This is an excerpt from the Opening Ceremony (2011) and first post on this blog. I thought it would be a good one to republish, and offer as a link. Click here to read, listen and watch the foundational values for Counting on the Moon. 'Ole po are times of review, times for weeding and repairing nets and tools; a good time to consider the condition of your journeying.
Listen to Kumu John Keola Lake chant "E Ho Mai"
Watch and Listen to Sam Ka'ai speak about kuleana
Read navigator Nainoa Thompson's stories that influenced his journey as Hawaiian wayfinder
" ... IN CONTEMPORARY native villages, one might posit today that all people actively engaged in the land—hunting, fishing, gathering, traveling, camping—are naturalists, and say that some are better than others according to their gifts of observation. Native peoples differ here, however, from the Gilbert Whites, the Darwins, the Leopolds, and the Rachel Carsons in that accumulating and maintaining this sort of information is neither avocation nor profession. It is more comparable to religious activity, behavior steeped in tradition and considered essential for the maintenance of good living. It is a moral and an inculcated stance, a way of being. While White and others, by contrast, were searching for a way back in to nature, native peoples (down to the present in some instances), for what-ever reason, have been at pains not to leave. The distinction is important because “looking for a way back in” is a striking characteristic of the modern naturalist’s frame of mind..." - Barry Lopez, excerpted from the article "The Naturalist" Orion Magazine, 2001
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