Religion and Creation of Hymns of Hawaii with Daniel Ho and Ho’oponopono - Hawaiian Healing
I grew up with 26 cousins in Kealia South Kona on the big island of Hawaii. You learn quick how to do two things: #1. How to eat fast-cause the fastest gets the most. #2. How to care for your things. Cause you knew you would have to pass on your clothes to your other younger cousins. (For instance, I wore the same underwear worn by 11 other cousins and knew that I had to pass that same underwear to three other cousins younger than me.)
Religion:
When I was four years old all 26 cousins moved from Kealia South to Honolulu, Oahu to go to this School for Hawaiian kids called Kamehameha. Only two of us got in at Kamehameha, and I was one of them.
Every Sunday at 6 am, all 26 of us became Catholics, because they served a free pancake breakfast with Log Cabin syrup. At noon, we all became Mormons at Awaiolimu Ward because they served tuna sandwiches with Orange Exchange juice. Sunday afternoons we spent at the Filipino Holy Roller Church because they served wonderful Filipino desserts like Banana lumpia and cooked rice coconut brown sugar desserts wrapped in banana leaves called Boot- boot. Once a year we became Buddists at the Bon Dance and where they served delicious hand formed balls of rice with red Ume’ or salted plum covered with nori-dried seaweed along with a small cup of pickled vegetables and dried fish. A few times a year we became Protestants at their seasonal Luau fundraiser. They served imu cooked (underground) shredded Kalua Pig, lomi Lomi salmon, poke fish, chicken long rice, squid luau, poi, rice, sweet potato, potato/macaroni salad with Best Foods mayonnaise, haupia, Kulolo, and pineapple upside down cake for dessert.
We respected and took part in all the religions around us to feed our stomachs as well as our spirits!
At home, we would also hold what we call “Ohana-” Ho’oponopono meeting" once a week. This would involve saying, “I love you, I’m sorry for anything I did wrong,” asking for forgiveness and count our blessings by giving thanks to each other, saying a Hawaiian verse or Pauku such as “Aloha I ke Kahi o Ke Kahi! (love one another). Our Tutu practiced Ho’oponopono once a week as a cleanse for our individual selves, our entire family, and our community. This ensured conflicts would be periodically handled week by week. This was how we learned about religion. We also learned it singing Hawaiian hymns on a weekly basis most of my life as I was growing up.
Years later, when I started recording songs, my Tutu Emily Lihue, Ho’opale Dulay asked me to make an album, 33 RPM’s, cassettes, 8 track, even reel to reel tape of Hawaiian Hymns. To help me remember the words, she even swiped a Hawaiian Hymnal from Church that I still have today!
No one was interested in recording Hawaiian Hymns.
Until I met Daniel Ho. Daniel and I did a short California tour together with my son Keoki. Daniel Ho asked me if I knew any Hawaiian Hymns because he got an inquiry from the Crystal Cathedral in LA requesting for Hawaiian Hymns.
Daniel Ho hit the jackpot! I had hundreds of Hymns that I learned growing up and still have the Hawaiian Hymnal that Tutu Borrowed from our Hawaiian church. Tutu requested her Hawaiian Hymns when she was in her Late 70’s. I finally recorded and played Hymns of Hawaii for her when she was 96 years old.
It won Daniel Ho his first Na Hoku Hanohano award and my second Na Hoku. 10 years later, in 2009 Daniel Ho and I recorded Hymns of Hawaii Volume 2, that won another Na Hoku Hanohano Award.
In 2026, Daniel released a combined CD with both Hymns 1 and 2. What’s great about the Hymns of Hawaii Series is that it captures the Hawaiian concepts of healing through:
- Aloha (love)
- Mihi (being sorry)
- E Kala Mai (forgiveness)
- Mahalo (being thankful and counting your blessings)
These concepts and vibrations through song can heal individuals, families, communities, and the world beyond.
