Reid Ginoza at 17:05, 9 April 2006

2006-04-09T17:05:53Z

Jennifer Wada at 10:39, 8 March 2006

2006-03-08T10:39:36Z

New page

comes from a prayer to Laka, the
goddess of the hula, a deity s t i ll
invoked by many p r a c t i t i o n e r s of
Hawaiian dance. 14/
•0 Laka "oe,
(*ou are Laka, )
'0 ka wahine noho i ka lipo,
•Woman resting in the dark color,
[as in the deep sea or forest])
I ka uluwehi palai nei la e.
(In the lushness of the palai fern
here.)
R h o ' i . Ho'oulu ' i a.
(Return. Let there be growth/
i n s p i r a t i o n . )
The f i r s t thing to note is that the
prayer has words. From a t r a d i t i o n al
Hawaiian viewpoint, the Western
concept of s i l e n t prayer denies the
god-given human privilege of using
words. The prayer is also chanted,
which makes the words purposefully
more subtle, thu:? very personal, a
feature enhanced by the inclusion of
extra sounds such as Ya^ and <^. The
language in this short excerpt is not
much different from ordinary speech,
except for the use of a passive in the
l a s t line, a feature that does not
appear in the English t r a n s l a t i o n , but
which makes the language more formal
from a Hawaiian perspective.
There is considerable use of word
power in these l i n e s , although the
only obvious one in the above
t r a n s l a t i o n is the term ho'oulu
meaninq "to cause growth" and also
p o e t i c a l l y , "to i n s p i r e . " Word power
is also evident in the word uluwehi
(lushness), which contains the sound
ulu connected to ho'oulu. There is
also the word noho (rest upon, s i t ),
which is used in Hawaiian culture to
refer to the i n s p i r a t i o n of gods
accomplished t r a d i t i o n a l l y by their
coning to noho upon onp's shoulders
around the head *rhere one's essential
humanity is located. The whole pray*
is further complicated by tl e act »1
wearing of 1e: (or wehj, "crnamei*,"
as in uluwehi ! palai fern uj on ':<-
shoulders (the place of ins; Lratics )',
on the head (the place of basic
humanity), on the. feet (the .source )i
the movement of the .knee), and on t)
hands (which will interact with the
words of the dance, although not
always in a direct and blatant
one-to-one r e l a t i o n s h i p ) . The palai
is t r a d i t i o n a l l y thought of as a form
that Laka can assume and it grows in
the dark lushness of the forest (that
i s , l i p o ) . The lei actually brings
the goddess into physical union with
the dancer, not as a form of worship
but as a joint effoft of the dancer
and a s p i r i t member of the Hawaiian
people 'Laka), to honor those t i whom
the dance is being presented. All
t h i s symbol:-r in Hawaiian thinking
should help and strengthen the dancer,
and will be greatest in a subtle
chant, enabling the dancer to keeF
everything just under the surface for
the dancer as well as the audience.
The three examples jiven above '.re
very simple ones because Hawaiian
chants are verv long and car jontain
hundreds of lines. There ar« also
sagas with chanted dialogues, short
s t o r i e s , and books written ir. a
European ger.re 'much Like American?
attempting Japanese haiku poetry m
English), and of course nany sonas.
Hawaiian love songs are especially
i n t e r e s t i n g as there is strona
emphasis on subtle description and
personal responsi referr: nc ti places
v i s i t e d , occurrence of minor or major
events, humorous occasions, ad
infinitum. The song can be so
personalized that only the composer
and honored recipient can fully
understand the camouflaged Meaning
(kaona) of the song, although there is
a l s o a surface meaning that is poetic
and enjoyable in i t s e l f.
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Template:Nhsc-v1-180 - Revision history

Reid Ginoza at 17:05, 9 April 2006

Jennifer Wada at 10:39, 8 March 2006