For four generations, Hawaiian people were told that their ancestors had come to the Hawaiian Islands by accident, that they had drifted to Hawaiʻi on rafts which had been lost at sea.

We were told this, even though the histories of our kūpuna, our ancestors, clearly told the stories of how Polynesians had first come here. But our parents and grandparents were told, “No, your stories are imaginary. They could not possibly have happened.”

In the 1960s and 1970s, more and more Hawaiians started hunting for ways to learn if our own histories were true. One way was by copying the voyages our histories said our ancestors had made. In 1976, a group of people in Hawaiʻi set sail on the canoe Hōkūleʻa, and proved that the great voyages that our histories described were, indeed, possible!

To travel such vast distances, the navigators of ancient times used many clues offered by the world around them. The directions the sun, moon, and stars traveled, that the clouds moved, that the ocean swells rolled. They noticed that changing colors of clouds indicated land or open ocean. They knew that birds could only fly so far before needing to rest on the land, and that the birds flew away from land in the morning and toward land in the evening. They smelled the changing scent of the air as it blew across the land or sea. They felt the movement of the canoes change depending on the type of swell of wave washing against the hull. All these clues and more told them where they were, and how to find where they were going.

Among the methods used by our ancestors to navigate the Pacific Ocean was memorizing the movement of the stars. To help them do this, they created imaginary lines from star to star. These Star Lines helped them remember where and when the different stars would rise and set, and the paths the stars would travel across the sky. The stars were then used as guides to help them travel from place to place.

The star lines on the wall at Visitor Information Station are among those used today by Hawaiian navigators. The star field is what would be seen about 9:00 at night on November 17, if the wall and all obstructions to the horizon were invisible.

November 17 was chosen, because it is on that night that we look to Nā Wahine o Makaliʻi, or Makaliʻi, rising just after sunset as a sign that the new year will soon begin. After Makaliʻi rises, we begin to look for the first slim crescent of the new moon rising in the dawn sky. In 2018, that will be December 9. That night, Makahiki, the Hawaiian New Year, begins.

Hawaiian Planets, Stars, and Constellations

Hawaiian planets, stars and constellations may be known by several different names. Sailors may use one name, farmers another, and priests yet another. The name may be different to describe the time of night the object is visible, or the angle above the horizon at which it is seen.

The first major astronomical object we see in the evening of November 17 is Nā Wahine o Makaliʻi (The Wives of Makaliʻi). This tiny beautiful constellation is also also known as Na kā o Makali‘i (The Bailers of Makali‘i), Na kōkō a Makali‘i (The Nets of Makali‘i), Nā Huihui o Makali‘i (“The Cluster of Makali‘i”), and Huihui Kōkō a Makali‘i Kau i Luna (“Makali‘i’s Rainbow Colored Nets Hung Above”). People often shorten the name to simply be “Makaliʻi.” A renowned constellation in virtually all cultures, in Japanese it is known as Subaru, in Greek Pleiades, in Chinese Mǎo, and by many other names in other cultures.

It is followed by Makaliʻi (Eyes of the Chief), also known in Hawaiian as Hōkūʻula (Red Star) and in Greek as Aldebaran. In one story, the triangular asterism above Makaliʻi is Peʻa, the sail of Makaliʻi’s canoe.

The next object to rise in the evening sky is Hōkūlei (Stars Rising like a Cloud). The name is given both to the star known in Greek as Capella, and to the constellation known in Greek as Auriga.

Lanalana (Spider), named Orion in Greek, accompanies Hōkūlei. The markings on the spiderʻs back are named Nā Kao (The Darts). In the Greek constellation, they are Orion’s belt and sword. Lanalana walks along her thread, the celestial equator. Kaʻawili (To Writhe), is the first star in Nā Kao to rise. It is right beside the equator. Finding the equator gives the navigator a straight line to measure other angles from.

By knowing the angles of the Star Lines compared to the celestial equator, the navigator can “see” his or her position on the ocean in relation to the Star Lines.

To remember the Star line of Ke Kā o Makaliʻi (not Nā Kā o Makaliʻi), people can use mnemonics. Mnemonics are techniques to help us remember things. Poems are useful mnemonics. Here is a simple one to help us remember the order of the stars in Ke Kā o Makaliʻi.

Rising like a cloud is Hōkūlei in Ke Kā
Two stars follow Hōkūlei
Nānā-mua then Nānā-hope
Puana tells the refrain
ʻAʻā is attended by Kōkoko
Kōkoko looks to Kealiʻikonaikalewa

By memorizing how the stars are arranged on the Star Lines, and the angles the lines form with the horizon, navigators can accurately tell where they are.