Preserving Hawaiian language through hymns

Tourists often come to Hawaii to explore its natural beauty. Visitors seek out the exotic plants, foods and unique culture of this island state that was once an independent nation ruled by a monarchy. Most don’t know that for generations, Hawaiian language and traditions were nearly extinguished by efforts to force Native peoples to assimilate. Since the 1970s, there’s been a movement, including in United Methodist churches, to bring back lost traditions.

Transcript

At Wahiawa United Methodist, Sunday worship starts with the blowing of a conch shell, a traditional Hawaiian welcome to sacred space. After the Scripture readings, the congregation sings a verse of Ke Aloha A Ke Akua, the Queen's Prayer — a hymn written by Hawaii's queen, Lili'uokalani in 1838. 

"I think so that was a second...." Music director Leo Pascua owns two Hawaiian hymnals, and he's intentional about working familiar hymns into worship.

Leo Pascua: “You can't really overwrite a language. If you keep it alive, it will stay there. It will continue to germinate. And if there's one way to keep a language going, in my opinion, (it) is with a hymn. Because you can let it germinate from there. And a person can just start with... And if they like the tone, they will start singing, at least a refrain in Hawaiian, and then from then on, off you go.”

Like Pascua, Pastor Samuel L. Domingo is from an immigrant family raised in Hawaii Methodist churches when English was dominant.

Rev. Samuel L. Domingo: “The Hawaiians have had a long history of being, you know, overthrown, if you will, displaced. Even to the point of almost a kind of a cultural genocide in which I recall many of my friends' fathers and mothers having grown up, you know, in Hawaiian families, but they couldn't speak Hawaiian, you know. They could not, you know, practice, you know, their cultural identity and pass it on to their kids. And so a lot of my friends who I grew up with, they had hardly any clue of being Hawaiian, except singing the songs, maybe dancing the hulas, but really understanding the real basic fundamentals of the Hawaiian culture and especially rooted in the language, you know. And so during the 1970s, there was this great awakening, a kind of a renaissance of not only Hawaiian music, but language and culture that was really beginning to be embraced by almost everybody who lived in Hawaii.”

Today, United Methodist churches across the islands embrace Hawaiian tradition in worship. You may hear prayers or see the hula. Hawaii is a melting pot of cultures.

United Methodist churches may worship in Samoan or celebrate Children's Sunday in the Tongan tradition. Visiting a United Methodist church can be a meaningful and memorable experience when you visit Hawaii.

Listen to the music and look around. The flowers, you may see koa wood offering plates. The small details are part of the experience.

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The United Methodist Church is taking steps toward mending relationships with Native Hawaiians. At General Conference 2024, delegates approved a formal apology for the denomination’s role in the overthrow of the 1893 Hawaiian monarchy. The United Methodist Act of Repentance Task Force produced this video to provide background information.