By Leilehua Yuen
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“Position of the moon,” that is Kaulana Mahina. As Hawaiians, our months are the months of the moon. They follow her growth, her fullness, and her waning. We count our “days” from nightfall, Pō, the time of the moon. Or, perhaps, we really count them from moonrise, which changes, night by night, through the month.
But in this time of calendars and clocks, of fixation on fixing things in place, of quantifying and codifying, few have time to stand each night and watch for the moonrise to tell us where in the month we stand. And so we count the day as beginning when the sun sets.
And the month begins at the first sighting of the brand new sliver of a moon.
Nā Mahina – The Months
Our ancestors came to these islands in many migratory waves. You can hear the stories of their voyages in the koʻihonua, the genealogical chants, and moʻokūʻauhau, the family lineages, of the different ʻōhana.
While all were ultimately related through the first ancestors who lashed together the great waʻa which plied the waves, over time their traditions evolved to suit them as they traveled. By the time they reached Hawaiʻi, each had a slightly different interpretation of how to organize the daily changes in the face of the moon. Over the centuries they lived in Hawaiʻi, their way of marking time continued to evolve, depending on how they needed to organize their time to accomplish the tasks of their lives.
A fisherman and a farmer might use slightly different calendars – one needing to understand tides and currents and the biting of fish, and the other needing to understand the unfurling of leaves, the setting of fruit, and the ripening of tubers.
Because the lunar month is 29 days 12 hours and 44 minutes, instead of the 30-31 days of the Gregorian month, like the tides of the ocean, the Hawaiian months gently ebb and flow across the Gregorian calendar.
Though we have little landmass, our islands support a diverse ecosystem as complex as that of any continent. Perhaps moreso, as that diversity is compressed into such a small space and each island’s environment is unique.
The island of Hawai`i, the largest in the archipelago, has the greatest number of documented calendars, as well as the greatest number of climate zones and widest geographical spread, creating many different ecosystems in which people lived, hunted, farmed, and fished.
In Ka`ū, the year is counted as beginning in autumn, at the start of the rainy season, with Kā`elo marking the fourth month of the year and the ending of the heavy winter rains: `Ikuā, Welehu, Makali`i, Kā`elo, Kaulua, Nana, Welo, Ikiiki, Ka`aona, Hina i a `ele`ele, Māhoe Mua, Māhoe Hope.
In the large Kona district of Hawai`i Island, three different calendars are documented. Kalokuokamalie, who lived in in the late 19th and early 20th centuries at Napo`opo`o, Kona, Hawai`i, begins the year at the subsiding of the storms, around the Gregorian March. In his calendar, Kā`elo marks the beginning of the rainy season, rather than the end: Nana, Welo, Ikiiki, Ka`aona, Hina`ia`ele`ele, Mahoe Mua, Mahoe `E Lua, `Ikuā, Kā`elo, Makali`i, Welehu, Kaulua.
Kepelino, of approximately the same era, also lived in Kona, Hawai`i, but arranged the months a little differently. He began, possibly because of Western influence, in the Gregorian January: Makali`i, Kā`elo, Kaulua, Nana, Welo, Ikiiki, Ka`aona, Hinaia`ele`ele, Mahoe Mua, Mahoe Hope, `Ikuā.
A newspaper, published in 1906, provided another Kona variant, which began about October: `Ikuā, Welehu, Makali`i, Kā`elo, Kaulua, Nana, Welo, Ikiiki, Ka`aona, Hinaia`ele`ele, Māhoe Mua, Māhoe Hope.
The researcher Emerson documented a fifth Hawai`i Island calendar, from the Native Hawaiian historian David Malo, in the very early 1900s. Beginning in November, Malo’s calendar runs: Welehu, Makali`i, Kā`elo, Kaulua, Nana, Welo, Ikiiki, Ka`aona, Hina ia`ele`ele, Māhoe Mua, Māhoe Hope, and ʻIkuā.
For our purposes, we will use the calendar passed down by S.H.P. Kalawaiopuna in the October 12, 1895 edition of the Hawaiian newspaper, Nupepa Kuokoa.
The concordance with the Gregorian months is only approximate, as the Hawaiian months begin with the rising of the first sliver of the new moon, and end with the disappearance of the old. And rather than place nā mahina, the moons, within the context of the Gregorian months, we shall begin the year with Welehu, in which Nā-Wahine-o-Makaliʻi, the Pleiades, rises at sunset, and end the year with ʻIkuā, the boistrous voice of which resounds in its very name.
