Indigenous culture
Indigenous cultures have developed over many generations to guide humans toward sustainably thriving in a particular place. Examining Hawaiian values can give insight into an indigenous approach to life that may be applied anywhere in the world.1
Indigenous cultures focus on teaching people how to be self sufficient contributing members of their community. Their community extends beyond just humans and includes all of nature. We live indigenously by being self actualized authentic individuals who participate in a system that unifies all life with the land.
Whatever you’ve been doing until now has been good enough to have kept you alive. Just being alive already proves that you are a strong, adaptable, and resilient being. And, we all have potential to be more. Living your best life does not mean merely surviving, or living an easy frictionless life. Challenging situations are opportunities for individuals and communities to grow stronger, learn new skills and adapt. Living indigenously can activate your potential to purposefully improve your life and all life around you.
Place, connection, ritual
Indigenous culture seeks to enhance the function of natural systems to create a balanced state of abundance. Living indigenously means nurturing the land to make it abundant enough to nourish us as a part of an ecological system. It can be described as being rooted in three foundational elements: place, connection, and ritual.
Place
An indigenous culture is defined by its location. What makes a culture indigenous is that it is guided and molded over generations to exist in harmony with a specific place. The way people live is shaped to fit in their land and its climate.
The first step toward living indigenously is to recognize our connection with land where we live. We are part of nature. Everything we do is part of nature. All of our cities, technology, and science are also part of nature.
Connection
Indigenous people identify with the place where they live. The land and all of its inhabitants form an interconnected community called an ecosystem. Each individual living being contributes to the functioning and abundance of the ecosystem as a whole. Living indigenously means participating in the ecosystem in a way that enhances its abundance.
Ritual
The connection between people and their ecosystem is expressed in rituals. Rituals are life activities that are carried out with sacred purpose. Rituals are carefully developed by generations of people. They mindfully preserve the continuity of practices and connection to a place.
Hawaiian language
Hawaiian words are necessary to understand Hawaiian ideas. Learning a different language is not just finding different ways to say words we already know. Language is a window that frames a way of seeing the world. We become able to think new thoughts when we expand our language. Words from a different language have different root meanings that connect to other ideas and words in unique ways.
It’s important to explore the Hawaiian language to begin to experience the Hawaiian way of seeing the world. The few Hawaiian words and phrases in this book are and invitation to continue exploring the beauty and depth of the Hawaiian language.
Pronunciation
Please take time to slowly say Hawaiian words if you are unfamiliar with them. Pronunciation of Hawaiian is relatively straightforward.2 The consonant letters are pronounced pretty much the same as in English.3 Vowels are pronounced similarly to Spanish or Japanese:
| A | like a in | above |
| E | like e in | wet |
| I | like y in | salty |
| O | like o in | bone |
| U | like oo in | noon |
Many Hawaiian words sound similar to each other and can be confusing. The diacritical marks of the ‘okina (glottal stop) and kahakō (macron) are important for non-fluent speakers to distinguish written words from each other.
‘okina = ‘ can be read as a slight pause like in the interjections: uh‘oh or a’ha!
kahakō = — is a macron above vowels that emphasizes and extends their reading:
| Ā | like a in | far |
| Ē | like ay in | way |
| Ī | like ee in | tree |
| O | like o in | hole |
| U | like oo in | moon |
Hawaiian words can be an intimidatingly long series of letters. Most of the longer words can be divided into smaller component words. Sometimes words will be hyphenated in this book to help explain their etymology and show their component words. Just be aware that the hyphenation does not always match common pronunciation.4
People living in Hawai‘i are fortunate to be surrounded by the Hawaiian language. A simple way to start building your vocabulary is to learn the meanings of places around you. Even the smallest most informal effort to experience another language will expose your mind to a new world.
‘Āina, Aloha, Mālama
Some cards have a strip of colored bark cloth called kapa. To make kapa, the long fibers from the bark of the paper mulberry, wauke in Hawaiian, are fused by beating them together into sheets of a durable thick cloth-like product. Part of pounding process can include embossing patterns into the fibers. Kapa made from wauke is a bright white that can be dyed in brightly colored natural pigments. Kapa is used like cloth for clothing, bedding, and ceremonial wrappings.5
Hanafuda Pilina has three cards with writing on kapa strips. The words are ‘āina, aloha, and mālama. These words are reminders of the importance of place, connection and ritual. Each word is an expression of a particularly Hawaiian view of the world. The Hawaiian language helps to express an indigenous way of connecting with the Hawaiian land.
The following explanations of the words include associated plays on the words. Wordplays, puns, and allusions are commonly used in Hawaiian communication. The wordplays do not necessarily follow the etymological roots of the words. Etymological roots of words are only one way to embed and layer meaning into words. Plays on words can introduce concepts into words from unrelated words with similar sounds.
