The Hawaiian Dictionary of Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert. 1986 University of Hawaii Press defines mana'o as "...thought,
idea, belief, opinion, theory, thesis, intention, meaning, suggestions,
mind (Mat. 22.37), desire, want; to think, estimate, anticipate, expect
(see ex. lele'oi), suppose, meditate, deem consider (not the
intellectual process of no'ono'o)."
Here
we see the effect of the philosophy lived by Hawaiians of old on their
use of language. Here we find thought but, "...not the intellectual
process...". It is the effect of the individual’s experience and
knowledge that combines with the individual's belief, opinion or
intention. As no two individuals have the same life experience and
knowledge, the mana'o is individual and not alike for everyone. The
slight or great differences are a result of different lives. Yet it is
important to consider the truth of each of these lives as having had a
true meaning for the individual.
While living on the island of Kauai, we have developed our own
mana’o or beliefs about the ancient art of string figures. It is our
intent to share with you our thoughts as we have come to understand
string figures from our experiences while living in the Pacific. We have
found that to understand the land we are living in we must also learn
about the rest of Polynesia and the ancient world in general.
We have come to find out that there is more to learning about
string figures than just a simple loop of string. Many have studied the
movements of the hands. Some have recorded the stories and the chants.
Some have ventured into the understanding of the culture and the
language of the people who made them. Few have explored the names of
people, places and events found within the string figure chants and even
fewer have written about the symbols, metaphors and esoteric knowledge
which comes to them from ways not easy to explain.
We have found that to understand the Hawaiian string figures
one must learn about the people and the culture of Hawaii. Not just the
Hawaii of today but the Hawaii of old. Even the Language of today is
more literal and less metaphoric than the language of old. We were not
there when the ancestors worked with the kaula or the string. We do not
really know why they were used but we do know the effect that they have
on us and on others.