Pāʻū Riders of Hawai‘i

By Léo Azambuja

Lori Wong as a pāʻū rider in Wailua. Photo by Léo Azambuja

Imagine a skirt crafted with a single piece of fabric stretching for 12 yards — that’s 36 feet — intricately wrapped around the waist and legs and held together by six kukui nuts. This is not any type of ballroom skirt; the pāʻū is a Hawaiian skirt specifically designed for horse-riding.

“To learn something like wrapping and draping the pāʻū, it’s an art, and not many people want to learn or can do it,” said Cheryl Wong, who is tasked with wrapping the pāʻū skirts around the waist of the island princesses before they mount their horses during the annual Kamehameha Day Parade each June.

American trader Richard Cleveland brought the first horses to the Islands in 1803, a decade after cattle had been introduced to Hawai‘i. By the 1830s, wild cattle had become a big problem; they destroyed native crops, ate thatched homes and injured and killed people. In 1832, Kamehameha III brought three Mexican-Spanish cowboys, Kossuth, Louzeida and Ramon, to teach Hawaiians how to ride horses and control the cattle.

Hawaiians quickly learned how to ride. The women joined them, learning how to ride astride, while in Europe at that time, women usually rode sidesaddle. The women would wear a long pāʻū, or skirt, wrapped around their waist and legs to protect their clothes from the dirt.

During the Hawaiian monarchy period in the 19^th century, the pāʻū skirt became popular among royalty and nobles, and was also a common fixture in parades and festivals.

“The ali‘i or chiefly women would use the pā‘ū skirt when riding their horse to a special occasion or gathering to keep their clothing from getting dirty, thus the tradition of the pā‘ū as seen in all parades,” said Chucky Boy Chock, executive director of the Kaua‘i Museum.

Photo from a past Kamehameha Day Parades a few years ago. Photo by Lacey Kanahele

As time went by, and more women joined parades and celebrations, their outfits would become more elaborated, but the pāʻū always stayed true to its roots — a long piece of fabric held by six kukui nuts.

Every year, Hawai‘i celebrates Kamehameha Day with a major parade and ho‘olaule‘a on most islands. The parade pays tribute to Kamehameha I, and its first celebration was on June 11, 1872, according to Chock. King Kalakaua and Queen Kapi‘olani (granddaughter of King Kaumuali‘i, Kaua‘i’s last king) attended the 1877 celebration at the horse track now known as Kapi‘olani Park on O‘ahu.

Kamehameha Day was one of the very first holidays adopted by Hawai‘i in 1959, according to Chock. Today, the pā’ū riders, he said, are the favorite aspects of all parades, from the Kamehameha Day Parade to the Aloha Week Parade and Koloa’s Plantation Day Parade.

Usually, there are nine pāʻū units in the Kamehameha Day Parade. Eight units have a princess and her entourage on horseback, each unit representing one of the Hawaiian islands; Ni‘ihau, Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Molokai, Lānaʻi, Maui, Kaho‘olawe and Big Island. The ninth pāʻū unit brings the queen and her entourage. All the ladies in the units wear the pāʻū skirt.

Some historians say the tradition almost disappeared following the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893. But the tradition survived and gained strength over time. In 1906, Lizzie Puahi started the Pāʻū Riders Club in Waikiki. Soon after, Theresa Wilcox began a riding society in Honolulu.

Adele Kauilani Robinson Lemke as a pāʻū rider, circa 1913. Photo by Ray Jerome Baker

In April 1907, American writer Jack London and his wife, Charmian, began a two-year voyage of the Pacific onboard their 45-yatch, the Snark. Their first stop was Hawai‘i, where they saw several pāʻū riders taking part in Fourth of July festivities.

“In Molokai the people are happy. I shall never forget the celebration of the Fourth of July I witnessed there. … Then there were the pa-u riders, thirty or forty of them, Hawaiian women all, superb horsewomen dressed gorgeously in the old, native riding costume, and dashing about in twos and threes and groups. In the afternoon Charmian and I stood in the judge’s stand and awarded the prizes for horsemanship and costume to the pa-u riders,” London wrote on The Cruise of the Snark, published in 1917.

