Having only visited Maui and Kaua’i, I cannot speak for the
entire Hawaiian archipelago but on those two islands, and particularly Kaua’i, the
warmth and generosity of the Hawaiian culture is literally palpable. Upon
arrival, you are immediately greeted with that all-encompassing and beautiful
word – Aloha. Your first Aloha on Hawaii is delivered with genuine smiles,
warmth and most importantly welcome.
Aloha means significantly more
than ‘hello’. Curby
Hoikeamaka-Rule, a Hawaiian dedicated to furthering the understanding of Aloha
Spirit, recounts one of the ‘old teachings’ of early Hawaiians:
Aloha is
being a part of all, and all being a part of me. When there is pain - it is my
pain. When there is joy - it is also mine. I respect all that is as part of the
Creator and part of me. I will not willfully harm anyone or anything. When food
is needed I will take only my need and explain why it is being taken. The
earth, the sky, the sea are mine to care for, to cherish and to protect. This
is Hawaiian - this is Aloha!
Embedded in Aloha is commitment to balance – a system that
is sometimes also used to describe Huna,
an ancient way of thinking about the earth and its beings. For Hawaiians,
living on a remote archipelago of relatively small islands, this meant devising
complex resource management systems for living off the land and the sea, taking
only what was needed with an eye to the needs of future generations and working
in tribal groups to provide food and shelter for all who would help. Young
Hawaiians grew up being told “if you help, you eat”.
As island life encouraged
and was dependent on a cooperative culture for food and safety, sharing
became a very important part of the culture. These intrinsic cultural values of
environmental stewardship and cooperation were passed down through oral
traditions that included songs, storytelling and dance. These values and ways
of existing varied little among the various islands of the archipelago even though each island had its own unique governmental systems.
At the time Captain Cook arrived on the Islands, the
archipelago was divided into monarchies which had been consolidated into island
groups. These kingdoms were briskly trading with each other and even other Pacific Polynesians. By 1795 King Kamehameha's monarchy consisted of all islands but Kauai and the King had banished the old Kapu system of
behavior which particularly discriminated against women.
With this abandonment, Hawaiians largely gave up their belief in their
ancient polytheistic gods and Missionaries brought Western culture and Christianity to the Islands in 1820,
the Christian god, with his rules and Commandments, quickly filled the void. To this day, Hawaiians are very religious and a
tour guide may start his or her visitors’ tours with syncretic prayer that blends the ancient beliefs with the Missionaries Christian God, praising and thank God for the gift of the Islands and asking safety for the guests on the tour (as did our tour
guide in Maui on the Road to Hana).
The missionaries also brought something else to the
monarchies - written language. By then the monarchies were already
enthusiastically engaged in trade with western countries and readily assisted
the missionaries in building schools so their subjects could learn to read and
speak English. The missionaries also developed an alphabet to capture the
previously oral Hawaiian language. In 1896, the Hawaiian population was one of
the most literate in the world.
Eventually, even with the development of the Hawaiian
alphabet, the Hawaiian language was abandoned as English became the legal
language of public education in Hawaii. Dancing the hula, which had been forbidden by
the very conservative missionaries who had introduced Christianity to the
Hawaiians, along with much of the accompanying traditional chants and instruments became a lost art. Western cultural values began to overcome the Aloha mind.
By then, Western entrepreneurs had begun to turn their attention to the
verdant valleys of the volcanic archipelago and much of the cooperative subsistence cultures on the islands
were lost to large corporate plantations of sugar and pineapple. Native rights to tribal
lands were severely limited and Hawaiians started working for pay in the
sugar, pineapple and taro farms, losing their intimate connection to the land, a historical connection that informed their very cultures and ways of belonging and behaving in groups.
The Aloha Mind, however, though submerged by Western
culture, was never entirely lost. After Hawaii became the 50th State
in March 1959, Hawaiian culture began a slow reemergence. Hawaiians began to reclaim their culture, and interest in ancient indigenous arts and skills was rekindled. In the early 70s, an
Oahu based artist named Herb Kane, deeply interested in ancient Polynesian
sailing, began a giant country-wide effort to revive the lost ancient skills of
building sea-worthy outriggers as well as navigating, route-finding and wayfaring.
These ancient skills had been completely lost to Hawaii but with the help of
native Micronesian Mau Pialiug, Kane and other sailing enthusiasts were able to
launch the Hokule’a, a double-hulled outrigger built in the traditional way, on March 8, 1975 for its first visit to the other islands of Hawaii. At its first
port, Honolua Bay on Maui, it was met with enormous enthusiasm by the
public. Kane’s efforts to revive Polynesian voyaging were credited with
lighting the fire under what was to become known as the Hawaiian
Cultural Renaissance. In 1978, just a few years after the launching of the
Hokule’a and over 80 years since English was given legislative status as the
‘official’ language of Hawaii, the state’s constitution was amended and the
study of ‘Hawaiiana’ was accorded special promotion by the state (timeline
provided by http://www.summ.org/tj/hi-report/timeline.htm).
The Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance would continue into the 80s with the first ‘immersion
school’ opening on Kauai to encourage knowledge of the culture and language
of Hawaii. Soon others were to follow on the other islands. Old ones still
adept at making ropes and leis began teaching a new generation of craftsmen and
women. And classes in hula, the quintessential Hawaiian dance and story-telling, once again were
offered in cultural centers.
Natives are once again proud of their heritage and eager to
share it. Most visitors to the Islands will attend at least one ‘luau’, a
traditional dinner and celebration of dance and culture. We did. What we
witnessed and experienced in Old
Lahaina Luau felt much more than just theater and entertainment to the
dedicated and talented dancers and musicians at the luau. It was evident in their
descriptions and their movements that these ancient arts are ways they demonstrate their pride in their heritage.
As a visitor to the Islands, it is hard not to be caught up
in the Aloha Mind. It is much easier, even briefly, to let the island pace and
courtesies flow into your own experience of Hawaii and then to want to carry
that mindset back to the mainland. And when you get back, you might even wish
for opportunities to share the Aloha Mind, with its beautiful ‘aloha’ and
‘mahalo’ with your friends and family back on the mainland, remembering and teaching others that "The earth, the sky, the sea are mine to care for, to cherish and to protect."
