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Greeting the break of day has a long history on the east side of Kauai. Before the overthrow of the traditional Hawaiian religion in 1819, chants and prayers accompanied the first rays of the sun at Hikinaakalā heiau — a stone temple whose name means “rising of the sun.” Now part of Wailua River State Park, only remnants of the temple remain, but the cultural practice of oli (chant) has survived throughout the islands.
Pualani Kanaka‘ole Kanahele, daughter of one of Hawaii’s most revered kumu hula (hula masters), Edith Kanaka‘ole, and a celebrated cultural practitioner in her own right, wrote one of the most popular modern oli in the 1970s, during the time known as the Hawaiian Renaissance. Called E Ala E (“Awaken”), “it is uttered just before the sun peaks over the horizon and continues until the sun rises,” according to a 2017 compilation of chants and protocols produced by the Edith Kanaka‘ole Foundation.
The words are relatively few:
E ala e (Awaken)
Ka lā i ka hikina (The sun in the east)
I ka moana, ka moana hohonu (Often translated literally, “In the ocean, the deep ocean,” but recorded by the Edith Kanaka‘ole Foundation as “In the time, the deep time”)
Piʻi ka lewa, ka lewa nuʻu (Rise to the heavens, the highest heavens)
I ka hikina, aia ka lā (In the east, there is the sun)
E ala e (Awaken)
However, just like Hawaiian mele (songs), oli can have hidden meaning (kaona), or even several layers of meanings, as Maui artist Jeanne Bitz discovered when she learned “E Ala E” from Hawaiian Ocean Voyaging Society cofounder Kimokeo Kapahulehua.
“ ‘E Ala E’ welcomes a new day, a new beginning. All that has happened yesterday, stays there. Today is a new day and a chance to make things better,” writes Bitz, whose oil painting “E Ala E” depicts paddlers in a traditional six-person outrigger canoe headed toward the gleaming sun on a deep-blue horizon. “The deeper meaning of ‘E Ala E’ is the true meaning that Pualani Kanahele (Kimokeoʻs aunty) wrote this chant for. This chant was written during the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s. It was written for the Hawaiian people to arise and wake up! Take a stand and make a better life for themselves, remember who they were, where they came from and decide where they are going.”
Maka Herrod, kumu hula of Nā Hui O Kamakaokalani hālau (school) in Kapa‘a, leads guests at the OUTRIGGER Kaua‘i Beach Resort in the “very inspiring” chant in an oceanside sunrise ceremony every Tuesday morning. One of several new cultural activities offered by the East Side resort, the “E Ala E” experience resonates well after dawn, Herrod notes.
“Before the sun rises, you start chanting, and you chant all the way until the sun is completely up. This chant would inspire each guest who comes to learn and experience calling the sun up to enrich their life and to open the day with peace and love,” Herrod says. “After going through this excitement, each guest goes throughout the day with an amazing feeling of joyful nature and the awesome energy to lift each spirit.”
Being ready to start the day also means “if there is something that’s challenging, you would just work through it,” Herrod adds. The challenge may even be met by the end of the chant. “Sometimes a couple comes, and I guess they’re upset, and then when they leave this has changed their minds in what they do and say. It’s really cool to see those things,” Maka explains. “I tell them, ‘Think of all the good things that you’re going to do when you open up this light.’ ”
Occasionally it takes a while to perceive the new sunlight, according to Herrod. On one rainy day, he led guests to a covered area outdoors, where they raced the sun while chanting. “When we finished, I said, ‘Lawa,’ which means to finish, and ‘OK, now you see that the sun is still trying to come out but you know it’s there. Let’s continue our day in a positive way. And if you’re still here watching if the sun comes out, it may come out in about 15-20 minutes,’ ” Herrod recalls. When they asked how he knew, Herrod replied it’s because he has done this so many times. “I know some kind of light is going to come out,” Herrod notes. “I left and as I was driving 15-20 minutes later, the sun came out and it was so beautiful. I love it.”
