Mana Mahina: Earth’s Moon(Material above does not utilize modern Hawaiian orthography.) These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of
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These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
SCIENTIFIC The moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth and is in synchronous rotation with it,
always showing the same face. It is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun, and its
current orbital distance causes it to coincidentally appear (from Earth) to be almost the same
size as the Sun, allowing it to cover the Sun precisely in total solar eclipses. Thought to have
formed nearly 4.5 billion years ago (from debris knocked from the Earth by a Mars-sized
projectile), it is the only other celestial body on which humans have thus far set foot. It also
exerts gravitational influence on the Earth’s oceans, causing tides.
The Moon cyclically changes phases, which are most readily distinguished by the location
of its terminator (i.e., the line that divides its light from its dark side). A new moon occurs
when the moon is directly between the Sun and the Earth; lost in the light of the sun, we
cannot see a new moon at all. During a crescent moon, only a sliver of the Moon is visible,
resembling a banana or a smile. Quarter moons occur twice during a lunar cycle (or one
month). The term ‘quarter moon’ and ‘half moon’ are interchangeable. The term ‘half moon’
refers to the fact that we see exactly half of the moon’s disc lit up during these times. The
term ‘quarter moon’ refers to the fact that this moon phase occurs when the moon is either one
quarter of the way through its monthly orbit around the earth (first quarter moon), or three
Credit: Anela Benson, Loke Roseguo
Grade Level: 6-8
Learning Time: Multi-Session
Keywords: anahulu, ecliptic, gibbous, mahina,
terminator
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
[Kāne, Lono, and Mauli (Life-Spirit). Kanaloa, Kāne and Lono are
three major gods of ancient Hawai‘i.]
There is also a mo‘olelo (story) about Hina, the goddess of the Moon:
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
Hina by Polynesian Voyaging Society co-founder Herb Kawainui Kāne
(Material above does not utilize modern Hawaiian orthography.)
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
wasn’t surprised. That’s my most valuable moment, that one. (Kyselka, 1986, p. 232)
When attempting to determine direction, the Moon serves as a clue, especially when as a
crescent. The Moon’s terminator or the “cut of the Moon” (as Nāinoa calls it) is sometimes
oriented north-south, when both the Sun and Moon are on the celestial equator (i.e., the
imaginary line in the sky that serves as a projection of the Earth’s equator outwards, lying
equidistant from both the north and south celestial poles). Because of the Sun’s and Moon’s
continually oscillating positioning, the “cut of the Moon” is usually used when other clues
are not otherwise available.
BISHOP MUSEUM The Pō Mahina chant and hand game are based on an ‘ōlelo no‘eau (# 1471) that Bishop
Museum Hawaiian cultural authority Mary Kawena Pukui originally included in ‘Ōlelo
No‘eau: Hawaiian Proverbs & Poetical Sayings (published in 1983 by Bishop Museum
Press): “Kamali‘i ‘ike‘ole i ka helu pō: Muku nei, Muku ka malama; Hilo nei, kau ka
Hoaka. Children who do not know the moon phases: Muku is here, Muku the moon; Hilo
comes next, then Hoaka” (p. 159).
The museum offers other opportunities to learn about the Moon (among other
astronomical entities) through its Jhamandas Watumull (formerly Kilolani) Planetarium,
which was the first planetarium in Polynesia, having opened in 1961. This planetarium in
particular served as an invaluable educational resource for students of non-instrument
navigation, most especially Nāinoa Thompson. Starting in 1976, after sailing on Hōkūlea’s
return voyage from Tahiti to Hawai‘i, Nāinoa was determined to learn how to navigate but,
without a teacher at the time, he had to rely heavily on books to make sense of the stars, Sun,
and Moon. During an extended training voyage on Hōkūle‘a, he attempted to navigate, but,
according to him,
The moon rose in a place I didn’t expect. … Why? I thought I had understood the
relationships between the path of the sun and moon fully. This just didn’t make sense.
When I got back home, I grabbed my astronomy books, but I couldn’t find an answer in
them—I had no teacher! I thought the planetarium at the Bishop Museum might have an
answer to this riddle. … So, at 6 A.M., I called Will [Kyselka] and said, “I’ve got this
problem with the moon!” (PVS, 2013)
From that point in 1977 and onwards, planetarium presenter Will Kyselka would become
one of Nāinoa’s most revered teachers, spending hours with him under the planetarium’s
dome, so that he could observe and learn in weeks and months what might otherwise have
taken years or decades. Besides rectifying Nāinoa’s misunderstanding of where the Moon
rises, Will’s astronomical knowledge and teaching within the planetarium helped prepare
Nāinoa to derive his own system of non-instrument navigation that he would eventually use
to successfully guide Hōkūle‘a from Hawai‘i to Tahiti (and back) in 1980 and throughout the
Pacific on subsequent voyages.
