Mana'o Lana & Mana'o 'I'o

Mana'o is a thought, an idea, a concept. Lana is to float. Mana'o lana are ideas and thoughts that float about us. An idea that we have heard about, talked about, witnessed, but have not done.

'I'o is meat, flesh. Mana'o 'i'o are ideas and thoughts that have become ingrained in our very flesh. Ideas that have been experienced by doing... ideas that have been made a part of us.

Pau kuhihewa i ka nani o 'Aipō.

Gone are the illusions of the beauty of 'Aipō. Said of one who

finds out for himself what a person, thing, or place is really like.

'Ölelo No'eau 2611

.

Teaching children that you can eat pūnohu

and hā'uke'uke and how to do it.

Let's not only talk about caring for our oceans, about how we heard that during the high tide fish come in to feed. Let's not only talk about our 'ike kupuna or ancestral knowledge. Let's do it reconfirming it's value to you, your place and time.

Let's turn mana'o lana into mana'o 'i'o!

.

Exploring the shallow waters. Finding a pe'ape'a and he'e.

This explanation and translation of mana'o lana and mana'o 'i'o was introduced to me while attending an Eia Hawai'i presentation at UH Hilo. Manu Meyer, a visionary Hawaiian educator, talked passionately about application and making knowledge not only a cerebral activity, but one that stimulates all the senses.