This month’s Featured Content on Hawaii Health Matters comes from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Here’s an explanation of the title of this great resource on the health and well-being of Native Hawaiian women:
“Haumea, in particular, is a cherished ancestor to wāhine, as she is the matriarchal supreme being we know as the mother of Pele, Hi‘iaka, and Kapo, and the grandmother of Hāloa, Wailoa, and Waia. Being the procreator of the Hawaiian universe, Haumea birthed the Hawaiian archipelago and everything within it, including the coral, marine resources, land creatures, and kānaka maoli (Native Hawaiians). Lilikalā Kame‘eleihiwa (1999) notes that wāhine literally embody their ancestors through both their biological makeup and lasting ancestral memory. She describes these mechanisms which ultimately express kānaka ‘ōiwi (native bones) values through and across every generation. Wāhine are both the embodiment of their foremothers and of Haumea, with a wondrous body, an eightfold body, four hundred thousand bodies, four thousand bodies (Emerson, 1915) in all their physical and spiritual forms.”
Learn more here!
