Ke Alahou, Volume I, Number 6, 1 May 1980 — 'OHANA He Ki'i 'Oni'oni Hou-The Hawaiian Family [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'OHANA

He Ki'i 'Oni'oni Hou-The Hawaiian Family

j >... ... . ■■■ ■ ... ■■■■.. i Ma ka la 'eiwa o July, e ho'ike ana ma ka pahu ho'ike (T. V.)Jtie ki'i 'oni'oni no ka 'ohana Hawai'i. Aia ma ka hapalūa o ka hola 'ewalu ma ka ehannel 11 (HawairĒducational Television) a e wehewehe i ka 'ohana ma ka ha'i a na kupuna, makua ame na'opio; E ho'olohe mai i ka ha'upu me ka no'ono'ō a na kupuna i ko lakou nohona-mamfua, a e ha'i na makua i ka nohona v o ka 'ohana e a'o i na 'opio e malama mau, a 'o '■ na 'opio e kama'ilio no ka wa e ho'ololi a me kekahi ] nohona e makemake e malama mahope. 'O keia ki'i | 'oni'oni he papahana a ke Kulanui o Hawai'i nei ma Manoa. V A he ki'i 'ono'oni makamua e ho'ike i ka mana'o o na po'e kanaka no keia mea nui o ka manawa. Alaila, e ho'opuka makou i ka palapala 'olelo a ua ki'i 'oni'oni nei no ka 'oukou heluhelu me ka nane'a.

The foIIowing is the text Jor the new fil|n "Ohana: The Hawaiian Family" to be shown Iocally on television. Produced by the Dept. ofPsycho!ogy, UniversityofHawaii, Manoa.

The younger people want to find those things that might reveal to them their heritage and provide a link to their ancestors and so this information is being gathered as the younger people look to theirgenealogy. Hawaiians today are not only searching to find out more about their ancestors but they're also attempting to learn more about what it means tobe Hawaiian. The interest in Ha waiian culture has even stimulated other ethnic groups to wonder if Hawaiian practices of the past could be used in resolving some of the problems that they have w-ith their own ethnic groups. In this film we are going to look at a very important aspect of Hawaiian life, the ohana, or the Hawaiian family. What has the ohana or family meant to the past Hawaiian generations, What significance does it have for the contemporary Hawaiians. We will discuss these issues in this film and hope to develop some conclusions. ... I grew up in Hana Maui and during the summer months after we moved awiay we would eome back to grandmother's plaee. We had a young aunt who lived with my grandmother and took care of her and when it was time to do poi pounding, she wouId eall the older boys and say, "You, you, you, and you go to the taro patch with me and piek taro. And then she would eall two girls and say, "You, you, and you be sure to get the things ready for breakfast so that breakfast will be over before the taro is done. They pound poi twice a week for a large family like that because by the time all the grandchildren got there, there was anywhere from 40 or more grandchildren at one time, Fortunately enough my grandmother had a large home, And she was able to house all of us. After the poi was pounded and everything we would go down to the muliwai whieh was a stream . . . and this is the way we lived in Hana. . , . The way we lived a community. Everyoiie helped everyone else. The story of how we lived in the oId days was one of cooperation. That is how things were done here. . . . As a youngster I lived with my parents. Everyone helped in farming, in building, in havesting. If one worked the land, then he would not starve. If one vvent to the sea or there was food to be found. We did ndt buy fpod, we wenl out to work the f!etds or the oeean. was a lot of work t but everyone helped eaeh other.v . . Theohana as I know of it wāi an extended famity whieh include$ grandmas, eousins v

On July 9th at 8:30 on ehannel 11 (Hawaii Educational 5 Television) a new documentary film about the Hawaiian family will be shown. The film producedby theUniversity of Hawaii at Manoalooks at the family througfi the eyes of three generations. It begins with older Hawaiians reminiscing about the way of life when they were grōwing up. Members of today's parent generalion then speak about the qualities of the'family they feel shouId be pass3d on. Finally, one group of younger Hawaiians pnesent their interpretation of what 'ohana is to them. This is the first film to prēseht a ,discussion about the family system from the views of Hawaiians and for our readers we would like to share the script of tRis informative film.

