00:00Besides strengthening your spirit, strengthening your body, it's a rebirth.
00:05We're calling upon these guardians, these ancestors to instill mana to strengthen this person.
00:11It's a priestly practice. We dictate what is important for the individual.
00:21I'm Michelle Makaluayi and today I'll be receiving a kakao'uhi on my hands.
00:26The tataos that I currently have, one that's important is my grandfather's name.
00:32This is his actual signature, so for me that's a direct connection to his life, his mana.
00:39The reason that I'm doing this practice or these mana marks is specifically for me,
00:45it creates and solidifies my relationship to my kupuna, my ancestors.
00:50It also provides an element of protection. You don't pick your design.
00:54The design is picked by the kahuna'uhi and it's based on your lineage, your ancestors, your kupuna,
01:00the work that you do.
01:02Aloha everyone, my name is Kili'o Kalani Makua.
01:06I have been trained as a traditional Hawaiian tattooist.
01:12Kakao'uhi is my main work.
01:15Kakao'uhi is a title. It's the title for the individual that is actually the tattooist or the one that's
01:22doing the tapping.
01:23Uhi literally is to cover something. And the ka part is the part that says what this person does.
01:30My mentor is Keone Nunez. I was a student of his for 26 years before he graduated me.
01:37And now this is my 31st year doing this. You had to be of a certain bloodline or a certain
01:43quality
01:44of ability to be taken into this work. My family did this in the old days.
01:50Oftentimes people will refer to us as tattooing priests. The work we do is not our work.
01:57It's a particular elemental or a particular god. And that energy flows through us.
02:03When you look at a regular tattoo, they're meant for aesthetics. To hoonani something,
02:08to make something look nice. And there's nothing wrong with that. But in this work,
02:13it's a priestly practice. And we don't just tattoo anybody. We don't just tattoo any part of the body.
02:20We dictate what is important for the individual.
02:24I'm a little nervous always because I don't know what it'll look like. I don't know what the pattern is.
02:30That's his job. Knowing what she's been going through, strengths, weaknesses. It was my idea
02:37to do something on her hands. Yeah, it's a little nerve-working if you don't know what's going to be
02:42permanently on your body. What's it going to look like? It's a mystery. Myself and Kai, my apprentice,
02:49will draw out the pattern or what we're going to do that fits closest to what the body part is
02:56used for.
02:56So in Michelle's case, she works with her hands. She creates things. She farms also. And she does
03:03things that helps Lahui, which is the Hawaiian nation. So the idea is to strengthen her hands.
03:09You don't know what they're going to choose for you. And I myself don't know the meaning behind all
03:14of the symbols. And those will be revealed to me at a later process, after the marks are placed.
03:24I've been thinking about this day over the last two to three years. And the reason is that the mana
03:30marks
03:31that I carry are sequential. So there's certain parts of our body that we do first, and then you
03:37continue to move in a specific direction. So preparation is paramount.
03:42So the tools I'm using are called Moli. It's fashioned from native woods. The teeth or the needle that
03:51actually penetrates the skin is made from the bone of the albatross. So it's always exciting seeing
03:59somebody's reaction as we start tapping on a hand. People don't realize that a hand is bones. It's
04:05sensitive. And so it's it's exciting to watch. To be absolutely blunt, I've given birth to four
04:14children. So I have a very high pain tolerance. The past wuhi that I've received on my leg didn't
04:21bother me a bit. It kind of feels like a getting stung by a bee. But as soon as the
04:25tapping stops,
04:26it goes away. So it's much more pleasant than a bee sting. So I'm going to use a relatively small
04:32tool.
04:33And then I'll use even smaller tool to make the angles. I will dip it in the ink. And
04:40usually I give it a couple of taps on the beginning to get the line up. And then I move
04:46through. And as
04:47I do this, this extra couple little taps, it also helps to knock the ink down towards the tips. I'll
04:54go
04:54so much one direction and then I'll turn and I'll go in a different direction. And the idea is to
05:00get as
05:01much done in one direction as you can. So I'm outlining. And then from that, I go into the shading.
05:09And I try to go through and make sure it's good before I move to the next finger.
05:15So having a kakou or haumana, an apprentice sitting with you, it's essential. I can't do this work by
05:23myself. Having him stretch the skin is for the best outcome of the work. And imagine a drum. It's not
05:31going to make noise and reverberate if the skin isn't tight. Same thing with this. You have to get
05:37the skin tight so the teeth can perforate the skin. If I miss something, maybe I got a glare.
05:44He's quick to point it out for me so that I can make sure I catch that.
05:49So previous to today, Keli'i has done an alaniho on my right leg. The right side of the body
05:57is our
05:58ku side. So that's the male dominant energy. The left is our hina side. That's the female dominant energy.
06:06For men and women, we do things differently at different parts of the body. And the idea being
06:11that if you're a big, strong man, you're not going to continue to strengthen your manly side or your
06:18masculine side. Wouldn't you want to strengthen your weaker side or your spiritual side stronger so that
06:24you have a balance of duality? And for women, we would do their right side, which is the masculine side.
06:30It's to strengthen what we're lacking. And so for me, it's a graduation that I'm going from one
06:37portion of my life to the next. So the hands specifically represent my life's work.
06:51I'm a little tired and a little sore, but I feel great.
07:12My hands feel amazing. It's slightly itchy, but other than that, all gee.
07:21Some of the patterns that I put on Michelle, some is for strength and protection. Some is for retention
07:27of knowledge. And then at that same time, there's one particular that is actually a guardian.
07:33The symbolism has different meanings. I believe this one is the ulu leaf, which is an embodiment of
07:41haumea, which is earth mother. So these symbols on my fingers are teeth, and that's as a mode of
07:49protection. And then also there's pe'e, which is octopus. And that symbolism has to do with being
07:58like steadfast or able to hold on to things that you need. It absolutely exceeds my expectations,
08:05because the artists can always do better than what you can come up with yourself.
08:09After we do this work, we'll clean up the area and we'll put an aftercare. We have an organic
08:15aftercare that our friend made for us. As for the healing, healing is very quick. It's much shorter
08:21than a machine, maybe three days. I am not worried at all about the healing. I've had very good
08:28results in the past by following directions. So I'm not concerned. It'll be all good.
08:34Maybe I would see Michelle in this next month coming up. If everything is good with their hands,
08:40we might continue on the left hand, because I actually have more planned for that.
08:45They're going to be placing other marks on top of my hands and my arms.
08:50But after I did that, I wouldn't do anything other than that for several months and let that soak in.
08:56You have to allow it to mesh or meld with you. Then you become what is on you. It becomes
09:03you.
09:03I'm working with Kelly and Kai is always a privilege. I feel blessed. I personally think it's beautiful.
09:11It's beautiful because of what it means to me. I feel grateful for the whole experience and I'm already
09:18feeling more like myself. For me, this is like part of myself that's actually emerging that's already
09:25part of me. Mahalo Nui Loa and thank you for watching Refinery29. To watch more videos,
09:31click here. To subscribe down below. Mahalo.
09:36Bye.
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