Cape (clothing)

A cape ('ahu 'ula) consisting of bundles of yellow, red, and black feathers tied in overlapping rows to a netted foundation made of plant fiber (Touchardia latifollia). Mainly yellow, with a single large red crescent and small black and red triangles at the shoulders. Red feathers came from the scarlet honey creeper (Vestiaria coccinea) and a crimson and black honey creeper (Himatione sanguinea). Yellow feathers came from a black honey eater with yellow tufts under each wing (Acrulocercus spp.) or a black honey creeper with yellow feathers above and below the tail (Drepanis pacifica).

Feather cloaks and capes (ʻahuʻula) were important symbols of rank and sacred power in Hawaiʻi. Worn by high-ranking chiefs (aliʻi), they expressed chiefly authority, divine ancestry, and mana (spiritual power). Often worn with feathered helmets (mahiole), they were used during warfare, ceremonies, and other ritually significant occasions.

ʻAhuʻula were labor-intensive objects produced within systems of ritual restriction (kapu). Their olona-fiber foundations were carefully netted, and the valued red and yellow feathers contributed to the garments’ political and sacred significance. By the nineteenth century, feather cloaks had become prominent forms of chiefly regalia and visual displays of status before traditional featherwork production declined with the collapse of the Hawaiian chiefly system.