Bernice Hula's Impact On Hawaiian Culture

Many stories about kind, beautiful, loving, and caring princesses are just fairy tales. But, the story of Bernice Pauahi Bishop is no fiction, and it’s better than all the other princess stories combined.

Bernice Pauahi [puh-wuh-hee] Bishop wasn’t just a princess of Hawaiʻi [huh-vai-ee], she was a heroine. She was benevolent, selfless, compassionate, firm in her beliefs, and never stopped finding ways to give back to her community. According to philanthropyroundtable.org, she led the Stranger’s Friend Society, founded to help sick travelers, and the Woman’s Sewing Society, a group that provided clothes to the needy. She used her skills as a contralto singer and pianist to benefit others, too. She performed with the Amateur Musical Society

A year before, in 1830, Kaʻahumanu forbade dancing hula in public because Kaʻahumanu felt it wasn’t Christian. Hula is very significant in Hawaiian culture because the Hawaiians didn’t have a written language, so one way they expressed themselves besides language was through hula.

Growing up, Pauahi would’ve seen all this, which affected her perspective and legacy. According to pewresearch.org, By 1840, the Hawaiian population had decreased by 84% since first contact with foreigners.

In 1840, Pauahi had been attending the Chiefs’ Children’s School (later renamed the Royal School) for one year. The school was operated by Mr. and Mrs. Cooke, two missionaries from the United States. The previous year, in 1839, Kīnaʻu had died of mumps, and the year before that, in 1838, Pauahi began living with her birth parents, because Kīnaʻu gave birth to her own daughter. Pauahi’s parents were overjoyed because they had never really got over giving up their

The moʻolelo [mo-oh-le-lo] or story of Hāloa [haw-loh-uh] teaches about the importance of ʻāina. The story of Hāloa began when a stillborn baby named Hāloa was born. Hāloa’s body was buried, and from it grew first kalo [kah-lo] or taro plant, a Hawaiian food staple which foods like poi is made from. Eventually, Hāloa’s younger brother was born. He was the first man ever and was named Hāloa after his older brother. This moʻolelo shows the importance of ʻāina to Hawaiians. Hāloa who grew into the first kalo plant represents ʻāina and all its resources. ʻĀina is the older brother of the kānaka [kuh-nuh-kuh] or people because he cares for them by providing nourishment. In return, the kānaka, younger brother, takes care of the ʻāina by not being wasteful or harmful to the ʻāina. To the Hawaiians, losing land was like losing an older brother. Because of The Great Māhele, 99 percent of Hawaiʻi’s ʻāina belonged to nobles and foreigners. This is another example of how the Hawaiians were losing their