Belonging, Place Names and Consent
Cultivating a relationship with Nature
Walking the path.
These last couple of weeks I have taken myself on some small pilgrimages near my home on Hawai’i island. It is so lovely to be exploring new lands with fresh eyes. I would often do this in Utah as well; long, slow saunters along paths, trails and sidewalks, no particular destination in mind, my senses open to the world around me, no electronics and no company. The Hawaiian word for this practice is huaka’i. It is a practice of full presence in noticing Nature around us.
O’hia forest on the slopes of Mauna Loa
It’s a discipline to be fully present. I love the company of family and podcasts and long talks with friends. These activities refill my well. Yet, if I am alone and without distraction, I am paying much more careful attention, noticing the intricacies and the beauty around me. I notice when Nature speaks back and responds through signs and nonverbal, elemental communication.
Recently I went to Pu’ukohola. It is a national historic site. You can read all about it on the website that I’ve linked. What struck me were the school children who were there for a field trip. They are seniors from Kamehameha Schools in Hawai’i and were there to connect with the namesake of their school, King Kamehameha the first. The students chanted Oli and sang and made offerings to the place. There is a tower where offerings are laid. It was so beautiful to bear witness to the living culture of the Hawaiian people who are so deeply connected to the land, their culture and the history. This is a present day, living embodiment of the knowing that Nature is alive. Not all of the students were Hawaiian, and yet, here in Hawai’i, this is the way things are done. Honoring the land and the people, making offerings and perpetuating the language and culture are a part of the fabric of life.
My youngest child is preparing for a field trip this week. Part of the itinerary is Oli Kahea and Oli Komo. Oli Kahea is the request for entry into any space that is not your own. Oli Komo grants permission for those who enter. These are practices of consent.
How I love this. How I’ve longed to be steeped and marinated in this way of life.
Recently I went to the Dry Forest Preserve in the ahupua’a of Waikoloa. Again, there were school age children there to learn about the importance of this preserve; environmental and cultural. The teacher instructed the students to chant Oli Kahea and introduce themselves to the land so that they could ask permission and the land would recognize them.
Willi Willi tree in the Waikoloa Dry Forest Preserve
It’s the way it’s done.
I’ve been reading a book, “Mapping Abundance for a Planetary Future; Kanaka Maoli and Critical Settler Cartographies of Hawai’i” by Candace Fujikane. She speaks of the power of knowing place names so that the land recognizes us. I have found that by learning and using the proper, traditional place names that it shifts my experience and connection to a place. The whole landscape and all the elemental beings come alive. The hill is not just “buster brown”, but rather Hoku’ula; named for the star Sirius and home of the Goddess Hina who is Maui’s mother.
A whole net of relationships becomes illuminated.
The power of learning place names is so important that my child’s school holds events for parents to learn them; Waiowaka, Koha Kohau, Owaowaka, Pu’u Laelae, Hoku’ula, Pu’u Ohu, Waioweea. There are also community gatherings and events where Native people from Waimea will come and teach the proper place names. The last one was a full house - so eager are folks to learn them.
There are over 400,000 Hawaiian names for the elemental nature beings. Many different names for clouds, rains, waves, mists.
When I was in Utah I would go out on the land and make offerings with all the love in my heart for my home. I remember the feelings and the signs of Nature receiving my love and responding in miraculous ways. Yet, I always felt a bit sad that I didn’t know their proper names. The State of Utah and the settlers have been particularly effective in erasing Native place names. Ensign Hill, Capital Hill, Moroni, St. George, Zion, Prospector Hill, Poison Creek, Jupiter Peak, Richardson Flat, Round Valley, Snyderville Basin, Kimball Junction. These are not their names.
How will the land recognize us?
Millcreek Canyon, Moab Utah
Yet, with a little bit of digging, it is possible to uncover the place names, wherever you are. My friend and Ute leader, Larry Cespooch shared with me Peen Doo Weep is Mother Earth in Ute. I found this site online which has an interactive map of Native place names in Utah. There are more and more resources online to help with discovering place names wherever you are. There are also the Native people of Utah who are an incomparable resource. Thank you to Kassie John and Darren Parry for their generosity in sharing with me and others how we can all take steps in building relationships with Native communities.
Park City Community Foundation Open Roundtable “Building Relationships with Native Communities”
For me, it feels so deep to use the proper place name, that the land comes alive and the communication between myself and my more than human kin, opens up.
We do not need to be Hawaiian, Dine’, Shoshone or Ute (although it helps!) in order to open to the truth that Nature is alive, sentient and wise. All of life is sacred and requires our perceptual shift to recognize this truth.
The art of making offerings is a way to come into relationship with place. It opens to door. And in coming into relationship, it calls us to a respectful exchange with the traditional people, culture, language and practices of that place.
We can practice consent, ask permission and make offerings wherever we go on the land - naturally, organically, with respect to the traditional people and with deep love and a sense of responsibility.
I encourage everyone to lean into learning the place names of where you live. Go out on the land and call the elementals by their name. Call with all your heart. Give thanks, ask permission. It is the way it is done.
With Heart ❤️
Mary Christa