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foremost t r a d i t i o n a l Hawaiian scholar of the twentieth century, Puku'i, 15/ records a Hawaiian proverb that explains how the position of a l i ' i was created from within the maka'ainana: Kuneki na ku'auhau l i ' i l i ' i , noho mai i lalo; ho'okahi no, 'o ko ke a l i ' i ke p i ' i i ka ' i ' o. (Let the lesser genealogies s it below; that of the a l i ' i alone should be raised up towards s i g n i f i c a n c e .) What this means is that the people put forth the flower of their families as their representative and de-emphasized the rest of the family to give added prominence to that representative. (Of course once their representative is recognized and admired, the status of everyone else is assured as well by genealogical connection.) The a l i ' i were the flower of the maka'ainana, within the ideals of both the base and a e s t h e t i c culture. The family r e l a t i o n s h i p remains intact, although individuals maintain distances. In Hawaiian base culture much emphasis is put on f i r s t - b o rn children. In today's Hawaiian families the oldest child often has control over the younger children, and respect and even some authority is carried by the f i r s t - b o r n child even i n to adulthood with respect to his or her younger s i b l i n g s . The Hawaiian language i t s e l f always distinguishes older from younger sibling in i ts kinship terms. The importance of b i r t h order even carries into the extended family, with the term used for a cousin depending on the r e l a t i ve age of the connecting parent. In their base culture, then, Hawaiians pjt much emphasis on birth order and the prestige of being f i r s t - b o r n . The a e s t h e t i c culture supports this with special ceremonies for first-born children and t r a d i t i o n s of giving them special name songs, or similar special recognition. Genealogies are made more prominent by including f i r s t - b o r n children, and the person chosen to represent the people as a l i 'i is usually from the genealogy with the most f i r s t - b o rn children and lineages in i t . In a more t r a d i t i o n a l Hawaiian i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , then, a l i ' i and maka'ainana are kin terms with the a l i ' i representing the equivalent of kaikua'ana, "older s i b l i n g of the sane sex or cousin related to one through an older s i b l i n g of one's parent." The grammar of the language i t s e lf strengthens the i d e n t i f i c a t i o n of a l i ' i and maka'ainana as kin terms, since they use the O-class possessive markers c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of the possession of kin. That i s , the a l i ' i says ko'u maka'linana, "my maka 'ainana" (note the o_ of k o ' u ) , and the maka'ainana says ko'u a l i ' i , "my a l i ' i . " The use of the O-class possessive markers here contrasts with the use of A-class possessive markers used with ordinary material goods possessed by a person, and even hired hands, and spouses, who are treated as A-class and less intimately bound with one than O-class possessed items. J!/ Even the rigid "taboos" (kapu) as described in English books on Hawaiian culture are not as the English language makes them appear. The kapu are actually associated with a lineage through an historical or legendary event, the emphasizing of which through ceremonial observation stresses the status of the lineage • (ali 'i and maka'ainana as one). When the people (and even nature, as happens in the traditional context) recognize these kapu by lighting torches at day, sitting before an ali 'i, allowing the ali'i to move only at night, or observing rainbows
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