Description
About The Artwork
“When Kimokeo Kapahulehua invited me to paddle, I did not know the impact it would have. It wasn’t an invitation to join a racing club. It was an invitation to experience and live the Hawaiian culture. Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society (HOCVS) is led by Kimokeo Kapahulehua and `Ānela Gutierrez. Their purpose is to bring cultures together by paddling all over the world. They have paddled with over sixty indigenous tribes in the Pacific Northwest. They have done voyages in Britain, Japan, Singapore, Mexico, Philippines and other location around the world. HOCVS began when Kimokeo and fellow paddlers came together to paddle from island to island, starting from Hawai’i Island to Kure Atoll, over 1500 miles. Wherever HOCVS goes, cultures come together to find that humans on this planet have more in common with each other, than the stereotypes that create separation.
“Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society’s mission is to perpetuate the Hawaiian Culture. They teach Hawaiian protocols related to the canoes, hula kahiko (traditional hula), chants, star navigation, agriculture based on the moon phases, paddling techniques, and more. One of the first chants I learned was “E Ala E.” This chant welcomes the arrival of the sun. But like many Hawaiian chants, songs and poetry it has many hidden meanings. I resonated with this chant and all of its meaning. E Ala E welcomes a new day, a new beginning. All that has happened yesterday, stays there. Today is a new day and a chance to make things better. The deeper meaning of E Ala E is the true meaning that Pualani Kanahela (Kimokeoʻs aunty) wrote this chant for. This chant was written during the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970’s. It was written for the Hawaiian people to arise and wake up! Take a stand and make a better life for themselves, remember who they were, where they came from and decide where they are going.
E ala e
Ka la i ka hikina
I ka moana
Ka moana hohonu
Piʻi ka lewa
Ka lewa nuʻu
I ka hikina
Aia ka la
E ala e!
Awaken/Arise
The sun is in the east
From the ocean
The deep ocean
Climbing to the heaven
The heaven highest
In the east
There is the sun
Awaken!
“A pause after completing the chant gives time to reflect on the raising voices in unity to welcome a new day. Getting in the canoe together teaches us to work together, we learn hula, sustainability, care for the environment, and connect all cultures to share aloha rather than to live in fear and hate. All this resonated with me. The way of life that HOCVS perpetuates, is a most beautiful expression of what I observe to be qualities of whole humans. Unconditional love expressed through Hawaiian culture is the platform that is worked with to become the change they want to see in our planet.”
