Mahina Canoe Club
Paddle Times
Weekdays: 6:45–8:00am
Weekends: 7:45–9:00am
When you sign up, you’ll be added to our WhatsApp group where we confirm the exact days and times and reserve seats. Please note: schedules may change depending on weather and the availability of a steersman, so always check the group before heading out.
Location: Kalepolepo Beach Park (we sometimes meet at the beach, and sometimes at the Fishpond. We’ll confirm location when you signup.)
Park at Kalepolepo Beach Park – North Parking and walk straight across to the beach (if we’re meeting at the Fishpond, there’s a small lot there and we meet there on the beach)
Steps to Sign Up + Join the Club
1
Sign the waiver below (or click here)
2
Send $100 registration fee via Venmo or Zelle (payment links below). Registration fee covers insurance, use of canoes, repairs, etc.
3
Send $40 monthly fee via Venmo or Zelle (Zelle allows you to setup recurring payments)
Please sign the waiver. You may sign online or print and sign.
FEES
MEMBERSHIP FEES:
$100 – initial fees
$40 – monthly dues
GUEST FEES:
$40 – suggested donation
You may pay Via Venmo (Button or QR code below) or Zelle to 808-867-0822
Scan this code to pay
‘Hina’ is a painting that represents the essence of the Mahina Canoe Club. Learn more about the story of Mahina and the inspiration for our club, as shared by Jeanne Bitz, the artist. We are honored to share Jeanne’s work as a representation of what we stand for.
Hina
“If there’s a book that you want to read but it hasn’t been written yet then you must write it.”
Toni Morrison,
“I believe what we seek, seeks us.”
Jane Au
“… it is recognized that all things exist within a moʻokūʻauhau, a genealogy that connects us through time and space.”
Jane Au
“I’m not an expert in Hawaiian or Oceanic cultures. I’m simply a person who was seeking and has now been invited into an abundance of healing truth and beauty. The following is the story of Mahina as I learned while searching for wisdom from ancestors, as I listened to the present need of my fellow humans (myself included), and as I hope will benefit our children.”
Jeanne Bitz
Hina
Special thanks to Jeanne Bitz for providing this summary and her inspiration for the painting “Hina”.
I love that the stories shared of Hawaiian deities exhibit the beauty of a deeply connected and balanced integration with nature. This connection already exists. We simply ignore it at our peril or embrace it, which can result in deep joy, inner peace, and harmony with our environment. In so many cultures where portions of ancestral experiential wisdom have risen to great popularity, these threads of beauty are something that can be followed, leading us down a path to deeper understanding of our fellow humans, ourselves, and a balanced way of being. Yoga is a great example of this. I’m overflowing with gratitude for the Hawaiian cultural practitioners who are sharing their wisdom with people all over the planet, working to unite their fellow humans for a better future.
As we become more accustomed to following the threads of truth and beauty, identifying the attempts at fear driven power and control that lead to imbalance and destruction becomes easier. When I first had the idea for this piece it was just 6 women in a canoe, working together, paddling under the full moon. Thankfully my friend kept pushing me to search for the deeper meaning. He’d ask me about once a week if I’d found it yet, and what had I learned? I hope you enjoy hearing the answers as much as I enjoyed following the threads and discovering a rich tapestry of timeless beauty and wisdom.
MY SUMMARY OF A HAWAIIAN VERSION:
In Hawaii, Hina is the granddaughter of the dark sea and the light sea. As her story unfolds, she marries a fierce warrior, has children, and follows the path expected of her. She is dedicated to excellence in all aspects of daily life including service to her family and developing her tapa artistry which supports her family. Her husband demands and doesn’t contribute, always taking, angry when he has to do something considered to be “her” work. Their sons follow in his path. Hina decides she wants something different. She goes to the ocean with this great desire in her heart and a rainbow appears. Her first attempt to leave ends with her burned and exhausted. She follows the rainbow bridge to the sun and finds it isn’t the place for her. She has no choice but to recover a day back on earth. She returns to find a husband angry at having had to tend to his own needs. Hina doesn’t give up even though her first attempt wasn’t successful. As she prepares to leave again at moonrise, he grabs her, they struggle, he breaks her leg. She’s still able to make her way, injured, to the safety of the moon. With her she brings her ipu(gourd), her tapa board, and tapa hammer. She lives a full and peaceful life of her design.
