Story by Lehia Apana
For the past three decades, Sissy Lake-Farm has faithfully donned a single gold bracelet inscribed with her Hawaiian name: Kahakuhaupiokamakani. The bangle has become an appendage that encircles her wrist, no matter the occasion.
Known as Hawaiian heirloom jewelry, this type of bracelet is an anomaly of sorts: it is almost always made of gold — which, like other metals, didn’t exist in pre-Contact Hawai‘i — and, along with botanic motifs, is engraved in black enameled letters written in an Old English font. Nevertheless, for Sissy’s and many other local families, this is the gift that marks special occasions like a graduation, wedding, or childbirth.
Sissy’s connection with her Hawaiian bracelet began when she was twelve years old, when her mother promised it to her upon her high school graduation, with some stipulations.
“She told me I couldn’t get pregnant, and that I had to graduate high school with the intention of going to college,” says Sissy. “Certain kuleana [responsibilities] come with this makana [gift], and when I received my Hawaiian bracelet, it was like a right of passage.”
Sissy’s mother paid for the bracelet on installment, visiting the jeweler every few weeks. Once purchased, the piece was secured in a bank safe-deposit box, to be released on just two occasions before graduation: Sissy’s junior and senior proms.
Sissy’s mother and aunt had received their Hawaiian bracelets from her grandparents in similar fashion, and it’s a custom she will continue with her own daughter.
“My mother always told me that she doesn’t intend to go to the grave with her bracelet. It will become mine, then it will become my daughter’s,” she says. “I feel when I wear it, I am holding a place for my kūpuna [ancestors] on my person.”
There’s an expectation that Hawaiian jewelry is an heirloom to be passed down, says Paul Sato, vice president of sales at Na Hoku — the oldest and largest fine-jewelry manufacturer in Hawai‘i. Even if you purchase a bracelet for yourself, he notes, “you are the custodian or steward of the jewelry for the time that you own it. Eventually it will go to other members of the ‘ohana [family].
“Because of the symbolic nature of this jewelry, it’s not uncommon to see women with multiple Hawaiian heirloom bracelets,” Paul adds. “Go to any local grocery store and just count how many heirloom bracelets are on the arms of the women at the checkout counter.”
Just how did so foreign an adornment take root in Hawaiian tradition? There are varying stories, but O‘ahu-based jeweler Philip Rickard offers a compelling version. In his book, Hawaiian Heirloom Jewelry: A Lasting Remembrance, Rickard traces the tradition to nineteenth-century England. Following the death of Prince Albert in 1861, a heartbroken nation, led by Albert’s widow, Queen Victoria, popularized gold enameled “mourning jewelry” to express their anguish.
News of Albert’s death left an impression on the Hawaiian kingdom, which, despite a considerable geographical distance, had formed strong allegiances with Britain. Rickard writes that Hawai‘i’s Lili‘uokalani had several bangles made for herself around the time of Prince Albert’s death, including one that was etched with the words “Hoomanao Mau” (“Lasting Remembrance”).
Rickard theorizes that Lili‘uokalani recognized a kindred spirit in England’s grieving queen. “It is likely Hawaiian mourning jewelry embodied the young chiefess’ own sense of family, which Hawaiian culture shared with Queen Victoria. . . .”
Several commissioned pieces followed, and Lili‘uokalani, who became Hawai‘i’s queen in 1891, eventually began giving the jewelry to relatives and loved ones. One of the first recipients was Zoe Atkinson, a headmistress and socialite who helped plan royal galas for the queen. The chillingly prophetic words “Aloha Oe” (“Farewell to Thee”) — also the title of the Queen’s famous song — were enameled onto the bangle; the inside inscription noted the date: “Liliuokalani Jan. 5 ‘93.” Just twelve days later, the monarchy would be abolished.
On January 17, 1893, a group of American businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Lili‘uokalani to abdicate her throne. According to Rickard, the popularity of gold enameled bracelets surged following the overthrow, perhaps worn to express a people’s grief. “Where fashion once followed politics in Great Britain, so did it now among the women of Honolulu,” write Rickard.
Today the bracelets have become a symbol of Hawaiian history and a loving tradition connecting generations.
Maelia Loebenstein Carter will never forget the story of her great-grandfather’s marriage proposal to her great grandmother.
“Albert Loebenstein was a German immigrant who came to Hawai‘i around the late 1800s,” explains Maelia. “He later became a part of the Hawai‘i Territorial Legislature, and the story goes that whenever he would sign the bills, instead of writing his signature, he would write, ‘If not why not.’”
When Albert proposed to Maelia’s great-grandmother Mary Kaliko Spencer, he handed her not a ring, but a gold bracelet embellished with those same four words. Maelia’s grandfather proposed to her grandmother Mae Loebenstein with that same bracelet, later engraving it with the date of his proposal — which was also her twentieth birthday: May 9, 1931. Today it adorns Maelia’s wrist.
“My grandmother wore it for over sixty years,” says Maelia. “I always feel a little closer to her and my great-grandmother when I wear it.”
Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier recalls her older sister receiving a Hawaiian bracelet upon graduating from college. “My dad told me, ‘When you graduate from college, you’ll get a bracelet, too.’”
As a young girl, she’d peer into the window displays at the former Security Diamond at Honolulu’s Ala Moana Center. “I remember walking by it all the time and looking at the bracelets and thinking, ‘I’m going to own one of those someday,’” she says.
When Ekela was nineteen years old, her dad passed away. She quietly figured that his promise of a Hawaiian bracelet was gone, too.
At her college graduation a few years later, her mother and brother presented her with a Hawaiian bracelet inscribed with her last name. “I was shocked,” says Ekela. “They told me that my father would want me to have one, and that took me right back to when I was a little girl.”
That bracelet now belongs to Ekela’s daughter Kaleialoha.
It’s been around 150 years since Queen Lili‘uokalani donned her trendsetting gold bracelets, inspiring what would become one of Hawai‘i’s most treasured traditions. Today, these heirloom pieces are delicate time capsules, holding in them the history of Hawai‘i and the memories of each wearer.
“As Hawaiians, our mo‘olelo [stories] are so important,” says Maelia. “With heirloom jewelry, the mo‘olelo live on in each piece.”
