Videos of Hawaii Cultural Practices
Welcome to our collection of videos of Hawaii cultural practices. Back in the day, these were anchored by the kapu system, often viewed as some sort of stern and arbitrary moral code. In fact, it was an intricate means of regulating man’s relationship to his environment, his social order, and his gods. Hawaiians believed that the land, like the sea and the sky, was not something that could be owned by anyone. They understood that there is a spiritual dimension to everything in our environment. They appreciated the fact that man has a reciprocal responsibility to give love and respect to his environment in the same measure that he takes from it, and that generosity, not material possessions, was the true measure of wealth. The Hawaiian inhabited a world in which everything existed in delicate balance with everything else. Some kapu regulated the commoner’s relationship with the konohiki and ali’i classes. Other kapu regulated man’s relationship with his environment: once the fishing season for certain species left their numbers depleted, for example, a kapu on fishing was instated to allow time for the species to regenerate; kapu regulated the planting of the land that was worked by its custodian, the farmer, and the water supply and irrigation system that were maintained by community labor. Other kapu regulated man’s relationship with the gods and the spiritual dimension of everything he was surrounded by—and everything depended on a good relationship there. No man was an island; on these islands, everything existed in close proximity and in intimate balance with everything else.
He kehau ho`oma`ema`e ke aloha – Love is like a cleansing dew.
“Ancient Hawaiian Weddings” (2:18)
“Hakalau Saved My Life” (14:42)
“Hawaiian Funeral” (12:55)
“Hawaiian Land Tenure” (1:08:31)
“Hawaiian Naming Traditions” (0:58)
“Kahili” (1:45)
“Kapaemahu Ceremony” (8:57)
“Kapono Aluli Souza: Lomilomi” (28:25)
“Na Aumakua“ (2:34)
“Native Hawaiian Peace-Making Concepts” (1:59:30)
“The Meaning of Mahu” (2:04)
Untold treasures await you in The Great Hawaiian Bazaar!
If you have a taste for history, we invite you to WisdomMaps: The Future of the Past!