Hawaiian Culture Essay

For Native Hawaiians the entire universe and all things in it, including spirits, were natural. The land of the Hawaiian people had an abundant amount of natural resources to create materials and food to survive. The bones of their ancestral spirits were buried deep into the ground that generated food and possessed the spiritual energy to sustain families. Herb Kawainui Kane, an author and artist-historian with special interest in Hawai 'i and the South Pacific, states “Aumakua (Ancestral Spirits) could also take possession of living creatures. Unusual experiences with certain fish, birds, reptiles, insects or mammals may have led some Hawaiians to regard certain animals as forms favored by their ‘Aumakua. Thus it was believed that ancestral spirits could make appearances to express parental concern for the living, bringing warnings of impending danger, comfort in times of stress or sorrow, or in other ways being helpful.” This Hawaiian belief …show more content…
For example a group of Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners voyaged from Kaua’i to Mokumanamana, an island of paramount spiritual importance in Papahanaumokuakea for the summer solstice in 2007 reported “having seen clouds in very unusual formations: They appear almost human in form and resemble people walking toward the Northwest. These cloud formations are all signs that help the expedition members prepare mentally, physically and spiritually for the journey.” (Tsuha pg.22.) This natural encounter could imply a relationship between the ancestors through nature as a means of communicating to the people on that voyage. In this case those cloud formations could have stand for approval by their ancestors for their journey to sacred grounds. In fact, Native Hawaiians strengthen their spiritual mentality as they created deeper bonds with the land and earth because they learn to coexist with nature and its