 1843.
As Pele poured forth on Lā Kūʻokoʻa, it is an affirmation from our ancestors and nā akua (the gods). The spirit of the land springs to life in the form of thunderous lava flows, the whipping blizzards of Ka Mauna a Wākea, and the voice of Kānaka calling chants to the Pele of the sacred land.
