Ohana

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Part of Hawaiian culture, ʻohana means family in an extended sense of the term including blood-related, adoptive or intentional. It emphasizes that family are bound together and members must cooperate and remember one another. The term is cognate with (and its usage is similar to) the New Zealand Māori term whānau.

In actual Hawaiian culture the term ohana is strictly used for blood relations. Non-familial groupings always instead use the word "hui".

In Hawaiian, the word is ʻohana with the leading inverted apostrophe (ʻ) indicating a glottal stop or ‘okina.

The root word ʻohā refers to the root or corm of the kalo, or taro plant (the staple "staff of life" in Hawaii), which Kanaka Maoli consider to be their cosmological ancestor.

In contemporary Hawaiian life, an "ʻohana unit" is a part of a house or a separate structure on the same lot that may contain a relative but which may not be rented to the general public.

[edit] In popular culture

ʻOhana is one of the main themes of the movie Lilo & Stitch ("ʻOhana means family ~ family means nobody gets left behind,or forgotten.").

Ohana is the name of an indie/math/noise-rock group from Thirroul, Australia.

[edit] In genealogy

ʻOhana is a typical Sefardi Jewish surname which has its origin in Morocco. Descendants who bear the surname are mainly found in Israel, France, Canada and Brazil.

[edit] References

• Wight, K. 1997. Illustrated Hawaiian Dictionary, The Bess Press.
• City & County of Honolulu 2003. Land Use Ordinance