FINDING YOUR WAY

The Polynesians were a voyaging people with a vast knowledge of nature. Every element of nature was looked at to discover its truth. The skies were studied and memorized by kilo hoku and used by navigators to voyage to Kahikinui. If a bird could venture out over the vast sea, then so could man.I was fortunate enough to be a student of Kumu Kalei Tsuha Nuuhiwa when she taught a Hawaiian Astronomy class at Maui Community College. Classes were 90 minutes, twice a week, delivered in 12 short weeks. We could only skim the surface of a science that our ancestors began at a very young age , with daily observations and from elders generations of knowledge.How many of us modern wayfinders can read the skies like our ancestors. We rely so heavily on modern technology that many of us would literally be lost in the dark if there were a power outage. The skies have not changed and remain to be discovered by the naked eye.The Hokule'a Voyage was a great undertaking that involved many persons working together to rediscover a lost art. Artist Herb Kane, Tommy Holmes and Ben Finney designed the canoe they believed similar to our ancestors. Imagine being in the middle of the largest ocean in the world using only stars to navigate to a distant land. The Polynesian Voyaging Society set out to prove to the world the geniousness of our ancestors intelligence.The voyage to Tahiti was successful with the guidance of Mau Pialug of Satawal, Micronesia, who was one of the last traditional navigators of stars in the Pacific. His immense wealth of knowledge sailed Hokule'a into Papa'ete Harbor, Tahiti where they were astoundingly greeted by over half of the islands population, about 17,000. (When Hokule'a toured its own islands our people barely came out to pay their respects.)So I challenge everyone to continue the art of navigating by learning all that you can now. You may not necessarily navigate over the Pacific ocean to Tahiti tomorrow but you can prepare to navigate today to your dreams of tomorrow.
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  • Aloha e Alohilani -

    I saw your mom last night at the King Kekaulike basketball game. And we got to talking story about her travels. I was wondering if you are enrolled at MCC this semester, and if you would be interested in helping start a Intertribal Club on campus....the ultimate goal would be to sponsor a pow-wow in the fall? Hey if they can have a Maui Matsuri in May, why not a mini-powwow? Let me know,`kay?
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