and all members,of the family. And what stands out in my memory is the respect that we children had for the elders. Their word was law, Ho'oponopono, it was a very eommon thing. When there was a problem in the family, mother would gather those who were invoIved to discuss what was the prob!em and they were mueh forgiving and confessifg and no hoIding back. Today we hire lawyers who take care of these problems. Well, the ohana living as I knew it in the o!d days is sort of hard to carry out today, there is so mueh distraction, of sports, yoūng people don*l have time to sit around & become involved With the activities that center around the home. . . . It is hard and becoming more difficult for parents to raise their children because the family is continua!ly cha!lenged to survive in a competitive soeiety, When todays parents were growing up they could chobse between old and the nēw. A chiid played a very important role in the Hawaiian family ohana. A family without a child is like a family without love. And therefore children became very important, In fact one of the terms that is used for a love child is the term kamalei. Kama means child and lei means a lei. Because to the Hawaiians. shoulder and head is important and it is only reserved for those that are very close. The teaching of the ohana is not that of the formal classroom instruction with someone telling you what to do. It was something mueh more meaningful to the Hawaiian youngster growing up, it was done by someone they respected, an individual or individuals in the ohana situation who would be expecting the youngster to watch and to listen and in turn leam through that observation. It*s later after the initial experiences of the youngster in prtcticing that they would need to refine those skillby asking questlons. The Hawaiian child leamed the following eoncepts nana, hoolohe, paa ke waha, hanakalima and ninau. Nana means to look, to examine with critical eyf; hooiohe means to listen t to listen attentively»paa ka waha means to shut your mouth; hanakaiima means to work with one's Eands; and ninau means to aak questions. The child is also important in other ways because when there is no chiid in one's family then there is the practice that is known as hanai and iuhi. Now hanai means what we would term today as lega! adoption. Luhi means temporary caa\ whal we would eall today foster care. Today too often though

we find there is a probIem because of the misuse of these two terms. Let me give an example, the young adult who te!ls tutu, ean you hanai my child, and what he really meant was to luhi. The person comes back later on and vvants that child back, because in his mind w 7 hat he's saying is ean you take my child as a luhi, not as a hana/ and this is where the confusion occurs and this creates family pilikia, trouble. Whenever somethinjg went wrong in your family, in the i.mmediate fami!y. the whole community learned about it also, and sōmetimes when the community becomes invo!ved you need notbe j)unished, shall we say, for wrong whieh you have done in your family, the punishment really comes by way of the eommunity. Conversely, the good things that happen to you individually the community a!so comes to celebrate, to enjoy. I remember as a youngster I was very mueh interested in going to Kamehameha Schoo!s. We didn*t have very mueh money but I took a ehanee anyw'ay. About August of that same year in the mai! eame a response. When I picked up the mail I read it, found that I was accepted. The joy whieh was mine and my soon became the joy r t)f the w T hole community and wherever I went they would congregate to me and wou!d pat me on the back and sav gee, we're so happy that you havē been accepted. Now, what tfiey were saying tome as I went away to school, I felt the burden, it was a joy but it was also a burden to me because I knew that I had to do good t I couldn f t fail because a lot of the families at home w T ere sort of counting on me. I imagined the aspect of ohana that ī !iked the most was the fee!ing of loya!ty that is part of ohana. The fact that you wou!d not do anything to harm or to endanger or even to embarrass qr be!ltt!e anyone who was a member of your fami!y. ī remember often when we used to meet in fami!y eounei! for ēxample, and someone w r ould make fun of somebody else my tut wahine w r ould say you can't do that and be a member of this family, you cannot embarrass somebody else, you know. how ean w r e be a if we re making fun of eaeh other, . . . Ohana to me,means responsibi!ity, responsibi!ity for myself as woll as for other members of my fanfily. Tpay as the haku or leader of my particu!ar fami!y ī am respousible for my actions to be sure that what ī do is refiected positivoly on all of tho membors of my fami!y sd that they sharo in the toy that t not just to my

