To create a space for our readers to honor their loved ones, Ka Wai Ola will publish Haliʻa Aloha – obituaries and mele kanikau (mourning chants). While there are space guidelines and limits for Haliʻa Aloha that are printed in our newspaper, those restrictions to do not apply to kawaiola.news.
Like the family reunion section, the Ka Wai Ola News memorial section offers our readers a tremendous amount of information for genealogy research and building family connections.
As more people learn ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, and the Hawaiian language revitalization movement focuses on normalizing Hawaiian language, the practice of everyday people submitting mele kanikau is a part of remembering the practice of grieving, the poetry related to that, and the capturing of “data” in these mele that continuously reaffirm connection to people and place.