From Esprit de la Nature

A complex tropical floral and rainforest scent infused in Hawaiian sandalwood

For seven years, I lived off-grid in the rainforest in a remote village in the Hawaiian Islands. I learned to speak and chant in Hawaiian, was initiated into a hula hālau (group) that performed ancient dances, and worked at a small museum and cultural center.

The ancient Hawaiians had an extremely sophisticated poetic way of looking at the world. The highest expression of any art was its ability to contain kaona.

"As our ancestors have shown, there is a duality that connects our physical world with the spiritual world; it is up to us to recognize the hidden meanings (kaona) that help guide us in our daily lives."— Kawena Lorenzo, kuaʻana (senior peer mentor), Leeward Community College Kīpuka Native Hawaiian Center, and student at the University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu

Kaona could be found in the negative space of patterns on bark cloth, in the double meanings of words in songs and chants, in the movements of a hula dancer, in the fragrant flowers chosen to make a lei, or in the aromas of botanicals woven into a sleeping mat.

Ingredients: Hawaiian Sandalwood (Santalum paniculatum), Hinano blossoms and extract (Pandanus spp), Maile leaves (Alyxia stellata), Awa root (Piper methysticum), Coconut extract (Cocos nucifera), Seashells.  To hold, bind and reinforce the scent-scape: Boswellia occulta, Commiphora Guidotti and Honey

 

Moena Hīnano incense is a kaona to the scent-scape of the aftermath of an ancient Hawaiian ʻaha leʻaleʻa (gathering of pleasure).

In the deep, moonlit hours after the festivities, when musicians and chanters have fallen silent and the hula dancers sleep under the stars, the hale (thatched house) of the aliʻi (elite) breathes a lingering fragrance into the night.

Moena Hīnano is an incense of that hour. The sandalwood furnishings of a high chief's home still radiate their warm, golden scent. Nearby, Maile leis, worn by honored guests and graceful hula dancers, float on the ocean, their green sweetness mingling with the ocean breeze and the scent of seashells. The aroma of Coconut-oiled hair and bodies persists. Nearby, the earthy bitterness of ʻAwa root lingers in drinking bowls, recalling conversation, chant, and ceremony.

Yet above all rises the scent of Hīnano. The male blossom of the Hala tree, Hīnano has long been celebrated for its strong and intoxicating fragrance. In Hawaiian poetry and mele (non-sacred song), Hīnano blossoms carry rich kaona-hidden meanings woven beneath the surface of words. Hīnano may be the flower itself, filling the night air with its sweet perfume. It may also be a lover, desired and remembered. And in some chants, a kaona for Hīnano becomes a moena (sleeping mat), where fragrance, intimacy, and longing meet in the darkness.

The Hala trees Hinano flowers are actually extremely fragrant, light-colored bracts that are very soft and pliable.  They were woven into fine sleeping mats reserved for the elites.  They were especially prized because of their scarcity and as status symbols.  Where-ever the Pandanus spp. of trees grow across the world, flowers have, been associated with men.

One of the most famous examples appears in the love poetry associated with Kamehameha. The chant composed for Chief Keawekūkahikona, titled "Kuʻu Moena Hīnano" ("My Mat of Hīnano"), celebrates the ʻaikāne (an intimate same-sex companion or partner) and punahele (cherished companion) of Kamehameha. Keawekūkahikona was a high-ranking chief in his own right and a warrior companion of Kamehameha. The poem mentions several plants used to symbolize the chief's beauty, rank, and the fragrance of the mats he shared with Kamehameha. The kaona of poetry allows love to be revealed through landscape, plants, and scent.

Ku‘u Moena Hīnano

J. R. Kaha‘i Topolinski

(English below)

 

Composed for Chief Keawekūkahikona the ‘aikāne and punahele of Kamehameha I.

 

Ua hana a lawa, ku‘u moena Hīnano

Kaʻu e li‘a nei me ka maika‘i

E hi‘i ‘ia nei e ka malihini

Kou ‘ano, kou poli palu pumehana.

 

‘O ka pua mokihana poni kou kalaunu

I piha loa me ka lau lama ē

I mea e kāhiko ai nei u‘i

He wehi ‘a‘ahu kau nui i ka po‘o pali.

 

Me he manu le‘a ho‘ola‘i nō ‘oe

He launa ‘ole “kū i ka ni‘o”*

He moena nahenahe ‘ala ‘oe na Laka

He lawakua maiau ke ‘ike aku

 

Noe wale mai nō ke aloha ‘ena

I ka hulu lipo āu i haku ai

E maliu mai ‘oe, e ‘alawa mai

Ke kapa lei nou e Keawekūkahikona

 

Me ka mahalo nui e puana ‘ia nei

Kou moena Hīnano hana me ka maika‘i

A he nani ka wai ‘ala onaona

Kau i ku‘u kilohana o ke aloha ē.

 

Fashioned perfectly is this mat from Hīnano bracts

That which I recall with fondness

Admired and praised by others

Your essence of warmth, soft is love

 

Your crown is of the purple mokihana

Woven abundantly with leaves of lama

A choice garland to grace your youthful essence

A beautiful covering for the chiefly one

 

You are likened to a skillful, gliding bird

Unequalled “at the pinnacle”

A mat of pleasing fragrance of Laka

An artful, lasting presence to behold.

 

Affection alights like the mist

Upon the soft mat you have fashioned

Harken, glance this way [O favored one]

This gift is yours, Keawekūkahikona.

 

With admiration this refrain is sung

For your mat of Hīnano fashioned most splendidly

So beautiful is its perfumed fragrance

That drenches my being with longing.

 

This price is for 13 perfect pellets nested in Hinano flower  petals , in a gold tin