Like Sections of an Orange
Ahupua'a
Ownership of land is a curious European belief. Many Native peoples do not believe that the land belongs to you. Nope, the land is only taken care of by people. The land belongs to the gods. Chiefs and elders act to interpret what the gods believe is best for the land. All people who live on the land are the stewards or 'caretakers' of the land.
So it was in Hawaii. Land on the islands was divided into large sections. These large sections were further divided into pie shaped wedges that extended from the tops of the mountains to the sea where it's toes were washed by the warm ocean water. Since the land was a huge volcanic mountain, each wedge fit nicely into place. The land sections were called ahupua'a (ah-HOO-poo-ah-ah).
Ahupua'a got their names because alters (ahu) were made to mark the intersection between two sections of land. An image or offering of a pig (pua'a) was put on the alter. A chief ruled that land and the people that lived there followed the rules of that chief. The land and water gave the people everything they needed. It extended from the top of the mountain, where there were rocks, trees, and birds, to the sea where there was fish. They grew taro, an important food, in gardens located at different levels in the ahupua'a.
Water was cherished in ancient Hawai'i. There were many rules about water and it's use. Because it was so important in the growing of food and taro, this was the one thing that people could not use freely.
Pie shaped wedge of land. Hmmmmmmm.
Let's take a look at the globe we call Earth.
My goodness, it looks like Earth is also divided into pie shaped wedges. Looks like these wedges extend from the poles to the equator.
Gosh, and the wedge that the Hawaiian Islands are in, they are in the same wedge as a major part of the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands. What an amazing thing!
So I guess you could say that the Hawaiian Islands and a big part of the Bering Sea and the Aleutian islands all share the same ahupua'a. Take your finger and trace the longitude meridian at 150 degrees. Where does your finger pass by?
Now do the same thing again. Go to the Arctic Circle. This time find the 180-degree meridian. Trace it from the North Pole to the Equator.
One earth one ocean one people.
The land, water and people at the top of the ahupua'a, in the Bering Sea and most of the Aleutian Islands, are directly above the Hawaiian Islands. If seen as a pie shaped wedge, Alaska is the sharp point of the pie, Hawaii is the crust.
Does melting ice and warming waters in the Bering Sea affect the health of Hawaii's fine sand beaches and crystal blue waters?
One earth one ocean one people.
Did You Know?
The Arctic Ocean is the most shallow of all the five oceans. It's average depth is only around 1000 meters. The Pacific Ocean is the deepest ocean with an average depth of around 4100 meters.