I. Ia Wa'a Nui
II. I Ku Mau Mau!!!
III. Ha'a Hokule'a
IV. Eo E Hokule'a
V. A Chant for Bringing Up the Wind

Ia Wa’a Nui
Traditional

This traditional chant was used at the launching of Høküle'a on March 8, 1975. After the canoe was launched at Hakipu'u (in Kualoa Regional Park), it was paddled out, then back toward shore. The captain was Herb Kawainui Kåne, co-founder of the Polynesian Voyaging Society; the kahuna was Ka'upena Wong, assisted by Kalena Silva and Keli'i Tau'å. As the canoe approached shore, the crew paddled to the following chant. (“The stroke is slow. The paddle is struck a little in front of the paddler on the return of the paddle. The timing is thus: Ia wa’a [thump] nui [thump], ia wa'a [thump] kioloa [thump], ia wa'a [thump] peleleu [thump].”)

Ia wa’a nui (That large canoe)
Ia wa’a kioloa (That long canoe)
Ia wa ‘a peleleu (That broad canoe)
A lele måmala (Let chips fly)
A manu a uka (The bird of the upland)
A manu a kai (The bird of the lowland)
' I'iwi pølena (The red Hawaiian honeycreeper (a native bird; the young 'i'iwi was yellowish—“pølena”))
A kau ka høkü (The stars hang above)
A kau i ka malama (The daylight arrives)
A pae i kula (Bring [the canoe] ashore)
‘Åmama, ua noa (‘Åmama, the kapu is lifted)

After the canoe landed and the kapu on it was lifted, the kahuna asked: “Pehea ka wa'a, pono anei?” (“How is the canoe, is it good?”); Those aboard answered: “'Ae, maika'i loa ka wa'a Høküle'a” (“Yes, the canoe is very good indeed!”)

I Kü Mau Mau! (Stand Together!)

This is a chant expressing “tumultuous joy,” when a multitude of people performed a task together such as bringing down a tree from the mountains to the lowlands—e.g. a koa tree to build a canoe or an 'øhi'a log to carve an image of the god Kü. The chant was collected by N.B. Emerson and published in his notes to David Malo’s Hawaiian Antiquities (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1951, p. 186):

One:
I kü mau mau!* (Stand together!)

All: I kuwå! (Shout!)

One:
I kü mau mau! (Stand together!)
I kü huluhulu!** (Haul with all your might!)
I ka lana wao!** (Under the mighty trees!)

All: I kuwå! (Shout!)

One: I külana wao! (Under the forest trees!)

All:
I kuwå! (Shout!)
I kuwå! huki! (Shout! Pull!)
I kuwå! kø! (Shout! Push!)
I kuwå a mau (Shout! Snagged,)
A mau ka éulu (Snagged is the tree top!)
E Huki, e! (Pull!)
Külia! (Strive!)
' Umia ka hanu! (Hold your breath! [A war cry])
A lana, ua holo ke akua! (It floats, the god runs! [i.e., the tree is moving!])

* kümaumau: Same as maumau; “constant,” “continuous,” “together.” Hai kümaumau é, hai kuwå! (chant for those carrying a log to shore to be made into a canoe), “follow together, follow shouting!”)

** Emerson translates “I ka lana wao!” as “Under the mighty trees!” If so, perhaps the second line should be amended to “külana wao!” “Place where the forest rises up”; cf. “külana nalu,” “Place where the waves rise up.” “I kü huluhulu!” is translated “Haul with all your might!” It is not clear how Emerson derived this translation. The two lines under consideration are similar to lines in another canoe-hauling chant (June Gutmanis, Nå Pule Kahiko: Ancient Hawaiian Prayers; Honolulu: Editions Limited, 1983, p. 78-79):

• Kü-pulupulu,
• Kü 'alanawao,
  

These two lines address two forest gods associated with canoe building. Kü-pulupulu is translated as “Kü [giver of] verdure” by D. Barrere in S.M. Kamakau’s Ka Poe Kahiko: The People of Old (Honolulu: Bishop Musuem, 1964, p. 58); “pulu“ refers to “any greenery or underbrush cut to be used as mulch”; or a “low branch, as of certain trees such as koa and 'øhi'a.” Emerson (in Malo) translates Kü-pulupulu as “Kü the rough one, or the chip-maker, one of the gods of the wa'a” (p. 133); he translates “Kü-ala-na-wao,” or “Ku-ae-la-na-wao” as “‘There stands the forests,’ a woodland deity, one of the gods of the wa'a.” Barrere gives the name as Kü-alono-wao, “Kü of the mountain heights” (S.M. Kamakau, Ka Poe Kahiko: The People of Old, p. 58). Martha W. Beckwith gives the following translations of the epithets of the two Kü gods (Hawaiian Mythology, Honolulu: UH Press 1970, p. 15):

Kü-pulupulu (Kü of the undegrowth)
Kü-olono-wao (Kü of the deep forest)

*** Emerson translates “I kuwå a mau! / A mau ka éulu!” as “Stand in place! and haul / Haul branches and all!” “Mau” means “snagged”; “caught”; “grounded, as a canoe”; “stuck or stalled, as a car”; “éulu” is the top of a tree or plant. The lines seem to refer to the tree being stuck in the undergrowth, so some extra effort is needed to “float” it (lana), i.e., to free it.

Ha'a Høküle'a
Composed by Keli'i Tau'å
(On the Compact Disc Chants: Hawaiçi Canoes)

Holo i ke kai
(hoe hoe, hoe hoe)
Holo 'o ka i'a
(hoe hoe, hoe hoe)
Ho’i i ke kai
(ku'e ku'e, ku'e ku'e)
Wa’a Høküle'a
Eø, é ka wa'a
Eø, Høküleça (ku)
A pae i ke kula
‘Åmama, ua noa

Travel over the sea
(paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle)
The fish goes
(paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle)
Return to the sea
(back and forth, back and forth)
The canoe Høküle'a
canoe, answer to this call
Høküleça, answer to this call
Come ashore
‘Åmama, the kapu is lifted

Eø é Høküle'a
Composed by Keli'i Tau'å
(On the Compact Disc Chants: Hawaiçi Canoes)

På mai ka makani Pu'ulena
Hiki mai ka lå ha'aheo
A hiki pü me nå 'A'å
Eia nå me'e o ke kai
Nå me'e kaulana o ka Pakipika
Ua ho'i mai
E lohe kåkou ka nühou
Ua ho'i mai nå kama
Kü aku i ka home me ka lanakila
Oli e! oli e o Hawai'i
E ulu, e ola mau
Nå hana apau o Høküle'a

The Pu'ulena wind blows
The proud sun arrives
Arrives along with the fire
Here are the heroes of the sea
The famous ones of the Pacific
Returning home
Let’s listen to the news
The children have returned,
Arriving there at home, victorious,
Sing, sing, Hawai'i
Let them increase, let them live forever
All the deeds of Høküle'a

A Chant for Bringing Up the Wind
Traditional

På mai, på mai ka makani nui o Hilo
Ka ipu nui lawe mai
Ka ipu iki waihø aku

Blow, blow, great wind of Hilo.*
Bring the big wind gourd,**
Leave the small wind gourd.

* Hiro, the famous Polynesian navigator and voyager, deified as a wind god.

** The winds were conceived of as being contained in a gourd. The wind god could call forth the winds by calling out their names.