Anela Evans
Cultural Practitioner
Anela Evans sings a melodic oli (chant) atop a cliff overlooking Puʻu Pehe on Lānaʻi’s south shore. She’s just come from her day job as a cultural practitioner, just a short hike from here. As she sings over this dramatic vista, she still wears her formal work suit. It’s a contrast that not only informs who she is, but the contradictions in Lānaʻi itself.
Evans was raised on Lānaʻi from birth. She grew up loving the hula but also loving to hunt deer. She rode horses on Kōʻele Ranch but also started driving on Lānaʻi’s dirt roads at 12 years old. On these holoholo (travels) – from the breathtaking, white sands of Polihua Beach to the rocky, alien landscape of Keahiakawelo (known as The Garden of the Gods) – her father would share the legends of this small island.
Even for Hawaiʻi’s locals, not much is known about Lānaʻi except for its Four Seasons Resort and its pineapple plantation past. But Evans wants to change that. She wants locals and visitors to ʻike maka, or “see with one’s own eyes” the Lānaʻi that she loves.
Evans was raised on Lānaʻi from birth. She grew up loving the hula but also loving to hunt deer. She rode horses on Kōʻele Ranch but also started driving on Lānaʻi’s dirt roads at 12 years old. On these holoholo (travels) – from the breathtaking, white sands of Polihua Beach to the rocky, alien landscape of Keahiakawelo (known as The Garden of the Gods) – her father would share the legends of this small island.
Even for Hawaiʻi’s locals, not much is known about Lānaʻi except for its Four Seasons Resort and its pineapple plantation past. But Evans wants to change that. She wants locals and visitors to ʻike maka, or “see with one’s own eyes” the Lānaʻi that she loves.
“We have places where you go and you step back in time.”
You spent some time away from Lānaʻi. What made you come back?
I lived away from Lānaʻi for about 10 years and I came back because I felt that it was my responsibility to help perpetuate the culture, both the Hawaiian culture and the unique culture of Lānaʻi and to educate people about what's so special about this island. I also felt that it's where I belong. It's where I feel most rooted and where I feel most at peace.
What makes Lānaʻi so special?
Lānaʻi is different from other islands because there is a lot of untouched beauty. We have places where you go and you step back in time. It's what it would look like, 200, 300 years ago. The entire island is off the beaten path.
Do people treat each other differently on such a small island?
We used to joke because my mom would go to the store and come home two hours later – and it's just the grocery store that's three minutes down the road. It's some social hour. It's where people get their information, it's where people talk story, and I think that feeling of one big family and knowing that everybody has everybody else's best interests and has an essential goodness in their hearts, that's what makes this place so special and that's how it really embodies aloha.
There was a big paniolo culture on Lānaʻi. What is a paniolo?
A paniolo is the Hawaiian word for "vaqueros" which is Spanish term for cowboy. My hānai grandpa was one of the last paniolo on Lānaʻi. When I was a child, I wanted to grow up to be a paniolo and to be a hunter. I wanted to do all the things that my dad and my papa did, you know. That, to me, was the ideal lifestyle.
“There's a saying in Hawaiian where you have to look to the past in order to move forward.”