Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 12, 1 December 1990 — ʻO ka ʻolelo o ka wa Kalikimaka, he Aloha The Message of Christmas is Love [ARTICLE]

ʻO ka ʻolelo o ka wa Kalikimaka, he Aloha The Message of Christmas is Love

Aloha — the Hawaiian way to love

By Patrick Ka'ano'i No other word in the Hawaiian language has been so thoroughly interpreted and used so freely as the word aloha. Aloha ean be found in any standard English and Hawaiian dictionary and is general!y interpreted to mean, "love." As simple as the definition may seem, the definition of love in English is as elusive. Ask anyone the meaning of love and you'!l get as many interpretations of love as you will of aloha. The simplicity of the meaning of love (as aloha) is not in the definition of the word, but in living it. By demonstrating the Hawaiian way to love we ean understand the Hawaiian way of aloha.

The living expression of Aloha My first memory of aloha eame as a young boy observing the manner in whieh my elders would express themselves when meeting. Seeing one another in the distance, they would eall out in long breaths, affectionately, to one another, "Ui, eia nei!" And the host would eall out, "Aloha mai!"

"Come, eome, eome!" Gradually building to an emohonal pitch, with eyes moistened with joy and fixed on one another, they would embrace, touching nose to eheek, expressing their feelings of aloha. This exchange of embrace and touching face to face was repeated when leaving as well. Exf)eriencing this would make sense of the components of the word aloha: "Alo"

meaning face and "ha" meaning to breath. To breath upon the face. How else would one show, so intimately, that he or she cared than by touching face to face?

The dualism of love The dualism of love between husband and wife refers to the emotional or romantic and sexual expression of love. Hawaiian historian Mary Kawena Pukui was onee asked to speak on the deep love of man and woman and its relationship to sexual love and Kawena replied, "You mean it is time to put together what belongs together?"

The celebration of life is the Hawaiian way of life. To pursue inall thingsalevelofexcellenee is the mark of one beloved. The living of aloha by caring and touching is paralleled by romance and making love to its highest level. This is the Hawaiian ideal. The dualism of love is one, in aloha. These ideas are poetically expressed in the mana'o of our songs and chants. One's beauty is likened as a rare flower in the highest plaee sought after by so many birds. And passion expressed as "moving waters of desire."

The purpose of Aloha The joys and pleasures of love as aloha have a true purpose in Hawaiian life. This celebration of love at its highest level of excellence blossoms in the foundation of a family, the cornerstone of Hawaiian culture. There is an expression that goes, "He lei

poina 'ole ke keiki." " A lei never forgotten, is the beloved child." A11 children are beloved as blossoms, the flowers, na pua, of Hawai'i. Even in the case of a childless union the free exchange of charity by a family blessed with many children is practiced by the literal giving of one's own child to another. All children are beloved as blossoms of the union of romantic and sexual love, of aloha. What greater love than to literally give the blossoms of one's love to another?

Everlasting love The nurturing of love as aloha between husband and wife is perpetuated in the blossoms of their union, their children, who in turn carry on the ideals of aloha as demonstrated by their ancestors and practiced in their own lives. Love is everlasting. "E lei kau, e lei ho'oilo i ke aloha." (Love is wom like a wreath through the summers and the winters.)

Aloha 'Oe The living expression aloha is love. The dualism of romantic and sexual love are one and of the highest ideal. The pursuit of love as aloha at its highest level is a celebration of life and from its union comes the blossoms of everlasting love, a family, a new generation of aloha. Touching and caring as a friend, lover and family is the natural and Hawaiian way to love. Aloha. Sources: Nana I Ke Kumu Vol. II, 'Olelo No'eau.