Collection: Newspapers > Nevada County Nugget

About This Item:

Title: February 16, 1972 Collection Type: Newspapers Collection Name: Nevada County Nugget Published: February 16, 1972 Copyright: In the public domain or published before 1925 Physical Format: Newspaper # of Pages: 12 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Printed or handwritten: All printed text Date Scanned: 2023-04-11 04:37:58 Scanning Equipment: Professionally Scanned OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: JPGs First Created: 2025-03-17 04:11:09 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 04:11:09

Original Held At: Doris Foley Library Location: 211 North Pine Street, Nevada City, CA 95959

Page: of 12  

Hawaii — the people who live there Part If What is an Hawaiian? How is the lifestyle of our fiftieth state different from our own on the U. S. mainland? According to the California State Automobile Association Travel Department, more and more people are heading-to Hawaii these days, not only to enjoy the spectacular scenery, but. also to become better acquainted with the Hawaiians themselves and their customs, culture and history. Hawaii's people today are Americans who can trace their lineage back to virtually every country in the world. They represent a blend, a product of a multi-racial integration that began long ago. The orginal natives, who probably migrated to the islands from Tahiti in the eighth century, numbered approximately 300,000 at the time Hawaii was first discovered by the English explorer Captain James Cook in 1778, Cook found .a strong healthy Polynesian people living freely off the land and ruled by a hereditary island monarchy. Their religion involved acomplex set of taboos, called kapu, in which certain objects, events, people and places were held sacred to the gods, Certain high priests dictated and enforced these kapu and severely punished violators, «:-. But the main problem withthe kapu system was that it highly. discriminated against. women, Eventually the-female Hawaiians grew irritated at such injustices as not being able to eat with men, or for that matter, not being able to eat certain foods at all, Accordingly, the island women set up Hberation goals for themselves, The result was: that in 1819 not only were the women freed from all former subservience, but all the Hawaiians joined in and broke all the ‘kapus, This event is indeed strange in Hawalian history -and in world history -for it signifies a people overthrowing a religious~system—which-hac been theirs for centuries, and not -replacing it. The way was paved, however, for the many and different foreign influences that would thereafter affect Hawaii, After Cook's discovery, Honolulu became a leading Pacific port, especially for whaling ships, And in 1820, New England missionaries moved into the islands and had a profound influence on the religious beliefs of the islanders. Along with successfully Christianizing most of the kingdom, the missionaries Americanized. ‘other institutions as well -educational, political and economic, By the middle of the nineteenth century the Hawaiian population had dwindled to 150,000 -less than half what it had been at the time of Cook's discovery. Because of the growing need for more workers in the sugar fields, large numbers of Japanese and Chinese came to Kawaii, These foreign emigrations were most beneficiai in strengthening the weakened bloodline of the declining island population, The result has been the formation of a healthy multi-racial society that continues even now with a high degree of harmony and assimilation. Hawaiians of today have a mixed ancestry which includes AngloSaxon, Japanese, Chinese, Hawaiian, Spanish, German, Korean, Puerto Rican, Filipino, Portuguese, Indian, Samoan, Negro and many others. Such a di_ verse cultural background provides a unique and cosmopolitan flavor to Hawaii. _ As would be expected, many different religions are alsorepresented in Hawaii today. The arrival of the Congregationalist missionaries in 1820 was followed by the Catholics, Episcopalians, Mormons and many others, Similarly, the Japanese and Chinese established temples »and shrines throughout the islands, Freedom of worship was guaranteed by the Constitution of 1840, and the pervasive attitude of religious tolerance has subsequently fostered the extablishment of an impressively large number of different sects and faiths. The Nevada County Nugget. Wednesday, February 16, 1972 3 SOBSGFE-W272 <——— Permanent press and synthetic knit é . fabrics are ready to put on right out of the dryer. So you'll save on ironing time. And you won’t have to contend with the weather either, th New dryers even have special restart cycles so your clothes don’t get wrinkled while they’re waiting to be taken out of the machine. Gas