Here on Kaua‘i, the Wong family has been helping to carry this Hawaiian tradition for at least half a century. Cheryl’s husband used to be part of the parades when he was still a boy, helping his mother in the riding units. However, by the end of the 1990s, for some reason, the tradition of pāʻū riding units was fading on Kaua‘i. But Cheryl’s daughter, Lori Wong, helped to rescue the tradition and give it a new boost in 2003.

“When I first got involved with it, it was actually a dying tradition,” said Lori, adding that there hadn’t been pāʻū units for about five years on Kaua‘i’s Kamehameha Day Parade. Her aunt was in the parade’s committee back in those days, and asked her if she would like to ride in the pāʻū units.

“I kind of thought I was crazy at the time, but I said, ‘Yeah, why not?’” Lori said. “I always wanted to try and do it, and I’ve been riding horses before I could walk. So why not? I had the horses, and I was like, ‘Okay, well, I’ll keep this tradition and we’ll try it,’ and basically stuck to it.”

Cheryl Wong is seen here wrapping the pāʻū around her daughter, Lori Wong. Both will do a pāʻū presentation at Kaua‘i Museum in June. Photo by Léo Azambuja

Since joining the parade, Lori has ridden as a princess for each island, and crowned her participation riding as a queen in 2019. Because of that, she can no longer ride in the units. But she will still be part of future parades by helping the pāʻū units or riding in private mounted units.

Wrapping the pāʻū is an elaborated work that takes an expert at least 15 minutes. And even when done right, it may have to be redone two or three times.

The six kukui nuts holding together the 12-yard-long skirt are twisted inside the fabric and tucked into the waistband of the rider. The kukui nuts need to be held perfectly tight, or they could break or pop out of place, causing the skirt to fall off. The skinnier or fitter the rider is, the harder it is to keep the skirt in place. Even with the right amount of pressure, the kukui nuts can still cause bruises on the riders’ waist.

In short, wrapping the pāʻū not an easy task. When the tradition on Kaua‘i was revived in 2003, the parade’s committee had to bring experts from O‘ahu to train people here how to wrap the pāʻū . Cheryl took the challenge and has been an important part of the parades since then. She doesn’t ride, but she likes to be part of the tradition and support her daughter.

Lori said anyone can ride in the units, you don’t need to have Hawaiian blood. You just have to be over 18 years old.

“There’s no discrimination,” Lori said. “It’s just that you have to understand you are representing the King Kamehameha Parade, and you’re doing it to uphold the tradition.”

There is also an important detail.

“You have to be able to control a horse,” Cheryl said. “Some people put in their application (to be part of the parade) and never rode a horse.”

Photo from a past Kamehameha Day Parades a few years ago. Photo by Cheryl Wong

Her first concern, she said, is safety. There are many things that can go wrong, a rider can get buckled off the horse, a horse can run into the crowd, and someone can get seriously injured. Once, someone walked behind a horse right before the start of the parade, and got kicked in the leg, resulting in an exposed fracture.

But Lori said every single person she asked to ride in her units were experienced horse riders. If someone would get into trouble, they would know how to catch the horse and save the day.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no Kamehameha Day Parade and Ho‘olaule‘a last year, and there won’t be one this year. But the Kaua‘i Museum will still celebrate this rich cultural tradition with an exhibit and demonstrations.

“The exhibit titled ‘Pā’ū, a Hawaiian Tradition’ marks the grand opening of Kaua‘i Museum’s Exhibit Center on June 3, 2021. This month-long celebration pays tribute to the traditions of the pā‘ū riders, the equestrian women horseback riders, and their use of the pā‘ū skirt,” Chock said.

The exhibit will feature pāʻū riders of past parades, the art of wrapping the pāʻū skirt around the women and also a lei demonstration for both the women and the horses, according to Chock.

“There will be several Hawaiian organizations and societies that will be presenting a special lei draping ceremony,” he said.

Cheryl and Lori will conduct a demonstration of the pā’ū tradition, including wrapping and tying the skirt, at the museum’s courtyard. Guests will be able to see and learn this unique art.

The pāʻū exhibit at the Kaua‘i Museum starts June 3, and will last the whole month. The Draping of Lei honoring Kamehameha and demonstrations will be June 11 at the Kaua‘i Museum Courtyard from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Visit www.kauaimuseum.org for more information.