Month: October 2023

For us all.

Let us intentionalize – kūkulukumuhana – together, 

our process of healing…. ourselves and our ʻāina aloha. 

Ku’una ka na’au.

The heart is relieved.

Manu Aluli Meyer

Konohiki – Kūlana o Kapolei

UH West Oahu

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Inez McPhee Ashdown on Laha-aina

….. Another thing I learned from the Hawaiians, particularly in the last years that I was a member of the Lahaina Hawaiian Civic Club, was that you donʻt say “Lāhainā” to mean “cruel sun.”  You combine “Laha” which is “prophecy,” and “ʻāina,” which is “land.” You say “Laha-aina,” and it means “land of prophecy.”   It is a much nicer name than the one we give to the tourists along with the story that says an old chief was going up a hill and he complained,  “Oh what a merciless sun: Lāhainā.” Donʻt say it that way. Say “Laha,” “Laha-aina.” Thatʻs what they taught me in the Hawaiian Civic Club…

As told to Kihei Desilva by Inez Ashdown at Kekūhaupiʻo Gym on the Kamehameha Schoolʻs Kapālama campus. 

September 3, 1985. Inez was 85 at the time.

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From pilialoha, Pulama Collier, of Maui…

Laha ʻĀina

He laha ʻāina ko kākou e mahi ai

Our ancestral land is the source of our strength

A point between two infinities in-between two stories – old and new. We are changing and expanding in correlation with our land. The inevitability of growth is certain. Therefore, clarity in our understanding, along with the purpose and meaning of our people, land and values is necessary for our salvation. Whereas people and land are of one essence, the stability and health of the two parallel each other.

During these times, let us turn our hands downward and work on ourselves through our land.

A laha ka ʻāina laha ke kanaka. The breadth of opportunities in learning, living and loving our beloved land is expanding at a rapid pace presenting us with accelerated answers and divine repositioning. The extension of our intentions during these times will be reflected in all of these spaces.

E ola ko Hawaiʻi i ka ʻāina.

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