HĀNAU KA UA Hawaiian Rain Names – Oct 11, Iyengar All Levels

by Collete Leimon Akana with Kele Gonzales

From the most beautiful book I’ve found in a long time! Also from Talk Story, the western-most bookstore in the USA. The Hawaiians have literally hundreds of names for rain, specific to place and character. I may have experienced the one described below on the last day of my trip. The place, time, and pattern of the rain is what I experienced.

Alanilehua Rain

This rain is sometimes called Wailehua. It is associated with the nectar of the lehua blossoms. When this rain starts to come from the waters edge at Hā’ena and from above the upper heavens of that place it will travel to the west, sprinkling the buds of Puna's hinano blossoms and pouring down over the clusters of Pana’ewa’s lehua trees. It won't ever come close to town, but these raindrops will appear outside of the western border of Panaewa. Then it turns and circles to the south, ascending the uplands of Pā’ie’ie, and disappearing within the watery mists of the forest. It has a delicate nature, is rarely seen, and is visible only between the hours of 10 and 12 in the morning.