While researching Hina, I had it in my mind that I would find one well defined version. The deeper I searched, though, the more varied her story became. Sometimes she is one of ten siblings or in Tahiti just she and one brother are mentioned as they head off on a grand adventure, discovering islands with her as the navigator. Sometimes she’s a passionate lover or a violently abused wife or she’s stolen and kept prisoner because of her beauty. She’s a mother of sons who terrorize neighboring villages. She’s the mother of sons who search tirelessly for her and love her deeply. She’s the mother of the monster Kamapua’a, the pig god, the shape shifting humuhumunukunukuapua’a. She’s the mother of Maui, the trickster Demi-god who loves and protects her. Seeing his mother’s difficulty in drying the bark for pounding tapa, he snares the sun and slows it down. He’s able to fish up the islands as a result of Hina’s instruction.
Her reasons for leaving are almost as varied. In one version Hina becomes disgusted by the unequal restrictions put on women so she goes to the moon to continue pursuing her excellent craftsmanship in freedom. In a Hawaiian version that I enjoyed having four kids of my own, she grows weary of her children’s excrement so she escapes to the peace of the moon. In another, she is an adventuress who paddles her canoe to the setting full moon and steps onto it, just because she is her own woman and can.
Throughout the Oceanic cultures, Hina has represented a fluid, powerful, extremely diverse woman who faces challenges, makes her own path going forward, destroys barriers to equality, works to make the world a better place. She goes down a path not meant for her, retreats to heal, and risks again. The women in the canoe in this painting are Japanese, African-American, German, Filipino, Hawaiian, Irish. There’s a nurse and athlete, a philosophy teacher with a beautiful singing voice, a midwife and women’s advocate, a seamstress-caregiver-racing coach, an artist and engineer, a Hawaiian culture guide-teacher-events coordinator-navigator in training. We come from backgrounds as varied as Hina’s. Every woman in that canoe has faced and overcome challenges that seemed insurmountable at the time. If not for the canoe, our paths might never have crossed. We come together to be stronger, to learn, to grow, to embark on grand adventures and sometimes we come together to be the change we want to see in the world.
THE IMAGERY
The Hawaiian moon calendar is divided into three parts. Please bear in mind, this is a very simplified list I used distilling research results for the making of this painting.
Poepoe
Second cycle – Poepoe, associated with water, mind, and eastern direction.
The second ten moons:
Huna – root crops, love, weddings
Mohalu – healing, flowers
Hua – fruit crops, procreation, fertility
Akua – offerings, empowerment
Hoku – good fortune, prophecy
Mahealani – planting, diagnostics, funerals
Ku-lua – introspection, soul searching, fruit offerings, journeys, transitory nature of life
Three days of La’au – herbs picked in left hand addressing Hina in prayer, right hand to Ku, feminine, principle, medical, herbalism, medicinal, plants, natural cures, harvesting herbs
La’au-ku-kahi, La’au-ku-lua, La’au-ku-pau
Ho’emi
Third cycle – Ho’emi, associated with earth, body, seawater, fire, southerly direction
Final ten moons:
‘Ole moons – no fishing, rejuvenation, spiritual retreats, rest, prayer
‘Ole-ku-kahi, ‘Ole-ku-lua, ‘Ole-ku-kolu, ‘Ole-pau
‘Ole-pau and Kaloa-ku-kahi are known as Kanaloa’s days transitioning to –
Three Kaloa days – appropriate to worship Kanaloa, no eating from the sea, spiritual healing, lift taboos, cleansing, purification, bathe in ocean
Kaloa-ku-kahi, Kaloa-ku-lua, Kaloa-pau
Kane – sacred to it’s namesake, death, night marchers moon, ghostly chiefs and their phantom warriors, supernatural beings
Lono – sacred to it’s namesake, god of agriculture, healing, gourds, rain, food, storms
Mauli – planting, love, marriages, magic, betrothals
Ho’onui
The first is-Ho’onui, associated with air, sky, spirit, and western direction.
