\nMakahiki is a four-month season of celebration, games and thanksgiving.
\nThe word makahiki can be translated as year and began with the rising of N\u00e4huihuiamakali\u2018i or Pleiades in the night sky during the month of \u2018Iku\u00e4.\u00a0 When the makahiki season started it marked the new year. Makahiki was also a time of thanksgiving.\u00a0 It was during this time that Lono, the god of agriculture was honored and given thanks for the bounties of the previous year. Coincidentally, makahiki also occurs around the same time of year as the western Thanksgiving and New Year holidays.
\nPreparations for Makahiki began well before the rising of Makali\u2018i.\u00a0 Once the makahiki celebrations were begun all work ceased and it was a time to enjoy.\u00a0 Because no work was allowed during this time, in the weeks and month prior to makahiki, the maka\u2018\u00e4inana harvested and gathered food to last the four-month long celebration. Some of the food included mai\u2018a, kalo, \u2018uala, niu, and \u2018ulu.\u00a0 Also the lawai\u2018a repaired nets and fishing lines to prepare to take from the bounty of the ocean as well. The women prepared by making new kapa garments for their families.
\nThe rising of N\u00e4huihuiamakali\u2018i also marked the change in seasons.\u00a0\u00a0 Here in Hawai\u2018i there are two season, Kau and Ho\u2018oilo.\u00a0 Kau is the warm and dry season most associated to summer and Ho\u2018oilo the cool and rainy winter season.\u00a0 When the kahuna saw Makali\u2018i in the sky he announce the change from Kau to Ho\u2018oilo and the beginning of the Makahiki.
\nWhen this announcement was made, everyone made his or her way to the ocean at midnight for a hi\u2018uwai.\u00a0 This was a cleansing and purification ceremony to clean off the \u2018ino of the previous year and start the new year ma\u2018ema\u2018e.\u00a0 When they returned they made ready the ho\u2018okupu to Lono.\u00a0 All of the ho\u2018okupu were taken to the ahu and the boundary of the ahupua\u2018a.\u00a0 This ahu of stone would be cleaned or rebuilt in preparation and the image of a pig head made of wood was placed upon it.\u00a0 The ali\u2018i nui of the island would make his clockwise circuit around the island to accept the ho\u2018okupu at each ahupua\u2018a as Lono representative here on earth.
\nAmong his entourage the ali\u2018i nui had the image known as Lonoikamakahiki.\u00a0 This twelve foot carved pole made of Kauila was the image to which the offerings were made.\u00a0 A cross piece was placed at on the Lonoikamakahiki, also known as Lono Makua.\u00a0 This crosspiece, ke\u2018a, was clothed with new white kapa, a lei pala, and other signs of Lono like ka\u2018upu skins.
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