- Welehu – November
- Makaliʻi – December
- Kāʻelo – January
- Kaulua – February
- Nana – March
- Welo – April
- Ikiiki – May
- Kaʻaona – June
- Hinaiaʻeleʻele – July
- Mahoe Mua – August
- Mahoe Hope – September
- ʻIkuā – October
Nā Pō o ka Malama
The Hawaiian month is divided into three ʻanahulu, ten-day periods corresponding to the phases of the moon. The first ʻanahulu, Hoʻonui “growing bigger,” comprises the crescent waxing moon phases, the second, Poepoe “rounded”, comprises the phases in which the corners are rounded, and the third, Emi, “decreasing,” comprises the crescent waning moon phases.
Hoʻonui – Growing Bigger
- Hilo – “threadlike”
- Hoaka – “crescent”
- Kūkahi – The first day on which the moon is seen rising while the sun is ascending
- Kūlua – The second day on which the moon is seen rising while the sun is ascending, lua also is “half” and this is a half moon
- Kūkolu – The third day on which the moon is seen rising while the sun is ascending
- Kūpau – The last day on which the moon is seen rising while the sun is ascending
- ʻOlekūkahi – The first day the sun is descending while the moon is seen rising
- ʻOlekūlua – The second day the sun is descending while the moon is seen rising
- ʻOlekūkolu – The third day the sun is descending while the moon is seen rising
- ʻOlepau – The last day the sun is descending while the moon is seen rising
Poepoe – Rounded
- Huna – The sun is huna (hidden) from the round moon
- Mōhala – The Mōhala (unfolded, developed, shining forth) moon is fully developed
- Hua – A round object, a fruit, something that is fruitful is the name of this moon
- Akua – It is also the name for spiritual beings from gods to ghosts
- Hoku – The full moon. Note that it is not “hōkū,” a star. The Earth is between the tidal pulls of the Sun and the Moon, fishing is good
- Hoku palemo – “moon slipping away” the moon has gone before the sun rises
- Hoku ili – “Stranded moon” the moon remains stranded in the sky as the sun rises
- Māhealani – “Māhea,” hazy, like moonlight, and “lani,” heaven; the moon is seen through the night
- Kulu – To pass, as time. With Kulu, half of the month has now passed
- Lāʻaukūkahi – The moon remains in the sky during the day
- Lāʻaukūlua – The moon remains in the sky during the day
- Lāʻaupau – The moon remains in the sky during the day
Hoʻēmi – Decreasing
- ʻOlekūkahi – Another set of ʻOle days begins, almost an inverse of the Kū days
- ʻOlekūlua – These ʻOle days continue
- ʻOlepau – The last of this set of ʻOle days returns us to a half moon
- Kāloakūkahi – The first of the nights named for Kanaloa, the preeminent elemental of the Sea. The moon is moving closer to the sun, adding to its tidal pull. Kāloa nights are especially good for fishing
- Kāloakūlua – The second of the nights named for Kanaloa, the preeminent elemental of the Sea, it is especially good for fishing
- Kāloapau – The third of the nights named for Kanaloa, the preeminent elemental of the Sea, it is especially good for fishing
- Kāne – Devoted to the akua Kāne, a time of solemnity
- Lono – Devoted to the akua Lono, and yet said to still be under the kapu of Kāne, the solemnity remains
- Mauli – The name can mean a ghost or spirit, and this moon may or may not be seen. If it can be seen, look for its slim ghostly crescent leading the sun
- Muku – Amputated or cut off, the moon cannot be seen. It is so close to the sun that the illuminated surface is away from the Earth. Tomorrow it will rise later and we may see the slim crescent of the Hilo moon once again
If you would like to learn the names of the moons, this is a popular chant used in the schools. Click the title to see a video of it. I believe the mele was composed by Mary Kawena Pukui.
Mele Helu Pō – Night Counting Song
Kamali’i ‘ike ‘ole I ka helu po
Little children who cannot count the nights
Muku Nei, muku, ka malama
Muku is here, Muku the dark moon
Hilo nei, kau ka Hoaka
Hilo, followed by Hoaka
‘Eha ku, ‘Eha ‘ole, eae
Four ku, four ‘ole
Huna, Mohalu, Hua, Akua
Huna, Mohalu, Hua, Akua
Hoku, Mahealani, eae
Hoku Mahealani
Kulua
Kulua
Ekolu la’au, ekolu ‘ole, ekolu kaloa, eae
Three La’au, three ‘ole, three kaloa
Kane, lono, mauli eae
Kane, Lono, Mauli
For more on the Hawaiian sky, join our Patreon page, Hawaiian Stars
Or, follow us on Vella at Kaulana Mahina