The first ten moons:
Hilo – creeping crops, new beginnings, ferns, gourds, sweet potatoes, home of Hookele/navigator
Hoaka – tuber plants, blessings, spiritual healing, handcrafts
Ku-kahi – deep sea fishing, tree planting, rites of passage
Ku-lua – balance, partnerships, root crops (Hina and Ku, spiritual celebration, day of their union)
Ku-kolu – unity, harmony, healing, triad (sun, moon, earth; Ku, Hina, Papa)
Ku-pau – woody, plants, family, blessing
‘Ole moons – rest, nonproductive, weeding, meditation
‘Ole-ku-kahi, ‘Ole-ku-lua, ‘Ole-ku-kolu, ‘Ole-pau
I broke the canvas into three sections for this triad of lunar phases and their representative elements. I then placed the canoe in a straight upright aspect connecting mind, body, and spirit. This piece is about balance and equality in humanity and all its interactions. Embracing light and dark. Ku is masculine energy, the god of the forest and canoe building, the sun. Ku is strong foundation and upright behavior, a partner to Hina. Hina is the moon goddess, night, darkness, birth, new beginnings. I thought of what our shared human experience might look like if we lived in balance with nature.
In the canoe, the tool we all hold in our hands to propel ourselves forward is adorned with a hammerhead shark motif (tenacity, intelligence), plumeria (beauty, love, children, shelter, protection), koru (baby fern, new beginnings, cycle of life, genealogy), load of mataroa (path of challenges), kofatie (trade-winds). Our ho’okele (steersman) is clothed in the symbols for warrior, sacred pools, abundance, tenacity, sacred journeys, working hard, bringing cultures together, knowledge, navigation/messages from the ancestors, ability to gain and retain knowledge, steppingstones, beautiful woman, wisdom. Our philosophy teacher in the next seat has the symbols for balance, light emerging through the darkness, goals achieved, tenacity, sacred journeys, seafaring voyages, prosperity, beautiful woman, abundance of hidden wisdom bringing new beginnings. The braid design on our arms, that our arms make, is the weave of a cord. This is used to hold the iakos and ama securely to the canoe, providing safety and stability. It is said the length of braid is the length of unbroken wisdom from the ancestors.
A side note regarding the color of the arms making this braid- The exact same pigments were used for every skin tone in varying degrees of concentration. It’s mind boggling to think that skin color could ever be a factor in determining an individual’s value when I think of what these women each bring to the canoe. Beyond our individual strengths, when we work together and achieve synchronized movements, there is a feeling of the canoe taking flight and gliding over the water.
Alright, back to the visual poetry. The pattern of our hair is new beginnings, cycle of life, challenging paths, facing adversities. Our haku lei are plumerias (love, beauty, children, protection, shelter) and kava leaves (sacred, healing, blessings, peace, prepares the mind to communicate with the gods).
