KEKAHA — The memory of Byron Hahn-Morin was honored as “A Life of Aloha” by family, friends and community on Sunday at the Kekaha Neighborhood Center. The 21-year-old Waimea man died on Nov. 14, from injuries he sustained in a
KEKAHA — The memory of Byron Hahn-Morin was honored as “A Life of Aloha” by family, friends and community on Sunday at the Kekaha Neighborhood Center.
The 21-year-old Waimea man died on Nov. 14, from injuries he sustained in a motorcycle accident while riding in Koloa that afternoon. He was remembered by hundreds of people that streamed in for an ongoing celebration from sun up to sun down.
Kauai Mayor Bernard P. Carvalho, Jr. presented a proclamation to declare Byron Hahn-Morin day on Dec. 8, 2013. He reflected on a life of music and a positive attitude toward life.
“It’s always a tragedy to lose someone at such a young age,” Carvalho said. “I was moved at the outpouring of aloha for this young man and to see how many lives he touched during his 21 years. Byron will surely live on in the spirit of aloha that continues to be shared by his extended ‘ohana.”
Reading from the proclamation, Carvalho said that Byron went out of his way to help others and worked hard to achieve his dreams.
Hahn-Morin was born in Kauai on Dec. 5, 1991. He leaves behind parents, Elizabeth Hahn, Ronald Morin, and siblings, Aaron Habermann, 43, of Kauai; Steven Han Morin, 23, of California; and Michele Ray, 44, of Portland. All were present at the event.
The memorial culminated with a Hawaiian honoring that totally blew me away, said Elizabeth Hahn. He brought together people from his two halau’s that loved and honored him.
“It was really a celebration of aloha, and that is about the easiest way to put it,” said Hahn. “It brought together a great diversity of people who had been touched by Byron’s life.”
Doric Yaris was Bryan’s first kumu hula teacher, who took him into his own family as a teenager when he befriended his own son. He became comfortable with the family and then part of his son’s band and then the halau.
Yaris was preparing to leave for Japan with 32 members of his Halau Hula O Haliileo. He was devastated and directed all the remaining students to attend the burial with the family and pledged to help organize the memorial when they returned.
The halau students took charge of the program that included food, entertainment, and a Moku Ku Aohao ancestral lineage reading for three generations.
“It went beautifully,” Yaris said.
Just before sunset everyone walked across the road to the beach for a Kaulilua chanting. The Hawaiian burial dedication trilogy is an official protocol to send a spirit over the horizon.
The Hawaiians believe that when people die their spirit travels over the crescent shaped Lehua island just west of Kauai. The spirit rests there, he said.
The chanter led the group in repeating the ceremonial He mu oia chant just as the sun touched the horizon and continued four times until the sun disappeared.
“The ceremony sends a soul into the sunset, but in reality the soul is closer to us with no separation rather than farther away,” Hahn said. “Everyone felt it and it was special.”
