Mālama ʻĀina, Mālama Kino: Hawaiian Seasonal Wellness from Kū to Lono
Author's Note: This piece draws from traditional Hawaiian seasonal wisdom and healing practices, connecting ancestral knowledge with modern wellness approaches for diaspora communities seeking to reconnect with cultural rhythms of care.
As the intense energy of Kauwela begins its gentle retreat, we find ourselves at a sacred threshold—the transition from Kū's domain of action and productivity into Lono's season of rest, renewal, and spiritual abundance. Our kūpuna understood this shift not merely as a change in weather, but as a fundamental reordering of priorities that honors the natural rhythms of both ʻāina and kino (body).
From Kū to Lono: Understanding Seasonal Honua
During the time of Kū, which governs our Kauwela season, we are called to work, create, and actively tend to the physical world around us. Kū's energy drives us to plant, build, harvest, and engage with the tangible realm of productivity. But as his season draws to a close, we must begin the sacred work of preparing our honua—our foundations—for the approaching time of Lono.
Kauwela to Hoʻoilo: Sacred Seasonal Transitions
Lonoikamakahiki and the Hoʻoilo season that follows represent a profound shift toward inner work, spiritual restoration, and the kind of deep rest that allows for hoʻōla—true healing and renewal. Just as farmers allow fields to lie fallow so the soil can regenerate its nutrients, we too must learn to mālama our bodies and spirits into states of receptive restoration.
Preparing Your Foundation for Lono's Season
This transition requires intentional preparation. We cannot simply stop the intense activity of Kū's time and expect immediate peace. Instead, we must thoughtfully tend to our physical, mental, and spiritual honua, ensuring they are properly cared for as we move into Lono's domain of renewal.
The Body as ʻĀina: Parallel Practices of Care
Our kūpuna recognized that caring for the land and caring for our bodies are not separate practices, but expressions of the same fundamental understanding: all living systems require cycles of activity and rest, intensity and gentleness, work and restoration.
Traditional Hawaiian Healing and Land Connection
Just as ʻāina needs time to recover from the intense sun and heat of Kauwela, our skin—our body's largest organ and our interface with the world—requires intentional healing after months of summer exposure. The salt air, UV rays, and active outdoor life that nourish our spirits during Kū's time can leave our skin in need of the same kind of gentle restoration we would offer to sun-weathered soil.
Seasonal Skin Care as Spiritual Practice
Traditional Hawaiian healing practices understood this connection intimately. The same reverence given to tending ʻāina was applied to tending kino, recognizing that both required seasonal awareness, appropriate timing, and the healing properties of native plants.
Lāʻau ʻAla: Sacred Plants for Seasonal Transition
The practice of using lāʻau ʻala represents one of the most beautiful expressions of this land-body connection. Royal Hawaiian Sandalwood (lāʻau ʻala or ʻiliahi), with its deeply grounding and antimicrobial properties, offers the perfect medicine for this seasonal transition. Its rich, earthy scent immediately signals to our nervous system that it's time to slow down, go deeper, and prepare for the introspective work of Lono's season.
Royal Hawaiian Sandalwood (ʻIliahi) for Spiritual Preparation
When we anoint our skin with sandalwood oil or breathe in its sacred fragrance, we're not just caring for our physical bodies—we're participating in an ancient practice of spiritual preparation. The aromatherapeutic properties of lāʻau ʻala help quiet the active, outward-focused energy of Kū's time and invite us into the receptive, inward-turning awareness that Lono's season requires.
Native Hawaiian Plants for Body and Spirit
Other traditional lāʻau like kukui (candlenut), noni, and native Hawaiian plants offer similar bridges between physical healing and spiritual preparation. Each carries the mana of ʻāina directly to our bodies, reminding us that we are not separate from the land we seek to care for.
Meditation as Seasonal Preparation
Just as we might clear a garden bed before the rains of Hoʻoilo, we must also prepare our mental and spiritual spaces for the deeper work of Lono's season. Traditional Hawaiian spiritual practices understood meditation not as emptying the mind, but as creating space for the kind of deep listening and receptivity that allows for true hoʻōla.
This might look like morning moments of gratitude before applying healing oils to sun-weathered skin, or evening practices of reflection while breathing in the grounding scent of sandalwood. The key is recognizing these daily acts of self-care as spiritual preparation—ways of honoring both our bodies and our connection to the seasonal rhythms our kūpuna lived by.
Modern Applications for Diaspora Communities
For kānaka ʻōiwi living far from home, this seasonal wisdom offers powerful guidance for staying connected to cultural rhythms regardless of geographic location. Whether you're experiencing autumn in the continental United States or spring in the Southern Hemisphere, the principle remains the same: honor the transition from active, outward-focused energy to receptive, restorative practices.
