Hale Pili
In our houses today, we are used to doing all of the different activities of daily life in one place: cooking, eating, sleeping, talking, doing hobbies, and socializing.
In traditional Hawaiian society, this was not how people lived.
The traditional kauhale, or homestead, consisted of a number of buildings, each with its own special function.
There was the hale moe, where all of the ʻohana slept together.
The hale mua, or men's meeting house.
The hale kuke, or cooking house.
There were hale for building and storing canoes, as well as hale reserved for women.
How would you like to live in a kauhale? How would your day-to-day life be different?
Hale in old Hawaiʻi were built with natural materials that were gathered from the area near to the building site.
On some islands, the outside thatching was made of ti leaves, but pili grass was probably the most commonly used material for the exterior.
Hale aren't held together with nails, but are tied with kaula, or cordage. Like the other building materials, the type of kaula used might vary from island to island, or even between different districts on a single island, depending upon the needs of the builders and their access to the materials.
Kauhale = Cow-huh-lay
Moe = mo-ay
Hale = huh-lay
Kaula = Cow-lah
Kuke =koo-kay
ʻOhana = oh-hah-na
Pili = pee-lee
Mua = moo-uh