The Basket Culture of Moana

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We received a generous grant from the Silkroad Foundation of the Arts for Basket Cultures that made this trip to Moana possible. We will study the Music of Maile Cultures in Moana.

The weaving of baskets and other objects was once such a highly developed skill that many of the pieces made by Hawaiian women of old are considered works of art today. Their deft fingers propelled by creative minds fashioned natural materials such as lau hala leaves and makaloa sedge into beautifully woven and dyed objects-mats, baskets, fans, fish traps, sandals, bed coverings and clothing. The arrival of western culture on the islands as well as an increase in trade with the outside world in the 19th century, the availability of cotton cloth and containers, leather goods and man-made fibers, caused the decline of weaving, until by earlier this century, some of the weaving skills had disappeared almost entirely.

Of all the ancient weaving arts, lau hala continues to be the most practiced, not only because hala (pandanus) trees flourished in ancient times and were most often used for mats, baskets and pillows, but also because during the 1930s weaving was a way of life for many Big Island families who made hats and coffee-picking baskets to trade for food at plantation stores. About 30 Big Island weavers still deliver their freshly woven purses, hats, table and floor mats, eyeglass cases and bracelets to Kimura Lauhala Shop in Holualoa high on a hillside above Kailua-Kona. Though now devoted entirely to crafts and gift items with the emphasis on locally made lau hala, the shop originally carried general merchandise when Tsuruyo Kimura (now 90 years old) took it over from her husband's family, who opened the store in 1914.

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