Description

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas.

In one telling of the mythology of Pohuehue and Kaunaoa, the two lovers lived near Kahana, Oahu where they fished and played together. After an argument Pohuehue fled in anger by canoe, making his way to Lana’i/ Several years passed; Kaunaoa worried that Pohuehue had forgotten her but waited patiently, hoping that her lover would return. 

One night, Pohuehue dreamt of Kauanoa in the waters of Kahana. Thinking of her, he scattered the flowers of the hau tree into the ocean. The flowers made their way to Kahana where Kaunaoa was swimming. She called upon her ‘amakua for guidance and followed the path of the flowers to Pohuehue on the shores of Lana’i

Their eternal love and their reunion is said to be the reason pohuehue vines are found interlaced with the strands of kaunaoa on the beach and also are used intertwined in lei. The flower and lei of Lana’i.