children and to my husband but fo my brothers and sistors and parents. Tn my ro!e I also teach my family * members their own responsibilities to theirown ehildren and to our parents. . . . Hhink one of the things some people don't reaTize is that tradih'onal ohana was not only a secular grouping. it wasn't just important to those people alive on the earth fodav but it was alsō 3ignificantly a supernatural grouping. In keeping matters right with the ancestoral spirits was one of the most important things that the traditionaI family did. If anything went wrong or if a person who w r as ill didn't get well. the u first thing they thought about was to turn to the ancestral spirits and some people still do this today.. . . . When two people were married the merging of these two families often times brought together a coining or merging together of the aumakuas as well, Whenever a eouple are married and the marriage is not going too well, that person or eouple was reminded their particular aumakua could be an auntie or unele, could be a brother or sister, or tutu who favored you. That aumakua would be watching over you t so you got feeling you were not alone in this marriagebut you had the whole history of all those who wēre connected with both sides fo the family. The kupuna is the most important .part of the ohana, They are the source, Because the number of families don't live with their kupuna and the young are being raised without benefit of having the elderly teach them some of the,older practices and concepts and so we have a number of young people searching out older ones and looking for kupuna replacements so to speak and some of the approaches used by the different kupuna may differ and it is neither right nor wroiig but the young should be aware that these differences do exist and the kupuna should be aware of the tremendous responsibility they have. . . I mav he thf» pxf»cutive in a downtown offico but when mv aunt. who is the senior member of iny famity, when she requests of me to dig a ho!t\ I 110 longer wear my executiye hat and so thereforeI dig the And the reason fof this is that I must realize the role that I p!av in the family \yhich is quite different from the executive role. And vn my famitv my aunt. the seriior member. whateverlsho says goes. . . One~of tho sroat problem$oday \sthat Ha\vau4ns don't know whieh set of fami!sfru!es thoy aro oporaliu& tmdrr. Most Iīawaiians'!ivo itj nuclear f,tmi!ios toduy ! 1

of husband, wife, children, and it is not ās.common as it used to be to find aunties. uncles. and cousins. and grandparents, etc. all living together, but despite this. many Hawaiians today try to live out all the attitudes and sentiments that used to go wilh this extended family with their immediate nuclear Family and this creates a problem they donYuse the resources of āll of that extended family and they"can't eall on them for support and help. ... too many of our younger Hawaiians today get caught up >vith the idea that they do nol wanl their families to work. Let's take luau for examp_Ie, No_wadays they would prefer to cater a luau. But !et's take the luau of ancient day r s. The luau was a unifying.force in the ohana. It was an opportunity for the family members to get together. to worlc together and what the Haw T aifans lau!ima,'the use of many hands." And so this provided an opportunitv of excbange within the family and therefore u i.l Is For family members to get irivo!ved because it then reenforced the ohana ties. \ , . . . The regeneration of the ohana eoneepl to me is an attempt to find a eommon bond. A eommon thread of identity for the Hawaiian, to search for a cohesive unil or element to bring the Hawaiians together. Tl\is atteuipt then to search for the regeneration or restoralion of the ohana eoneepl ean be retrograde If we base tli£ teaching of the ohana or the philosophy on the lifestyle of old. Because \ve must acknowledge lliai the lifestyle of old Hawaii was time demandio&. Today's economy on the olhei; hand is n ' Ume, demanding as it is money demanding. To guarantee the survival fo the Hawaiian, \v«2 must aekuowlei&e the realities of life. This is a chan&iug world. we caunot \vithdraw to the old world. Wo must face lifo today and bring our Ilawaiiaiuioss with us, - « On the island of Molokai there is a gixuip of concrrned young Hawaiians who caj! thomse!ves the ohana. Thr Protect Kahoolaw;e Ohana They are not bound byT)!ood or kinship. they are brought logelher -far a cause. They sefk to protect a way of Iifo. Us spiritna!ity, its rospect for the elder t and tho tand have heard their e!ders talk ahoul . , . I look at the wqrd ohaua and I ha\ on t beon sehooled by a kupuna when 1 \vas y oung lo imdorstaud \vord but if you break do\vn this wonl it meaivs brartcMn$ ont. oxtoridod fam!!y. thut cultivato tho

