Hawaiian World View - Ua ao ka po, ua eo ka po i ke ao . . .

Ua ao ka pō, ua eo ka pō i ke ao.

Welina me ke aloha e ku'u mau hoa pepeiao! Hawaiian world view. What does that mean? It means that our kūpuna had a unique way of viewing the world they lived in. This unique view is what separates Hawaiian culture from other cultures. It is what makes being Hawaiian so special. Let’s take some time to look at tidbits of our culture that help us to understand the Hawaiian world view. This requires each of us to ho'ā ka maka, open our eyes and look at the world through the eyes of our kūpuna. Today we look at the meaning of a short phrase in Hawaiian, Ua ao ka pō, ua eo ka pō i ke ao. The night has become daylight, the night has loss to daylight. Ao literally translates as day or light and pō translates as night. Ua ao ka pō, the night became light. Eo in this context translates as loss. Ua eo ka pō, the night has loss, i ke ao, because of the light or to the light. As our kūpuna observed the dawn of a new day they saw the darkness of night and the light of day in a battle of sorts. Both co-exist, but one becomes more dominant than the other, creating the diverseness of day and night. When pō loses the battle, dawn breaks and when ao loses the battle, night falls. This perspective takes us all the way back to the Kumulipo, the creation chant, where day or light and darkness or night is born.

‘O ka lipolipo, ‘o ka lipolipo, ‘o ka lipo o ka lā, ‘o ka lipo o ka pō.

Pō wale ho'i, hānau ka pō. Hānau kumulipo i ka pō he kāne, hānau pō'ele i ka pō he wahine.

It introduces us to Hawaiian dualism. We’ll talk more about duality in Hawaiian culture tomorrow. For now, think about the dawn of a new day and if you have a chance, put on your Hawaiian eyes and watch the sunrise.

Aloha nō, a hui hou! CLICK HERE to listen to and download the Morning Mana'o Podcast.