Tapa clothWhite flowersWaterThe first of the weaving
Invocation Approach
Tone
Gentle and cyclic
Address
HinaMoon WomanHina of the Moon
Relationship
The woman in the moon who keeps the cycles
Warning
She is not the moon itself and the names are many
Resonance
Those who work with their hands those who keep a cycle
Symbols
The moonTapaThe eelThe tideThe loom
Mythology Summary
Hina is a widespread Polynesian figure rather than one goddess: in Hawai'i she is the moon and the mother of Maui, in Maori tradition Hine-te-iwaiwa is the goddess of women's arts and childbirth, and in Tahiti Hina is the woman who left for the moon. The names and stories differ by island, and the entry does not merge them. The moon, the tapa and the tide are her work. Beckwith's Hawaiian Mythology (1940) and the Maori sources record the separate figures.
Modern Practice
Hina is honoured at the moon with white flowers, water and the first of the weaving, and her practice is the work of women's hands and the keeping of the cycle. The tapa and the moon are hers. The practice is not a 'divine feminine' workshop.