Papahana Hoolauna
We are no longer taking requests for classroom/waʻa visits for the 2023-2024 school year.
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Papahana Hoolauna is an educational, maritime field project to provide introductory level instruction in traditional Hawaiian navigation, open to all schools and organizations. Participants will learn history, sailing and way-finding skills and techniques, and about the materials that are used in long-distance non- instrumental voyaging and voyaging canoes. Instruction will be both land and water based. Traditional non-instrumental way-finding navigation is a maritime practice unique to Hawaii and the Pacific islands. Our goal for this project is to meet the increasing demand for our services from schools and organizations that fall outside the regular purview of our current funding sources which mainly target Native Hawaiian populations, and to open our services up to the greater Hawaii state population and others who may visit Hawaii.
Our project will be providing two distinct services to the public – class visits and canoe visits. A class visit is instruction in a classroom/seminar type setting to introduce participants to concepts in traditional Hawaiian navigation, the oral traditions that helped to preserve this practice, and the greater historical context within which this practice exists. This service occurs prior to outdoor canoe visits on a separate day and at various locations around the island of Oahu. This ensures that participants experience repeat exposure to content and skills, which helps participants to grow and retain knowledge. Following class visits, participants engage in hands-on water and land- based activities. Several activities take place at the same time in order to attain small group size and more attention for each participant. Activities include introductions to canoe parts and uses, on-the-water introductions to sailing techniques, introductory instruction on navigational techniques using a Hawaiian star compass, star maps and Hawaiian star names, and instruction on how the natural elements (winds, clouds, birds, currents, sea swells) are used to find land or predict the weather. These activities occur at Kualoa Beach/Regional park, a location with great historical significance in traditional Hawaiian navigation. Participants tour the park to learn about specific locations with key significance. Participants also engage in learning hands-on about traditional materials used in Hawaiian canoe building.
Our project will be providing two distinct services to the public – class visits and canoe visits. A class visit is instruction in a classroom/seminar type setting to introduce participants to concepts in traditional Hawaiian navigation, the oral traditions that helped to preserve this practice, and the greater historical context within which this practice exists. This service occurs prior to outdoor canoe visits on a separate day and at various locations around the island of Oahu. This ensures that participants experience repeat exposure to content and skills, which helps participants to grow and retain knowledge. Following class visits, participants engage in hands-on water and land- based activities. Several activities take place at the same time in order to attain small group size and more attention for each participant. Activities include introductions to canoe parts and uses, on-the-water introductions to sailing techniques, introductory instruction on navigational techniques using a Hawaiian star compass, star maps and Hawaiian star names, and instruction on how the natural elements (winds, clouds, birds, currents, sea swells) are used to find land or predict the weather. These activities occur at Kualoa Beach/Regional park, a location with great historical significance in traditional Hawaiian navigation. Participants tour the park to learn about specific locations with key significance. Participants also engage in learning hands-on about traditional materials used in Hawaiian canoe building.