For the moon face I incorporated Hina’s gourd, her ipu, filled with alternating mind, body, spirit (air, earth, sea) symbols. In the middle is kuhanu, breath of Ku, balance, light emerging through darkness. Next are mountains and islands, journeys travelled, goals achieved. The ipu is a container for water, spiritual food, and physical food. Hina presides over planting/gardening cycles, so I have the sweet potato leaf next. This is followed by stars – navigation, direction, origins. The tides are Hina’s so the opposing waves are next, also representing challenges overcome and the cycle of life. Finally, I have the family of the wa’a that she protects. The large U shape is canoe, cooperation, voyages, adventures. She is known for healing so on her top eyelids are pua wanānga (clematis, healing, striving for knowledge). At the top of her eyelid is a fa’asigano (origins, prosperity, bark clothes). The center top eyelid is ‘anuenue, rainbow goddess, who she looked to for help and who made a bridge for her to travel to the moon. Her eyelashes are plover footprints – sacred journeys, messengers from the ancestors). A net in the center – responsibility, protection). Just under this are wa’as (lengthwise canoes, sacred journeys, adventures, cooperation). The center of her bottom eyelid is hai / fafa’ua (white spotted ray, wisdom, beauty, grace). She is known as a great seer. I have her eyes closed because in tiki faces this in combination with the flared nostrils represents listening with more senses than just your sight as the best trained warriors and navigators do. They claim these highly trained individuals can smell danger so on her flared nostrils are centipedes (danger, challenges, rebellion, protection, determination, fighting spirit, warrior). I love that duality is celebrated. Hina is known to wield the winds as a force of destruction to protect or punish. She manages them to assist sailors so her top lip is the trade winds. She is known for uncovering hidden meanings, bringing light into the dark, destroying lies and revealing truths so the center of her tongue is light emerging through darkness and the middle of her lips is shady ferns surrounding an abundance of wisdom. She is the goddess of life and death, creation and destruction, so on her bottom lip is the symbol for death and love. The sides of her tongue are parrotfish scales, stubborn and headstrong. The tip is eels; adversities, fierceness, protection. At the top of her head is an ‘Iwa (great frigate bird, messenger, discovery, leader) with a Marquesan cross at the center for balance and union with the elements. The foundation pattern is tenacity, ferocity, retention of knowledge, and diversity while facing challenges on paths leading to new beginnings.
On the left side of the canvas, the star nearest the horizon is Hokulea (Hawaii’s zenith star) and the Big Dipper. On the right is A’a (Tahiti’s zenith star) and Orion. I chose these two constellations to represent the origins of the Hawaiian people. The level of skill, knowledge, union with nature, and cooperation with fellow travelers that brought them here is also the source of the wisdom and healing that has been shared with me.
I’ve included the full 30-day Hawaiian moon cycle. As a culture that is woven on a strong foundation of experiential knowledge, each of the 30 days has spiritual, mental, physical, gardening and ocean faring advice associated with it. I included threads of symbols that weave together a tapestry of life cycle. Each symbol in the threads was chosen carefully to represent that specific moon.
My friend reminds me often as we’re paddling in the full darkness of night with only the light of the stars reflecting on the water and the occasional sparkling of phosphorescent algae stirred by our passing that just as many people are born in the darkness of night as in the light of day. Why would we fear the dark? The bottom portion of this painting is po – night, darkness, ancient realm from which life originated. Whales symbolize wisdom from the depths. Incorporated into this bottom panel is the birth of Hina, granddaughter of the light and dark sea, presiding over the complete cycle of life and death. There are symbols on the mother whale showing fierceness, fighting spirit, tenacity, pain, heartbreak, hard work, and the tools of creativity needed for her challenging path to balance, wisdom, unearthing hidden wisdom, unity with the elements. Some of these tie the mother to the child. On the baby whale are the opposing waves of life challenges, wisdom from ancestors, learning, sacredness, student, intelligence on the path to coming into their own power.
When Hina decided to pursue great change, she didn’t ask permission. She simply made it happen. She didn’t look to how someone else had done it. There was no moon goddess prior to her, she paved the way. She became an ultimate artisan and warrior for all that is wise, beautiful, and balanced with nature. As I was learning what this piece has to teach me, I thought about the challenges facing humanity today. What would we risk and what changes are we willing to make to bring about this balance?
This bit of words is a small taste of the results of a year’s worth of exploration distilled into visual poetry and woven into this piece, a celebration of the abundance of wisdom and joy I had the honor of delving into. Mahalo nui loa for these moments of your life shared with me and allowing our stories to intertwine. Mahalo for your company on this grand adventure. Mahalo to Viewpoints Gallery for providing a space and a nurturing spirit that truly celebrates the rich culture of Hawaii.
Jeanne Bitz