I recognized KaHuna bodywork as totally My Jam at first sight. The joie de vivre of the Southern Seas meets the contemplative depth of the Nordic soul, and what emerges feels completely natural.
A surprise, however, came with the discovery of how many similar words exist between Estonian and Hawaiian! These two places could not be further from each other, neither geographically nor in lifestyle! Estonian is a tiny, enchanting melodic fairy language spoken by only 1 million people on this planet, and it sounds like nothing else in the world except for the 5 million speakers of the Finnish language. Hawaiian, spoken as a mother tongue by only 2000 people these days, is related to other Polynesian languages such as Samoan, Tahitian, Maori, and Tongan.
It’s intriguing to ponder where these similarities between our words (and even their meanings!) and those of Polynesian tribes originate. I like to think that perhaps some members of the Finno-Ugric tribes, did not join us on our westward journey as we set out from the Siberian forests in ancient times towards our current homeland but instead ventured in the opposite direction, eastward, eventually reaching the coast of Kamchatka. Feeling the call of the sea and a sense of adventure, they might have sailed southeast from there, and Hawaii is indeed the first land that they might have come upon on such a journey. I quite like the theory of Hawaiians as a tribe with ancient Finno-Ugric roots!
Here are some of my favorites, starting with my most beloved ones, because they are so uncannily specific!
ao – Hawaiian: “dawn light”, Estonian: “of dawn”
pai – Hawaiian: “to cherish, pamper, like with a beloved child”, Estonian: “caress” ( like with a beloved child!)
mana – Hawaiian: “supernatural, celestial power, miraculous, force.” Estonian: derived from the imperative verb “manama,” meaning to “enchant or cast a spell”. Like WHAT?!!
ahi – Hawaiian: “fire.” Estonian: “oven” The place where fire.
kala – Hawaiian:”surgeonfish/unicorn fish,” but also “to release”. Estonian: “fish”
ihu – Hawaiian: “nose, face.” Estonian: “body”
ike – Hawaiian: “to know, to be aware, to understand, to perceive, to experience, to see, to hear, to discover, to inform, to acknowledge.”Estonian: ” duty, to govern, slavery, servitude”. Understanding and awareness can bond you with duty so you may not feel as free as you did whilst still ignorant.
kilu – Hawaiian: “unpleasant, damp, musty smell.” Estonian: ” a particular marinated fish with an unpleasant, damp, musty smell” that no Estonian can live without. This love runs deep in our DNA. This is a food eaten on our Independence Day.
kena – Hawaiian: “quenched thirst, content.” Estonian: “pleasant, beautiful, delectable”. “Satisfaction and a quenched thirst” are natural sentiments when you experience something or someone delectable!
ala – Hawaiian: “path.” Estonian: “area”. A path is also an area of sorts.
iho – Hawaiian: “self, to own.” In Southern Estonian dialect: “body” – something that you truly, temporarily own. Perhaps the ONLY thing that you – as a Self, a Soul – really ever OWN.
lumi – Hawaiian: “room.” Estonian: “snow” A room made of snow – like an igloo?
lohe – Hawaiian: “to hear.” Estonian: “dragon”. Awareness of the approaching dragon would probably first come through hearing.
puu – Hawaiian: “mound, cone-shaped.” Estonian: “tree” A spruce, for example, is a cone-shaped tree that can be growing on a mound.
kai – Hawaiian: “sea, seawater, toward the sea.” Estonian: “pier, dock” A structure from which ships are untied when they go out “toward the sea”.
