I've always been close to people who surf, fish, and dive in Hawaii, and they use a spectrum of Hawaiian words to describe the many conditions of their beloved ocean. (My youngest daughter Kai is a bodyboarder and diver, and her full Hawaiian middle name refers to white sea foam reaching the shore.)
I love the names for moods of the ocean, but I've always paid more attention to Hawaiian descriptions of winds. So many of them are mentioned in chants and songs, winds specific to places in the islands.
Just learned of another one in Carlos Andrade's newly published book (from University of Hawaii Press, www.uhpress.hawaii.edu). The book is Haena: Through the Eyes of the Ancestors.
Ha'ena is a beautiful district in northwestern Kauai. Limahuli is a valley in Ha'ena. It's also the name of a wind associated with the valley. Here's Dr. Andrade's narrative:
Limahuli contains one of two major streams in Ha'ena. Two words, lima and huli, make up the name. Though several meanings are possible, lima, meaning hand, can also be interpreted as to turn or to search. The wind is turbulent in Limahuli, which is made up of three distinct areas. The first, farthest inland section is a high, hanging valley dropping over a steep pali (cliff), into the second section, an inner valley, separated from the third, outer section by an intersecting ridgeline. The valley walls are high on both sides, causing the wind entering it to spill over, spinning and tumbling. Swirling wind currents ricochet around inside those three sections of the valley,turning and ruffling the vegetation--like an invisible hand probing slopes and ravines.
Now that's a wind! Dr. Andrade describes other winds of Ha'ena as well.
Besides being an author, Carlos Andrade is a Kauai native, an associate professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, composer ("Moonlight Lady"), a slack-key guitar master, a member of the musical group Na Pali (described by one reporter as a seldom-seen but legendary group) and a former crewmember of the Hokule'a Polynesian voyaging canoe.
Next month, on Tuesday Nov. 25 at 7:30pm, Carlos Andrade will join me for a conversation on LONG STORY SHORT on PBS Hawaii.
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