Kukui with Tapa Band Vessel by Heather Mettler
kukui
n. 1. Candlenut tree (Aleurites moluccana), a large tree in the spurge family bearing nuts containing while, oily kernels which were formerly used for lights; hence the tree is a symbol of enlightenment. The nuts are still cooked for a relish (ʻinamona). The soft wood was used for canoes, and gum from the bark for painting tapa; black dye was obtained from nut coats and from roots, (Nuts were chewed and spat into the sea by men fishing with nets for parrot fish (kākā uhu) in order to calm the sea (FS 38–9): see ex., pili 1). Polished nuts are strung in leis; the silvery leaves and small white flowers are strung in leis as representative of Molokaʻi, as designated in 1923 by the Territorial legislature. The kukui was named the official emblem for the State of Hawaii in 1959 because of its many uses and its symbolic value. (wehewehe.org)
