‘O wāhi mai e Kū

Kū teaches us to be undivided within ourselves, to be disciplined in our prayers, intentions, and actions, and to focus with all of our senses. To embody the balance, the equilibrium, and the synergy that comes with the awareness that this practice brings.

There was a moment during the Wehe Kū Ceremony while we welcomed in this season with the sound of the pahu that an overwhelming emotion of gratitude filled my entire being. As my hands met the skin on the drum, I lifted my thanks to the ancestors for their guidance and their protection. I gave thanks to my lineage who lived and loved through the generations for choosing me as a their descendant - hānau ‘ia he Hawai’i, born kanaka maoli. I gave thanks to those who came before the ones whom I had the deep honor of chanting with in this ceremony for manifesting in this realm this time around together. I gave thanks for all of our teachers who brought us to that very moment of sacred protocol and ritual. I gave thanks for every person who passed down the teachings of our people so that we could be there that day on that very shoreline beneath Pu’u Koholā to greet the Gods and Goddesses of this land that we are born from.

I am proud of our people and all of ways we still know who are and all of the ways we still find ourselves in the chants that were left for us over and over again despite this illegally occupying governing system that wishes we would forget.

We are still here.
Still chanting.
Still praying.
Still ceremonies.
Still loving.
Still knowing.

Still Hawai‘i.

‘O wāhi mai e Kū