The planetarium continues to serve approximately 75,000 visitors (including students)
per year through its daily shows, all of which feature the moon in some capacity
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
stand in a large circle around it. The light should be bright enough to cast strong
shadows.
Have each student pair up with the student next to them and give each pair a
Styrofoam ball and pencil. Direct them to mount the Styrofoam ball on the
pencil. One student will act as the Earth, holding the ball-mounted pencil that
will serve as the Moon, while the other student will observe what happens as
conditions change.
Darken the room and turn on the central light source, which will serve as the Sun.
Hold the light at a height above the students’ heights so that its light falls
unobstructed on the students’ Earths and Moons.
Ask the students (within their pairs) to experiment with moving the moon ball
around the student’s earth head, noticing how the moon goes through phrases as it
orbits the ‘earth head.’ Remind the student acting as the Earth to hold his or her
Moon at arm’s length but also above his or her head level (so that the Sun may
shine unobstructed upon it).
This first activity is to help students get just the general idea of what causes lunar
phrases. In discussion, ask questions such as:
o How much of the moon is lit at any one time? (A: half the moon is always
lit; what changes is not how much of the moon is lit. What changes is
how much we on earth see of the lit side.
o Where do you hold the moon so that the earth sees none of the moon’s lit
side at all? (When the moon is right in between the earth and the sun,
when it is a ‘new’ moon).
o Where do you hold the moon so the earth can see all of the moon’s lit
side? (on the other side of the earth from the sun, when the moon is full).
Now, look at the phrase of the moon on the blackboard.
o We said that the first phrase in this sequence is this crescent moon, lit
from the right side as you look at the moon. Where will you hold the
moon ball so that you see just a little bit of the right side of the moon lit
up? (When you hold the moon ball just a little to the left of where you
hold it for a new moon).
o The moon keeps going in the same direction; so move your moon ball
around until you on earth will see half of the moon’s lit side; make sure
that the right half is the side lit up, since we agreed that the next phrase in
the order on the blackboard will be a half moon lit from the right. (Have
students move the moon balls around till they are holding the moon ball at
a right angle to the sun, on the left side of the ‘earth head.’). You can see
why this is called a ‘half moon’; we on earth can see half of the moon’s lit
surface. This phase is also called a ‘quarter moon,’ because the moon is
now one quarter of the way around the earth in its orbit. It takes the moon
a month to orbit the earth; one quarter of a month is, roughly, a week. So
this phrase of the moon occurs when the moon is about one week into its
orbit.
o Move the moon in the same direction till to see more than half the lit side
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
of the moon. Make sure it’s the right side that is lit. When the moon is in
between a half moon and full moon, it’s called a ‘Gibbous moon.’
o Keep on going now, with your moon ball around your earth head, till the
moon is full. Notice that, when the moon is full, there is a straight line
between the sun, earth and moon; as the sun sets at this time of the month,
the full moon is straight across from the setting sun, rising in the east.
o Keep going around past the full moon. Now, notice (this, as the students
have the moon now the right side of their bodies) that it’s the left side of
the moon that is lit. Move the moon till you have a half moon again, but
this time with the left side of the moon lit. This is again called a half
moon, and again called a quarter moon. However, when the moon is lit
from the left like this, it’s called a ‘third quarter moon.’ The moon is now
three quarters of its way around the earth (or, three weeks into its month-
long trip).
o Keep going with your moon till you have a crescent again, but this time lit
from the left.
o Finally, hold the moon in between you and the sun again. We’re back to a
new moon again, just under 30 days from the last time it was new.
Hawaiian phrases:
o We have seen the major phrases of the moon used in the European
calendar. That European calendar has only seven big phrases:
1. New Moon
2. Early Crescent Moon, with the moon lit from the right side
3. First Quarter moon (moon lit from right side)
4. Waxing Gibbous moon (between a first quarter and a full moon;
moon lit from right side)
5. Full moon
6. Waning Gibbous moon (between a full moon and third quarter
moon; moon now lit from left side
7. Third Quarter moon (moon lit from left side)
8. Waning crescent moon (moon lit from left side)
o However, the Hawaiian Calendar recognizes far more phrases; every night
is a recognized phase.
o Demonstrate and name each moon phase in Hawaiian calendar, starting
with Muku or the first waxing crescent phase immediately following a
new moon. After completing an entire lunar cycle, have students switch
roles.
Finally, challenge students to position their moon in the appropriate place after
hearing only the Hawaiian and/or English name for that phase. Do this several
times.
3. EXPLAIN:
Have students explain the movement of the moon and earth in relation to the sun
over the course of 24 hours, 1 month, and 1 year.
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
These lessons have been developed in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education and Polynesian Voyaging Society. Funding has been provided by the Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.