Project #15

When looking at another society or culture, a good place to start is always the religion and language. One can learn a lot about a culture from its religion. One can see what is important to the culture, what is the base of the culture, and how the culture was built in relation to other cultures.
Here, I have an introduction to the traditional Hawaiian religion and language.
Traditional Hawaiian Language 

Hawaiian alphabet

A a	E e	I i	O o	U u	Ā ā	Ē ē	Ī ī	Ō ō
'ā	'ē	'ī	'ō	'ū	'ā kō	'ē kō	'ī kō	'ō kō
Ū ū	H h	K k	L l	M m	N n	P p	W w	'
'ū kō	hē	kē	lā	mū	nū	pī	wē/vē	'okina

Hawaiian pronunciation

Vowels can be long or short. Long vowels are usually written with a macron (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū), but if no macron is available, a circumflex (â, ê, î, ô, û) can be used instead.

The letter combination kiu is pronounced [ƫiu]

The letter W is pronounced [w] or [v] after a, [v] after i or e and [w] after o or u.

The Hawaiian language uses two diacritical markings. The ‘okina is a glottal stop, similar to the sound between the syllables of "oh-oh." In print, the correct mark for designating an ‘okina is the single open quote mark. The kahako is a macron, which lengthens and adds stress to the marked vowel. For example 'pau,' depending on placement of ‘okina and kahako, can mean completed, smudge, moist or ski

Traditional Hawaiian Religion: Hawaiian Gods and Goddesses
This is a basic introduction to the lineage of the Gods and Goddesses worshiped according to the traditional Hawaiian religion. Because there are over 40,000 Gods, Goddesses, Demi-Gods, and Demi-Goddesses, this does not include all worshiped in Hawaii. This video introduces the viewer to the 4 main Gods (Kane, Kanaloa, Ku, and Lono) and their wives and the lineage to the Mother Goddess who leads to the birth of the infamous Pele and her 7 sisters.

For a English-Hawaiian translator click here