land. that makes decisions together and helps eaeh other out. It means coming together often and means having a cause and no matter what lhat cause being united in a system that worked in the days of old and perhaps wou!d today. ... The ohana began five years ago out of a need to reconnect our feelings for today's lifestyle, to our ancient past. and because of a necessity to work effectively to keep a radical change in the lifestyles here on Molokai. We are looking at ancient Hawaiian trails at that Hme five years ago and there was one that went from Kalaupapa all around to īlio Point to Laau Point and we had about 80 ohana people that were on a march fo find this trail and to open up the old trails for access," especially for the Molokai people. On every island our ohana is active. . . . But the young are not the oiily ones who are* seeking the re!alionship, the security of a family. Back on Oahu at a home forelderly Hawanans, foundedby one of the Hawaiian monarchs, King William Lanalilo, older Hawaiians too must find ways to live in a new and everchanging time. . , , Lunalilo Home is like an ohana. Because the people who live here have accepted this as their hpme and they have learned in order to get along t they musl learn to share.and t.o be kind, one to the other, and lo help eaeh other when they are needed. We represynt a big family here. It is not like an institution and $o after they are settled and get to know eaeh other. They like to do things also to help in doing things for the home, We have a man who en'joys working in a kilehen or dining roōm and helping the eook and helpers. Angi

this is why it is ān ohana. . . . And are these two uses of ohana a departure from tradition, are they an overextension of old ideas? It is 4his overextension whieh becomes sjiispicious to many. The doubt is further raised, ean it work, is it this the same? But these are only superficial questions, because th§ y only go skin deep, The more important consideration is s does this ohana fulfill the need and expectatlons of those inyolved.^ . . . Ohana could be applied to non-blood groups yes. This is being done in an early way, the Department of Education Classrooms where Hawaiian teachers are using the ohana concepts with all of their youngsters. But ohana is mueh more than just a learning situation. Ohana invo!ves the whole way of life, and iuiturncalls for a strong emptional coinmitment to the ohana. • . . . A hui is a conglonieratioii of people who have gottēn together for a specific purpose for a specific mission. īn a hui whei>ever an individual member may disagree with a group decision> l;e may decide not to participate in tfye activity and may uot be around. Whereas with the ohana it is quite different, When there is family discussions and there is a mission or purpose, when the family decides, the tota! ohana decides. !ht n tMt individual will then have to fo!low through. This.is the commitment, you }ust ean not paek up and le i\ e u henever you want to. With the ohana you wili ali T ays be there. , . . Well' 1 ihink it is impoi|ant for us to realize thdt any people have the riglU and redefiue their own culture, to try io mak| it work uuder ehan^l 1 *

circumstances. Any culture that doesnt react that way is a dead culture. Now it may be true that ipeople are using the word ohana forgroupings now thai they didn't use the word for in the past but it is vitalU ; Mmportant for Hawaiians to be able to keep this sentiment of ohana alive, without it they are cast adrift, and without any star to guide'them. .. . What all lhese peuple have talked about are points that keep the Hawaiian families in balance. We have seen how strong in spirit f amilies need to be, We have seen the necessity to have a way to solve problems without hutfing someone. We have seen the need for sharing, a special kindof sharing. We have seen ho w the Hawaiian family has a special revereiice for their l,and» the plaee where they are born, aud where they are living. It should'be of no to anyone that ihe structure of all families are similar, Wehave similar relationships. Parcnt to child, grandparent to grandchild. brother to sister, etc. but the difference !ies m how and whal we emphasiie. The HawaHan family system places more lmportance on cnncepts of being responsible, unselfish, sensitive» Tej?pectfu!. tolerant, loyal. and in shacing. This atti : tude crosses over the generations and permits prob!ems to be solved by reason and emotion, sliould this ohana system survive. say in the next twenty years. 1 will say nothing conclusive, deliberately because the answer should include your opinion as we!l as mine, But, know that ther\: is consciencious effort made by eaeh generallon to keep these \ aluable i"elaUoiiships alive» so we eau survive,