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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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