Having lived and worked in Kalaupapa, Moloka‘i seasonally growing native Hawaiian plants for the National Park Service, I got to know the residents of the place and some of the stories behind the plants. One particularly special plant is the ‘iwi‘iwa fern specific to Kalaupapa.
Miki‘ala Pescaia of Moloka‘i tells a story about the ‘iwa‘iwa fern passed down to her by her grandmother, Harriet Nē, who grew up in Pelekunu Valley. Found in caves, sheltered cliff faces, and hidden grottos: the ‘iwa‘iwa fern was once only found in Kalaupapa. A lei of this fern was rare and reserved for special visitors to Kalaupapa.
In preparations one makahiki season, a runner from Kalaupapa locked gaze with a hula dancer who took his breath away. He asked his mother, a famous lei maker, to make a lei ‘iwa‘iwa to take as a gift, hoping to see the girl again. His mother smiled and said, "We'll see.” The young man completed chores and preparations in the hopes of affording his mother time to make the lei, but when it was time to depart, he didn’t see a lei in his provisions.
Arriving at the competition grounds, his races were up first. At the finish line, he found the beautiful maiden waiting for him. Searching for something to gift her, he noticed a neatly wrapped bundle…his mother indeed made him a lei! The dancer accepted the lei and the two became inseparable. She wore her lei every day, even sleeping with it on!
At the end of the three week celebrations, the two stood at the cliff’s edge, saying their goodbyes. A gust of wind swept away the dried and tattered lei to their dismay, and the young man stopped the girl from chasing after it. He promised to bring her a fresh lei next Makahiki, and would spend this time preparing a home and crops to care for her as she well deserved.
A year later, they reunited in the same spot, this time surrounded by ‘iwa‘iwa fern as far as the eye could see, sprouted from the spores of her lei scattered across the plains.
Today, ‘iwa‘iwa is rare again and its skilled lei makers are few. But if you are lucky to be gifted an ‘iwa‘iwa fern lei, you know that it is from Moloka‘i, is full of aloha, and you are beloved.
- David Shepard