On the eve of Makahiki, the ancient Hawaiian New Year festival, I stood on the summit of Mt. Haleakala in a memory that seems like a dream. As close to the stars as you can get (9700 feet), I chanted a blessing with a good friend and cultural mentor, Daniel Kanahele. The seven sisters rose in all their brilliance and the moon lit up the desolate landscape, leaving us wondering what planet we could have been transported to.
Holiday time is upon us and there are lots of reasons to celebrate, but one you might not know about is Makahiki, which begins November 17th with the rising of Pleiades at the same time as the setting of the sun.
The ancient Makahiki festival, in honor of the Hawaiian god Lono, spanned four consecutive lunar months (approximately November-February), during which no work was allowed and war was forbidden (kapu). It was celebrated in three phases. The first phase was a time of spiritual cleansing and making ho’okupu, offerings to the gods. The second phase was a time of celebration, dancing, sports, singing and feasting. The third phase was a time to pay taxes.
In our celebration of the eve of Makahiki, Daniel took me on the road less traveled. The summit of Haleakala (Kolekole) is sacred to Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiians). Believed to be the home to 40,000 Hawaiian gods and goddesses, the summit is near to wao akua, a level of earth stratosphere where gods and goddesses are believed to reside and culturally guide everyday living. We proceeded through the gates and past the prohibited signs to the two sacred altars built within the 18-acre Science City, home to about a dozen observatories and numerous large and small telescopes, some of which are owned by the U.S. Air Force and remain top secret.
Credit: Rob Ratkowski
Daniel spoke to me about the federal government’s Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), a proposed project that would bring the world’s largest optical solar telescope to the top of Haleakala, a 143-foot tall telescope with a 13-foot-diameter main mirror that would help provide the sharpest views ever of the sun. The telescope is highly controversial due to the continued desecration of a sacred location, as well as the additional environmental, cultural and ecological ramifications that would accompany the construction of a project of this capacity.
How do you mitigate spirituality? That was a question that Daniel posed to me as we sat behind the altar that is slated to be destroyed by the building of the telescope. As we sat and watched the Pleiades rise higher into the night sky, a bright laser burst over our heads from a nearby building, directed straight into space like a scene from a Star Wars movie. And I wondered….what is really important in the grand scheme?
It seems like my life has turned into a sequence of “firsts…” since I moved to Hawai’i: the first time I jumped off a waterfall, my first time standing at the end of a rainbow, my first baptism at a fish pond, the first time I scaled down a cliff, my first time as a minority, the first time I ate a purple potato…the list goes on and on. A laser being shot over my head into space was for sure a first. But by far the most enlightening part of moving to Hawai’i has been my introduction to the Hawaiian culture and learning about the spiritual base of living and loving that was the backbone of ancient Hawaiian practices. The sharing of mana (life force) between people, animals, plants and the heavens is a concept that is simple and beautiful: embracing the circle of life both in this world and those beyond in a way that is whole, authentic and powerful. To be welcomed into Hawai’i comes with a responsibility to hold and respect the Hawaiian spirit.
As we enter into Makahiki, embrace your right to cleanse of the past and open to the future. But think carefully of what that means to you, and the people who will come after you.
During this time of spiritual cleansing, this is an informative video discussing some of the destructive effects of the proposed Advanced Technology Solar Telescope on the spiritual practices of Native Hawaiians, addressing some thoughts surrounding the mitigation efforts of the telescope project. As an avid supporter of technology, education and economic development, I stand in a place of reverent reflection on the subject. The key that Daniel has taught me is “kama’aina”: that we acknowledge, respect and reflect, becoming acquainted and familiar with the issues and cultures that are active in our communities.
