Papala Falls   "On this our Wedding Day..." Through the years, we've had weddings day and night. Fifteen, all totaled, I think. And, so far as I know, not one has ended in a divorce. Strangely, it's never rained either, although this runs against local beliefs, be- cause rain (ua) is consid- ered to be a blessing from the gods at a wedding. Always the bridesmaid. "Papala" means... Papala has two meanings in Hawaiian. The first is “amaranth,” an herbaceous lightly-wooded shrub, and the second is “radiant,” according to the 1926 edition of Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert’s seminal "Hawaiian Dictionary." When dried and set on fire, amaranth burns quickly in a flash shower of sparks like fireworks. In Hawaiian times on a clear night the shrubs were taken up the falls then set alight and thrown off the pali (cliffs) in a sparkling cascade so that all below could enjoy the spectacle. Lovers might commemorate the event by marking themselves with the burning embers. Apparently, the earlier second meaning of Papala was derived because of this kind of event. Later editions of Pukui and Elbert eliminated that definition. How- ever when I bought the land, I asked my mother to copy the meaning in her own hand (with her signature turquoise ink) which I then pasted into my more current dictionary. The third pool also comes with its own legend, first told me by the venerable Hawaiian resident Robert Kahele. For more on the medicinal properties of amaranth, Click Here. Courtesy of University of Hawaii, Department of Botany, Click Here. Papala Falls & the Legend of the Mo'o Wahine On the set of "Haunted Hawaii". Legends abound in Waipio and Papala has its own: One hot day, climbing up for a cool swim in the 3rd pool, a young Waipio man spotted a gorgeous woman already in it. Her luxurious hair spread about her above the water. Vastly taken with the sight of her beauty, they fell into conversation. Later, reluctantly, he left her. The next day, again drawn to return, he found her in the same position, hair floating above the dark water. Day after day he climbed up to talk with her. Once, he urged her to accom- pany him to the beach but she refused adamantly. Their trists continued. One day as they were both in the pool the "beeg watah" came pouring down in a flood. The woman's hair was disarranged and in the froth he saw her tail. Apalled that he had fallen in love with a mo'o wahine, a snake woman, he left, never to return again. Although there are no snakes in Hawaii, legends abound. When the first Polynesians left snake-ridden Indonesia (which included the island with the famous kamodo dragon after sojurning there for centuries, they took with them their snake memories, turning them into legends. Even recently, people report having seen mo'o wahine in the freshwater pools of Kona. For more... If you would like to learn more about the other-worldly aspects of Papala and other places in Hawaii, from a History Channel documentary... Click Here Meanwhile... O'opu Many native stream dwellers in the Hawaiian Islands were originally ocean species who adapted to life in fresh water. O'opu (Gobies) are bottom fish with frog-like faces who spend their adulthood in streams. After they spawn, their eggs are washed-out to sea. As hatch- lings, young O'opu migrate back-up to the freshwater pools where they began their lives. Suction cups (actually fused fins} on their bellies aid the O'opu in their upstream journey. O'opu have been filmed climbing all the way up nearby Hiilawe falls. They also live in Papala and are candidates for the endangered species list. Meanwhile, further downstream... "Which way to the falls?"