Hawaiian Word of the Week: Wahine

When in Hawaii, have you ever gotten confused as to which restroom door you should go into when you see Hawaiian terms on the door? After a few mistakes on my part, I came to learn that I needed to go into the door that says “wahine”. 

Wahine (pronounced ‘wah-hee-neh’) means woman. Hawaiian culture has always celebrated women’s power, passion and intellect…as we saw in our post about Pele a few weeks ago. 

However, historically, men and women in Hawaiian culture were kept separate: men and women would eat separately (even going as far as meals were cooked in separate ovens), worship separately (men indoors in temples and the wahine outside), and even activities were separate. This changed as Europeans started to inhabit the island. Strong women, such as the wives of King Kamehameha I are credited to have ended this separation between men and the wahine.

Do you know a strong wahine? How does she impact your life?

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