Guest post by Dr. Fred Wood, Outreach and Evaluation Scientist in the Office of Health Information Programs Development.
On June 17, the ocean-going, double-hulled canoe Hōkūleʽa (named for Arcturus, the Star of Gladness) successfully completed its historic Worldwide Voyage. The Hōkūleʽa departed Honolulu, Hawaiʽi, on May 18, 2014 and over the last three years traveled more than 60,000 nautical miles, stopping at 150 ports in 27 nations, while completing its circumnavigation of the globe.
Launched in 1975, the Hōkūleʽa recreates the type of ocean-going canoes used by Polynesians for thousands of years to traverse the Pacific Ocean and to discover other Pacific islands, including Hawaiʽi. Hōkūleʽa’s original mission was to prove that traditional double-hulled canoes “powered” only by native knowledge of the wind and swells, as well as the sun, moon, stars, and ocean wildlife, could voyage across the 2,500 miles each way between Hawaiʽi and Tahiti. Once accomplished, this initial mission expanded to include voyages to other islands throughout the Pacific, west to Asia, and east to the US mainland.
Building on this voyaging success, the Hōkūleʽa transformed into a symbol for a broader revitalization of Native Hawaiian culture, pride, ecological sustainability, and health, messages that remain at the heart of its global voyage.
When that voyage reached Washington, DC in May 2016, NLM hosted Nainoa Thompson, one of only a handful of Native Hawaiians trained in the traditional navigation methods referred to as wayfinding. Thompson spoke passionately about the history and role of the Hōkūleʽa in promoting Hawaiian culture and health, and in advocating for environmental protection, sustainability of the oceans, and world peace.
Even before the Worldwide Voyage and Thompson’s lecture, NLM had closely followed the Hōkūleʽa and honored its importance in NLM exhibitions and associated websites and apps.
For the NLM exhibition Native Voices: Native Peoples Concepts of Health and Illness, the Library commissioned a one-sixth scale model of the Hōkūleʽa built by Hawaiian artisans to the exact specifications of the full-sized canoe. The model was on display for several years in the NLM rotunda. In addition, Native Voices included interviews with Thompson, and with several of Hōkūleʽa medical officers, including Drs. Ben Young, Ben Tamura, and Marjorie Mau, who served on various legs of the Hōkūleʽa’s 40+ years of ocean voyaging.
The Hōkūleʽa and the ancient arts of navigation and voyaging were also at the center of the NLM exhibition A Voyage to Health, which looked at how the resurgence of Native Hawaiian culture helped heal the soul of the community. When the canoe and her crew returned to Honolulu last week, A Voyage to Health was there as part of the welcoming celebration.
Both traveling exhibitions have visited dozens of venues across Hawaiʽi and the rest of the US. And NLM’s scale-model Hōkūleʽa is now on display at the Disney Aulani Resort, in West Oahu, under auspices of the Friends of the Hōkūleʽa and Hawaiʽiloa.
NLM celebrates the accomplishments of the Hōkūleʻa and the entire Hawaiian voyaging community that participated in the Mālama Honua (“Care for the Earth”) Worldwide Voyage. As that voyage comes to a close, NLM acknowledges once again its significance as an icon of Hawaiian culture, values, and health.
More Information
Native Voices Exhibition: NLM Hōkūleʽa microsite
Video: Nainoa Thompson’s Special Lecture on the Hōkūle’a and Native Hawaiian Health (May 23, 2016)
NIH Record: “For Native Hawaiians, Canoe Instills Pride, Healing”
