Hawaiian Supermom

Throw back to the day my Mom took my emo sister, my baby sister (who is holding our brother like that because he used to run away all the time and then weʻd get stuck chasing him all over the damned place,) and me all the way to Wai’anae, Oʻahu to see the Hokule’a. Iʻm the one in the middle; think I was 15 here.

For those who don’t know what the Hokule’a is, it’s a modern version if what our people once sailed on to get to the islands across the Pacific. It was built as a way to shut close-minded people who said Polynesians found land on accident up– people like Thor Heyerdahl who built a raft he called Kon-Tiki to ʻproveʻ we Pacific islanders just hopped aboard planks of wood and passively drifted to various lands on the oceans currents. Because our ancient chants and oral histories told us about our wayfaring ancestors and their travels to Hawaiʻi, Tahiti, Aotearoa, and other islands in the Pacific, the men who built the boat did it to prove to the world that our people were masters at navigation.

Current research finds that Polynesians have been to North America as early as 500 AD and to South America pre-Columbus.  Polynesian DNA has been found in Botocugo skulls (South America) that suggests that we Polynesians were exploring for 15,000- 20,000 years.

Hokuleʻa was built in 1974, completed in 1975, and made its first long voyage in 1976 from Honolua Bay, Maui to Papeʻete Harbor in Tahiti where they were greeted by over 17,000 people. She has since made nine major voyages to Micronesia, Polynesia, Japan, Canada, and the U.S. with its wayfarers using traditional celestial navigation. Hokuleʻa and her sister vessel Hikianalia are currently on a three year trip called, “Malama Honua” (Take care of the earth) to circumnavigate the earth.

And this concludes your history lesson for today. Hehe!