Hawaiian Dyes: Fabric, Ti Leaf, and Hau Cordage

 In the ancient times the Lau Lau would be wrapped with the ti leaf and the more practiced Lau Lau makers would wrap the leaf itself to knot the top of the leaf wrapping. But as time went on there were many families that were identified by their sort of knots and to move forward with the culture they identified with those knots.

It would become a visual symbol for people to identify which family was making the Lau Lau knots naturally or which ones would use uncolored rope. Or those who would choose more artistic or family knots to show they practiced knot making or may have used colors as the way to identify the food. For example straight rope knot would be plain or the Maka'ainana Knot (commoner) or the rare and difficult Pupu'u Knot (ali'i).

These sorts of visuals of knots and colors as well as food brought renewed interest in bringing forth the old ways with creative techniques. It was something that family members could touch with their hands, see with their eyes, and directly engage with their culture. As more knots are used the more diverse the styles become and it inspires for people to make even more Lau Lau to show their family and friends.

Color Coordinated Family Lau Lau: Families get together for the new years once a year to make some food together and distribute it among their family members. This event for New Years can extend to the grand mother and grand father of a particular family and in some Hawaiian families the family will make a number of different Lau Laus. The amount depends on the family, but most will either ask for ten or twenty, and they must bring their own ingredients.

In the olden days it would be made with the standard: Butterfish, Pork Butt, and Pork Belly, but as years went on the families started to experiment or add in ingredients that were favorites of the family. This included Lau Lau that were specialties of a family and sometimes depended on where they came from or the area due to ingredient availability. This led to some organization problems with finished Lau Lau, so some used dyed cloth, dyed rope, or even dyed hau cordage.

Hau Cordage are colour-coded and the types are listed on a paper or menu. So, depending on the sort of leaf wrapped Lau Lau (lau leaf), leaf wrapped Lawalu (sacred heated bound leaf fish), or steamed Kahe (to flow, school of fish) with seasoned oil. Depending on the ingredients it can be organized by color-to-price or color-to-type. The colors were limited to Kapa dyes, due to the importance of the mana.

The Kapa Dye Palette & Cotton Rope: Adding a sense of Hawaiian colors and its range of variety is implimented by adding in colors that are from the land. This would be using the Kapa Dye Palette that is one of the most important parts of coloring the cordage as it imbues its energy into the cord itself bringing it with a source of land energy. It is also a nod to the pre-contact times of 1778 while the wide use of colors is relatively recent.

Cotton rope is the material used more often than hau cordage. However a few families really take pride in keeping the tradition alive and make all their Hau cordage from scratch with the bark. This is when there is a practitioner of Kipu'u Knot Fastening in the family who wishes to pass on their skills through a yearly practice of making use of rope many ways.

The Kapa dyes, work their magic and absorb quite well due to the cotton’s ability to take in the dye and keep its color. For the group of people who actually choose to do this sort of dying it is done by hand for specific color hues and family patterns that may not be available to purchase if they get creative with it. The most common style of dye soaking is from a large wooden rectangular container with the dye and uses cold water and is ideal for large amounts of rope, so no need plenty work.