The wordplays are not definitions, but rather colloquial stories about the words. Many of the included wordplays are modern ways of explaining the meaning of Hawaiian words to English speakers. The wordplays illustrate how even a single word can become a layered story. It also shows how Hawaiian culture is alive, constantly growing and adapting.
‘Āina
The first word, ‘āina, means land. The ‘āina is the foundation of all life. It was here before us, and will continue after us. It’s important to become aware of ourselves as unified with the land, soil, plants, animals, in a single ecosystem. We can only live sustainably by strengthening the ecosystem where we live.
There is a Hawaiian proverb that says that the land is the master, and the people are its servants.6 We have to allow a place to shape our culture. People cannot survive by dominating the land, we must serve the land to receive its bounty.
‘Āina is often connected to the word ‘ai when describing its meaning. ‘Ai means “to eat.” A play on the word ‘āina is ‘ai-nā, which can be read to mean “those which nourish.” This reading emphasizes our interdependence with all of the other lifeforms in our local ecosystem. All of the individual components of our environment work together to create an ecosystem.
Aloha
Aloha is most commonly translated as “love.” Too often, we confuse love with wanting to possess or consume something. To love ice cream is not aloha. Confusing love with wanting can lead to a careless selfish attitude, where anything can be disposable when something better comes along.
Aloha is an act of creating unity and harmony. Aloha is a conscious choice to love unconditionally, with empathetic compassion. Everything is precious because it is connected to everything else. Aloha is the grateful receiving and free giving that connects us to the world outside of ourselves.
One play on words used to describe the word aloha is to split it into two other words, “alo” and “hā.” Alo is the front of something and presence. A definition of hā is breath, as in breath of life and prayer. Alo describes the intentional nature of aloha. Hā is the action of breathing and sharing a common atmosphere.
Air is all around us. We need air to live. We breathe air in and out of our bodies. Breathing circulates life energy through our bodies and out into the world. “Alo-hā” is the intentional circulating of life energy in the world.
When we feel a connection through aloha, we no longer feel separation. When you take care of the outside world, you care for yourself. When you care for yourself, you care for the world. There is no ranking or distinction between one thing and another, everything is worthy of aloha. Practicing aloha ‘āina is to love the land as part of yourself.
Mālama
Mālama means to care for, protect, honor and serve. Mālama is more than just the act of protecting or maintaining. It is an attitude and way of living.
There are several plays on the word mālama that can be used to explain its meaning. The fist syllable “mā” can be read as a contraction of the word ma‘a. Ma‘a means to know thoroughly and practice as a habit. The second part, “lama” means torch, light, and suggests enlightenment. Mā-lama can be read as habitually shining with the light of enlightenment. To mālama is to habitually act with awareness and aloha.
Other like sounding words have similar connotations. “Malama”7 means the moon, and “malamalama” is the light of knowledge. “Ma lama” can be read as, “in the light.” All of these readings imply being the source of radiance.
We can think of Mālama as our daily rituals that radiate an enlightened nature that is aware of our connection to the ‘āina. We ma‘a the lama, we make our enlightened nature familiar and habitual.
Big changes start with small steps. Rituals are mindful habits that we treat as sacred. They can be part of a personal commitment to connect our daily actions to deeper spiritual meaning.
Footnotes
- Vine Deloris Jr., God is Red (Wheat Ridge, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing, 2023) This book describes an indigenous American Indian view of religion. It’s interesting to compare them with indigenous Hawaiian beliefs. ↩︎
- A detailed pronunciation guide can be found in: Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986) ↩︎
- Sometimes W is pronounced as V. There aren’t consistent rules for this. Just be aware that if someone says, “Ha.vai‘i” the word is still spelled Hawai‘i. Some dialects also replace K with T, and L is replaced with R. ↩︎
- For example: the place Kaimukī means Ka-imu-kī (the ti root ovens), but it is pronounced “Kai.mukī.” ↩︎
- Kapa can be made from many different plant fibers, but Hawaiian wauke kapa is considered to have especially fine quality. Japanese Hanafuda cards have paper strips called tanzaku. Japanese washi paper is made from the same paper mullberry plant as Hawaiian wauke kapa. ↩︎
- Mary Kawena Pukui, ‘Ōlelo No‘eau Hawaiian Proverbs & Poetical Sayings (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1983), #531 “He ali‘i ka ‘āina; he kauwā ke kanaka.” [translation] The land is a chief; man is its servant. Land has no need for man, but man needs the land and works it for a livelihood. ↩︎
- Notice there is no kahako in “malama” (moon) versus “mālama” (to care for) ↩︎
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