MOʻOLELO
SHARING STORIES OF OUR ʻĀINA
In the 1819 Battle of Kuamo‘o, Hawaiian forces clashed over the traditional kapu religious system. The dispute pitted the forces of Kekuaokalani, nephew of Kamehameha I, against his cousin, Liholiho (Kamehameha II).
It was Manono herself who uttered the words “Mālama kō aloha”, with her last breath as she fell on the rugged lava terrain in Kuamoʻo two hundred years ago.
In this clip, Auntie Nona tells the dramatic story of the chant “E Manono,” the battle of Kuamoʻo in 1819, the part High Chief Kekuaokalani and his wife Princess Manono.
AKA’s Executive Director Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer fondly recounts lessons from his tūtū Winona “Nona” Desha Beamer in this essay on Aloha ʻĀina.