Hawaiian Hau
by Heidi Fickinger
Title
Hawaiian Hau
Artist
Heidi Fickinger
Medium
Photograph - Photographic Print
Description
The Hau tree is one of the 7 canoe plants that are known to have been brought to the Hawaiian Islands by the first Polynesian settlers who discovered the Islands. The scientific name of Hau is Hibiscus tiliaceus and as is evident in the name, is a member of the hibiscus family. Varieties of Hau are found throughout Polynesian islands and has been and still has multitude of uses. Hau was planted by the settlers to yield a light-weight tough white wood with a brown heart. Hau is found and used throughout tropical and subtropical Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia and is held in high regard for its usefulness to the traditional life of oceanic people.
Hau was so highly prized for its uses that the chief of a village was required to grant permission to cut it. The naturally curved branches of plant softwood are used to make canoe outriggers. The three parts are the niako, the two booms, and the float, ama. To get the proper shapes, younger branches were sometimes trained into arches or shaped in an imu (underground oven). To prevent rot and infestation of insects, bark was stripped from the branches and soaked for a few weeks in ocean water.
Traditionally, hau branches were piled near the shoreline to indicate when fishing the area was kapu (forbidden), due to spawning of fish in the area. Small pieces of hau wood were used as floats on fishnets due to the cork-like density. The soft wood was also helpful in making fires. Adze handles were most often made of hau, as were light-weight practice spears, massage sticks, brooms, and the cross-beams for kites. Cordage was also made from the tree for ropes for hauling, slings, canoe lashing, strings for bows, net bags, carrying handles for water-gourds, fasteners for lauhala baskets, shark nooses, strands for lei making; strainers for coconut cream and `awa drinks; sewing material to piece together tapa cloth for clothing and bedding, hula skirts of hau bark, sandals and cord for snapping dyes into line designs onto tapa cloth.
As a long-time scuba diver, I quickly learned that the leaves can be crushed and rubbed onto the inside of a dive mask glass to prevent fogging of the glass while using underwater.
Hau trees typically grow close to the ocean in tangled thickets, but on some Islands these trees grow higher up onto steep hillsides, forming dense, magical-feeling forests.
Featured in the following FAA Group Galleries:
* Hawaiiana
* The Global Art Reference
* SkyTwitter Art Gallery
* Arts Fantastic World
* Hawaiian Photography
* Hawaiian Greeting Card Photography
* Flower on Green
* Nikon Full Frame Cameras
* Macro Marvels
* Art Submissions to Pka
* Just Perfect
* H D R Photography
* Images that Excite You
* Your Very Best Photography
* The Niche
Uploaded
March 2nd, 2019
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