Hikina

east; coming

To the Hawaiians, the direction of hikina is very significant. The son rises in the hikina and the sun signifies enlightenment. When the rays of the sun (kukuna o ka lā) touch our ʻāina they brings forth life. Day. When it sets in the west or komohana it signifies death. Darkness. When the first child was born of gods here in Hawaiʻi, he was very weak and didn't live long. He was buried on the hikina side of their dwelling and from this spot, where the sun first shows off its immense beauty in the early morning, grew the first kalo, or taro plant, Hāloanakalaukapalili. Their next child, also named Hāloa, was the progenitor of the Hawaiian race. The first Hawaiian. Brother to the kalo.

The easternmost point of the state of Hawaiʻi is located on the Big Island at Kumukahi. "Aia i Kumukahi ka lā e puka maila." There at Kumukahi the sun appears. This ʻāina is sacred because it is from here that Hawaiians first see the sun appear to warm us, to bring forth life, to enlighten us. We hear of children having the word hikina in their name but never hear the word komohana or west in names. Hikina also means the coming, advent. "Mai ka hikina a ka la i Kumukahi a i ka welona i Lehua" - from the arrival of the sun in Kumukahi to its setting in Lehua.

Aia ʻo  Kumukahi ma ka ʻaoʻao hikina o Hawaiʻi mokupuni - Kumukahi is on the east side of Hawaiʻi Island.

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