In a ceremony marked by the pomp and circumstance of Hawaiian royalty, King Kamehameha the Great was memorialized yesterday as a noble ali'i who remembered his akua and his warriors in his duty to unite his people.

The procession and observance, held under sunny skies fronting the lei-draped statue of King Kamehameha I at Ali'iolani Hale opposite 'Iolani Palace on King Street, featured about 60 members of the Daughters and Sons of Hawaiian Warriors — Mamakakaua — and was a visual and aural flashback to olden times.

Participants wore black mu'umu'u with yellow feather lei, white mu'umu'u with red and yellow capes and black suits with red and yellow capes, representing the hues of royalty and stepping out of the history books with a sense of duty, an act of tradition.

The program, from invocation to tribute to chant, was entirely in the Hawaiian language without amplification.

Kuhina nui EiRayna Adams, also known as Kaleipolihale, delivered the tribute in the native tongue in a soft-spoken voice — a tradition that started in 1921 to honor the king who conquered the Islands and established the kingdom of Hawai'i in 1810.

"I was speaking of how Kamehameha remembered his gods, his generals and the people he fought against — his greatest conquest," said Kaleipolihale after the ceremony.

She said Kamehameha, who established residency in Nu'uanu, was a visionary. "He wanted to mend and build the nation," she said. So he planted taro for poi, developed farms and established a fishing culture.

Kaleipolihale wore the customary black mu'umu'u, accessorized with a large carved fishhook; she wore an authentic black and yellow lei po'o on her head that previously was worn by her great-grandmother and grandmother in similar royal processions. "Might be 'o'o and mamo," she said of its origins — a black honey eater and black Hawaiian honey creeper.

"I love to get into the culture, to see this full-dress uniform production," said Bill Madigan, 64, one of two dozen spectators clustered on the sidewalk, observing a bit of history. "I'm all for keeping the culture alive," he said, clutching his camera.

Madigan lives in the housing for elderly on nearby Queen Street; he said he started attending the holiday event honoring Kamehameha after regularly attending what he called "the Stone Church," a block 'ewa of Ali'i-olani Hale. "I can't pronounce the church's name (Kawaiaha'o) so I use the original name."

Kaleipolihale said her role of kuhina nui, equated to that of prime minister, also is rooted in history. "My grand-aunt was a kuhina nui for more than 40 years," she said. "It's stylish, elegant — but I was petrified when I first started."

The Hawaiian societies, comprised of elders and younger members, used to number in the hundreds, she said. "Now our numbers are down, so we need to replenish. We're still dutiful, however — happily dutiful."

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.