More than 50 people from the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹ community gathered to hold a ceremony for Maui. The gathering on August 14 fronting Â鶹´«Ã½ Hall was in response to a call from a group of kumu hula on Maui to support the health, life and restoration of those impacted by the fires. Community member Nawahine Lanzilotti partnered with the to organize the gathering.
“We wanted to hold space to answer up the k¨¡hea (the call) from the kumu on Maui to have our thoughts there and our intentions come together,” said Lanzilotti, who is the founder/CEO of Pulse Oceania. “It was really amazing to come here and see such a huge group of people come out to share this space. It was really emotional and moving.”
“I think it just reminds us of how many people want to send love and want to have a direction to be intentional about that,” said UH ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹ Native Hawaiian Affairs Program Officer Punihei Lipe. “That¡¯s one of the special things about Â鶹´«Ã½.”
More on how to help Maui ʻohana and the Maui wildfires.
Lipe added, “That¡¯s one of the great things about, for example, becoming a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning. You don¡¯t have to be Hawaiian to feel like ‘yes, please help me direct my love to Maui.’ This practice of sending intention is something that we can invite everyone into.”
Among the oli (chants) included:
- E H¨ Mai
- ±·¨¡ ʻ´¡³Ü³¾¨¡°ì³Ü²¹
- E K¨¡nehoalani ?
- E K¨¡ne ?
- ³¢´Ç²Ô´Ç°ì¨±±ô²¹²Ô¾±
Lanzilotti added, “As we were putting out our k¨¡hea for today, we were receiving messages from cousins on the continent in New York saying we¡¯ll be meeting up at 6 p.m. Eastern time to meet with you all throughout the week. You can feel everyone is with Maui.”
This ceremony will continue every day at noon during this (period of 10 days), which began on August 13 and will run until August 22, as requested by kumu hula of Maui: H¨k¨±lani Holt, Kealiʻi Reichel, Kahulu Maluo-Pearson and Cody Pueo Pata.
. Participants are welcome to bring their instruments and ±è¨±ʻ´Ç³ó±ð (Hawaiian bamboo trumpet).