... is synonymous with the women of Ni'ihau. This traditional song
and proverb compares the highly prized Ni'ihau shell necklaces to a rare
bred of beautiful people. Found only on Ni'ihau island, these rare pearls
are born on oysters imbedded in our reefs. High surf and sand action stir
open these oysters and wash the shells on to our shores.We then pick them
individually from the tideline and bring them home to be fashioned into
beautiful works of art.
Ni'ihau shells are brought to shore by the winter storms when the surf
is high. The women of the Ni'ihau families spend long hours combing the
beaches by hand to painstakingly gather the shells.
The women gather all the familiar sizes, shapes and colors of shells that
they find. Later, they will be sorted by type and color. For the rare
colors, it may take many seasons of collection or the kokua between families
to collect enough to make a single lei.
While the younger women are the primary collectors of shells at the beach,
it is the older women who have perfected the craft into an art form. Each
generation learns from their kupuna, who lovingly pass on the techniques
from parent to child, and then to grandchild.
The effort required to make a Ni'ihau lei is high. Each shell must be
cleaned by hand of all sand grains. Shells are then sorted by color and
type, and the lei maker decides what style lei they intend to create.
The shells must be pierced in a certain way depending on the style of
lei to be made. Piercing is a delicate matter, as although the shells
are strong, their small size makes piercing difficult. Many shells will
be broken and discarded during the piercing process.
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