What is Hawaiian?

My passion in life is publishing accurate information about Native Hawaiian culture. But as a kupuna recently pointed out to me, we have to be clear about which Native Hawaiian culture we are speaking of. She divides it into the Hawaiian period (settlement to about 1250 CE), Tahitian (Pa’ao to Kamehameha), the Monarchy (1819 to 1893) and the American era (1893 to now). Most of what we know from Malo, Kamakau, Pukui, and other Hawaiian historians about “old Hawaii” is from the Tahitian period. For example, ali’i chiefs came to power only after Pa’ao. (If you do not know about Pa’ao, here is a place to start http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pa'ao)

I am sorry to say that I have not been as precise as necessary in my writing. I can only promise to be better in the future!

In a related development, a recent blog from a self-described “Huna lady” said, “There are no Native Hawaiians.” I wrote and asked her why she said that and she said because they came from somewhere else. Well, according to DNA research we are all originally African. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore all of the beautiful ways we have evolved and the diverse cultures of the world. So I will continue to write about the cultures that are uniquely Hawaiian.