Hawaiian Wellness Practices Away from Home
This might mean:
Creating evening rituals with healing oils and aromatherapy that signal to your body it's time to shift from Kū's productivity to Lono's restoration
Incorporating meditation or prayer practices that honor both your physical healing and spiritual preparation
Using natural, plant-based skincare as a form of daily connection to ʻāina, even when far from Hawaiian soil
Creating Cultural Rhythms Anywhere
Recognizing seasonal transitions wherever you are as opportunities to practice the kind of intentional care our kūpuna understood as essential to wellbeing
The Sacred Reciprocity of Care
Perhaps most importantly, this traditional understanding teaches us that caring for our bodies is not separate from caring for ʻāina—it's an expression of the same sacred reciprocity that governs all healthy relationships. When we tend to our skin with the same reverence we would offer to healing land, when we prepare our spirits for seasonal transition with the same intentionality we would bring to preparing a garden, we participate in the ancient wisdom that recognizes no separation between our wellbeing and the wellbeing of the world around us.
As we move from Kū's time of action into Lono's season of restoration, let us remember that mālama ʻāina and mālama kino are not two different practices, but one sacred commitment to honoring the cycles of renewal that sustain all life.
In caring for our bodies with the healing gifts of ʻāina, we prepare ourselves not just for personal restoration, but for the deeper spiritual work that Lonoikamahiki and Hoʻoilo invite us into—work that will ultimately strengthen our ability to care for both ourselves and our communities with greater wisdom and aloha.
Frequently Asked Questions About Hawaiian Seasonal Wellness
Q: What are Kū and Lono seasons in Hawaiian tradition? A: Kū governs the active Kauwela (summer) season of work and productivity, while Lono represents the Hoʻoilo season of rest, renewal, and spiritual restoration. Traditional Hawaiian wisdom recognizes these as essential cycles for both land and body.
Q: What is lāʻau ʻala in Hawaiian healing? A: Lāʻau ʻala refers to fragrant heartwood of the Hawaiian Sandalwood plant used in traditional Hawaiian medicine, also known as ʻiliahi, which offer both physical healing and spiritual preparation benefits.
Q: How can Hawaiian diaspora communities practice seasonal wellness? A: By honoring seasonal transitions wherever you live, creating rituals with healing oils, incorporating meditation practices, and using plant-based skincare as daily connection to ʻāina and cultural rhythms.
Q: What does mālama ʻāina, mālama kino mean? A: This phrase means "care for the land, care for the body," reflecting the Hawaiian understanding that caring for our physical selves and caring for the environment are interconnected practices of the same sacred reciprocity.
Q: How do I transition from Kū energy to Lono energy? A: Begin by gradually shifting from active, outward-focused activities to more receptive, restorative practices. This includes using aromatherapy, meditation, gentle skincare routines, and honoring your body's need for rest and renewal.
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi Glossary
Mālama ʻāina: Care for the land
Mālama kino: Care for the body
Kū: Hawaiian akua (deity) associated with active energy, war, productivity
Lono: Hawaiian akua associated with peace, fertility, healing, rain
Kauwela: Summer season, time of heat
Hoʻoilo: Winter season, time of rest. Rainy Season.
Honua: Foundation, earth, land
Hoʻōla: To heal, restore, revive
Lāʻau ʻala: Fragrant heartwood of sandalwood plant
ʻIliahi: Modern name for Hawaiian sandalwood. Lit. Fiery, burning skin — so named due to the effects on the makaʻāinana who would gather the lāʻau ʻala from the mountains and valleys, carrying them down to the ships for trade on their backs until they bled. This is a remnant of the great Sandalwood trade in the time of Kamehameha Nui.
Makaʻāinana: common folk. those who are noa and free from kapu.
Kapu: Spiritual restriction
ānaka ʻōiwi: Native Hawaiian people
Kūpuna: Ancestors, elders
Sources & Further Reading:
Traditional Hawaiian Seasonal Knowledge:
Malo, David. Hawaiian Antiquities (Moolelo Hawaii). Honolulu: Hawaiian Gazette Co., 1903.
Pukui, Mary Kawena, and Samuel H. Elbert. Hawaiian Dictionary. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986.
Handy, E.S. Craighill, and Elizabeth Green Handy. Native Planters in Old Hawaii: Their Life, Lore, and Environment. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1972.
Hawaiian Healing Practices:
Abbott, Isabella Aiona. La'au Hawai'i: Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1992.
Gutmanis, June. Kahuna La'au Lapa'au: The Practice of Hawaiian Herbal Medicine. Honolulu: Island Heritage Publishing, 1976.
Cultural Seasonal Understanding:
Kanahele, George S. Ku Kanaka, Stand Tall: A Search for Hawaiian Values. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986.
Young, Kanalu G. Terry. Rethinking the Native Hawaiian Past: Notes from a Kanaka Maoli Historian. New York: Garland Publishing, 1998.
