Mary Abigail Wiggin Pukui, known as Kawena, was a Hawaiian scholar, dancer, composer, and educator.
Life
Kawena Pukui was born in the Kaʻū district of the Island of Hawaiʻi, to Mary Paʻahana Kanakaʻole and Henry Nathaniel Wiggin. In the traditional custom of hānai, she was initially reared by her mother's parents. Her grandmother Naliipoʻaimoku, a traditional dancer in the court of Queen Emma, taught her chants and stories, while her grandfather Keli'ikanaka'ole-o-Haililani was a healer and kahuna pale keiki who used lomilomi massage, laʻau lapaʻau, hoʻoponopono, and pule. Her great grandmother Keliʻipaʻahana was a kahuna pule in the Pele line. Keli'iPa'ahana's parents were the High Chief KU or Kauhi and High Chiefess Na'ai Hunali'i. Keli'iPa'ahana was interned in Halema'uma'u in 1869 in the Ka'u district. She married the High Chief Keli'iKanaka'ole, the son of High Chief Kaelele and Princess Kekelaokalani, whose family inherited the sacred AliʻiMoe Kapu. Upon the death of her grandmother Nali'i Poai moku she returned to live with her parents and spoke both Hawaiian and English. Pukui was educated in the Hawaiian Mission Academy, and taught Hawaiiana at Punahou School. Pukui was fluent in the Hawaiian language, and from the age of 15 collected and translated folk tales, proverbs and sayings. She worked at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum from 1938–1961 as an ethnological assistant and translator. She also taught Hawaiian to several scholars and served as informant for numerous anthropologists. She published more than 50 scholarly works. She is the co-author of the definitive Hawaiian-English Dictionary, Place Names of Hawaii, and The Echo of Our Song, a translation of old chants and songs. Her book, ʻŌlelo Noʻeau, contains nearly 3,000 examples of Hawaiian proverbs and poetical sayings, translated and annotated. The two-volume set Nānā i ke Kumu, Look to the Source, is an invaluable resource on Hawaiian customs and traditions. She was a chanter and hula expert, and wrote lyrics and music to more than 150 Hawaiian songs. In addition to her published works, Pukui's knowledge was also preserved in her notes, oral histories, hundreds of audiotape recordings from the 1950s and 1960s, and a few film clips, all collected in the Bishop Museum. She is often credited with making the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s possible. She was named a "Living Treasure of Hawai'i" by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaiʻi in 1977. In 1995 she was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame. In March 2017, Hawaiʻi Magazine ranked her among a list of the most influential women in Hawaiian history.
