The ancestors of the Hawaiian people were keen observers of the world around them, and applied that skill to the sky, as well as the earth. They developed systems for agriculture and navigation which used the motions of the celestial bodies as calendar and map.
Like many peoples around the world, from ancient times Polynesians have been guided by the stars. The constellations move in predictable rhythms across the sky, with mathematical precision, unchanging over the course of many human lifespans.
Weather patterns come and go, animals nest and fly, plants bloom and fruit, days lengthen and shorten. All these can be predicted by observing the movements of the stars, sun, and moon as if they are a great celestial almanac.
In the 1800s, Hawaiian people still retained the skill of observing the motions of stars, planets, and moon so accurately that “they judged the hours of the night quite as correctly as they did the hour of the day,” according to William Richards, writing in 1841.
In times past, the kilo lani (astronomers/astrologers) of Hawai‘i had an even more precise and vast knowledge of the heavenly bodies and their workings. In addition to applied astronomy, in which they used the sky to predict rains, determine planting seasons, and manage great fisheries, they also practiced astrology, examining the positions of the planets in relation to fixed stars and constellations to predict the success of various activities such as battles, major building projects, and the lives and deaths of high chiefs.
Using the sky as an almanac, time is measured by using both the moon and the fixed stars. According to David Malo, an eminent scholar of the early 19th century, “the ancients reckoned by nights instead of days. . . names were given to the different nights to correspond with the phases of the moon.
“Hoku,” the night of the full moon, is differentiated from “hōkū,” star. Poetically, “Mahina o Hoku” is a beautiful way to describe the moon on that night. When the full moon sets before daylight, it is called Hoku Palemo, “Moon that Slips Away.” When it sets after daylight, it is called Hoku Ili, “Stranded Moon.”
In some traditions, the month begins with the first glimpse of the new-born crescent moon above the western horizon. Being rather empirical in approach, some practitioners using the celestial “Hawaiian almanac” will adjust the name of the night to match the observed phase of the moon, though others name the days in order and then drop a day or two every few months.
In the tradition documented by Fornander, each month had 30 days, and there were twelve lunar months per year. This left the lunar and solar calendars out of synch by about five days, which was compensated for by making an adjustment at Makahiki, New Year, time.
Today, it can be confusing to reconstruct many of the ancient modes of codifying knowledge. Different islands, and even different districts on the same island, might have different names for the stars, constellations, and months. Sometimes practitioners of different fields of knowledge in one district might use different names for the same phenomena. For example, fishermen and farmers might use different names.
While some who are new to Hawaiian astronomical terminology find it confusing to learn the different names for the same phenomena, it is really not so different from the practice of people today. Messier 45, The Seven Sisters, and The Pleiades all are used in the English language in reference to the same star cluster. Remembering that, it is not strange that Hawaiian people might use Na-Huihui-o-Makali‘i (The Cluster of Makali‘i), Huihui-koko-a-Makali‘i-kau-i-luna (Makali‘i’s rainbow colored nets hung above), Na Wahine-o-Makali‘i (The wife of Makali‘i), Na-ka-o-Makali‘i (The bailers of Makali‘i), or Na-koko-a-Makali‘i (The nets of Makali‘i). The different names serve different purposes, encoding information such as how high above the horizon the cluster is, and the time of year it is seen over the Western horizon. To a seafarer, this information, combined with other signs, is important in navigation. For the farmer, it is important in determining times to plant, harvest, prepare irrigation, and plan other activities.
People came to the Hawaiian Islands in successive migrations, each bringing their own varients of traditions and, once settled, evolved those traditions to suit their new home.
These traditions were codified in oli (chants), mele (songs), and hula (dances). Many have been preserved in hālau hula (schools of traditional dance), in books, and in recordings. Some were lost, some have remained in continuous use, and some are being studied and brought back into use.
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