180

Bernice P.

Musewm-Bttlletin 161

retires into the

. Planted at noon, the
is said to go into the
trunk and
and the tree will come
as the sun descends
in the afternoon. If
the tree will grow tall
as
sun rises and descends in the full
say
time for
and one oldtimer has recommended
with a moon full at zenith.
to
root
or "seed bananas" for
stock should of course be chosen. One
tells me that suckers chosen
for
should be
(i ke
, that
from the side
, that
from the
the shoots on the east
A hole about as
as
and 3 or more feet in diameter should be
set in
not necessary to use mulch
the bottom and covered with earth. It
,J!a,u,",",!,> the banana because it is
The size of the hole
on the nature of the soil and the amount of rain to be pv,C\prh,rl
Where soil is
and
the hole should be
and wide
~."~~"." to contain the roots and should be filled with
sometimes in Kau; where soil is rich and
to hold the
the hole is
like those of eastern Maui it is well to

Dig until the hole is wide open, about one and a half feet
is that the banana may not be blown down by the
so
it on the edge of the hole. Eat to
seed plant, lift it up and exclaim in boasting
Ka mai'a nui e I
Ka mai'a nui e
He umi eka ke hua I
Aole hiki ka ahui ke amo,
Elua kanaka hiki ke amo
Hiki inoino.

The reason for

Then bring the
and then plant the
great

The great banana I

The
banana
It
yield ten hands I
The bunch cannot be carried,
It will take two men to carry it
With difficulty.

the
of
mulched around its base where it is
care
the new
fertilizer for banana
suckers. I have never heard of
When the new
has grown about 4 feet
some
cut off the
before the fruit stalk appears, comes a short little leaf that looks
as if it had been cut off at the
with a knife.

181

, the mature bananas used to be Ulr<ln"p,;

and buried in
or
in
so
was sweet and
better flavored than that allowed to
on
Mrs. Pukui
that wild
from the cold
were so r1f)pr,,,rl
to take one banana
bunch and allow a few
was lined
leaves were laid over the
and earth was thrown
to
on the lowlands.
on
"Proud was the farmer of the bananas that
in
and
as he
them as
walked
the way, to show that he was indeed
once. Hence the
is mature to make way for the group of
the second
these grow into a small
itself in a
Some varieties
a grove.

up around it. In
which will maintain
to form

In

rather than a
sometimes
and consumed at ceremonial
But in hard times those
within the
zone,
with
ki
, and other forest
and about homes and fields with the
sugar cane, served to stave off the
that followed upon extended
in such
as the southern coast of eastern Maui and south
south,vest Hawaii.
varieties which had
be cooked to be edible
were steamed in the oven
or in times of
mashed to make
--... - ..-~ roasted in hot
as

to
Banana leaves
shrines called unu ; a chant from an old u,oc"u."''-'
sacred is the banana leaf
of the mm.
Common banana leaves
Trunks of felled banana
black bark of the

were not
Some medicinal
call for bananas of a
or food
be consumed after
IS nlrf""p,'.,,,

small

when coconut-leaf
as the
from the