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"I am experimenting upon an instrument which does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear, which is the recording and reproduction of things in motion ...."
--Thomas A. Edison, 1888

One of the first places Thomas A. Edison made films after inventing the movie camera was in Hawaii. Found in the Library of Congress these films take us back to a time that we could never see with our own eyes. The set of films I received were entitled "Films of the Islands by Thomas Edison 1898 & 1906." Although I could be completely wrong I believe we see Prince Kuhio riding. Although this is pure speculation it is important to point out that Prince Kuhio lived during the time and that he founded a horse riding club just like the one we see here... look at the first man leading the parade of horse riders. Who does he look like to you?

"Just exactly when Hawaiian women started to wear the pāʻū for their pāʻū holo lio is not exactly known. No one can exactly say where the pāʻū holo lio was first worn although it is said that Parker Ranch first started this tradition.

Originally, the pāʻū was an article of clothing 'wrapped about the loins and reaching nearly to the knees it shielded the modesty of the women.' 'The women wore a kapa cloth skirt, called a pāʻū. It was usually about 30 inches wide and 3 or 4 yards long. Designs might be printed on the cloth, which also was often dyed a solid color. Both men and women wore the pāʻū when dancing the hula.' The pa'u used for hula (pāʻū hula) in ancient times seems to be a closer relative to the pāʻū holo lio than the women's general wear skirt.

Whether or not the pāʻū hula was put together with kukui nuts or· small stones ('ili'ili) is not certain. The pāʻū holo lio is assembled using these fastening aids and just could have been due to the ingenuity of some Hawaiian lady who needed to fashion her 'new' garment securely. This may be a mystery for generations to come.

Wherever and whenever the pāʻū holo lio was first executed we know that 'necessity is the mother of invention.' The function of the pāʻū holo lio was originally a garment to protect the clothing of the· female horseback rider on her travels from one place to another 'for the same reasons that venturesome female motorists would later don dusters hats and veils as defenses against the elements as they whizzed over the countryside.' As time went on, the pāʻū holo lio would become not only functional but fashionable.

Since the pāʻū holo lio started off as a protective covering, women riding horseback in their holokū (long formal evening dress with a train) introduced an even more glamorous element to the pāʻū holo lio. These women started to wrap themselves in exotic pāʻū holo lio fashioned from silks, brocades, satins and velvets. When they arrived at their elegant engagements, they would unwrap their pa'u and remove their kīpola to reveal their stunning evening wear beneath. Both the pāʻū and the dress beneath became aesthetic works of beauty. Hawaiian women revered their pāʻū and accessories with this thought and even chose to have their studio portraits immortalized in this dress.

From a very functional garment with a real purpose, the pāʻū holo lio became reduced to merely a costume (as witnessed today). The reasons for this are mainly due to the introduction of the automobile and the expense of fabric. A better understanding of the pāʻū turning from functional to costume can be grasped if we examine the history of horseback riding and its trials and tribulations."

-J. Kimo Alama is an Assistant Professor Assistant Professor in Language Arts, Hawaiian Language and Hawaiian Studies, a former multiple year Merry Monarch Judge, master of the ancient and modern hula, and contributor to the most used collection in the Bishop Museum, the Kimo Alama Keaulana Music Collection. A noted musicologist, Kimo gave the Bishop Museum its "most used collection," the "Kimo Alama Keaulana Mele Collection," a rich source for researchers. He currently teaches Hawaiian language, music, dance and poetry, both ancient and modern, at the collegiate and university level. (from WAHINE HOLO LIO: Women Horseback Riders of Hawaiʻi, unpublished writings which can be found in Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaiʻi as well as in Kimo's own private library).

The music is from a public performance by the multiple Nā Hōkū Hanohano award winning traditional Hawaiian music group Kimo Alama Keaulana and Leihulu, Wahine Holo Lio, a mele inoa for the horse riding royal Queen of Hawaiʻi, Emmalani.