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The Sky — Ka Lani

ByKate Righter

E nānā i luna. Look up. What do you see? Clouds? A rainbow? The moon? Stars?

Can you name what you see? There are names for all the different clouds, constellations and moon phases. These terms are different in Hawaiian than those used for science. Hawaiian names contain local, cultural, and spiritual knowledge. Scientific names are used worldwide so that people all use the same terms when describing what they see. Both types of names offer us different ways of looking at the world.

This post offers a variety of ways to investigate and think about what is happening in the skies above us.

Topics in this post:

  • The sky — General resources
  • Weather — Ke Anilā
  • Clouds — Nā Ao
  • The Moon — Ka Mahina
  • Stars — Nā Hoku

Nature Journaling The Sky

International Nature Journaling week (a yearly event in June) had a sky themed day: https://www.naturejournalingweek.com/program/skies

Join or visit the Skyscapito Appreciation Society for instructional videos, to learn more about the art and science of the sky and clouds, and see examples how different people have painted the sky throughout history.

Weather — Ke Anilā

How do you nature journal when it’s raining? I created a list of prompts to help guide observation: Rain Phenomenon Prompts

Here’s some ideas for supplies to use for journaling when it’s wet: Underwater Nature Journaling

Kamehameha Schools created a weather report worksheet with versions in both Hawaiian and English. (Note: They have a number of other great worksheets and lesson plans on their Ohana Resources webpage.)

From the Hawaii Climate Data Portal: Glossary of terms

Some Hawaiian words for rain from Orion Magazine.

Maps of the names for the clouds and rains in Manoa (a place famous for its rainbows): https://www.manoaheritagecenter.org/moolelo/manoa-valley/wind-and-rain-names/

Rainbow names in Hawaiian: https://www.instagram.com/p/COgS1OnLYz7/

Clouds — Nā Ao

Brooke Morales has a routine of painting the sky every single day, and shares videos of her painting technique: https://www.lifenoticed.com/365-skies-2024/

Hawaiian Cloud Chart part 1 and Hawaiian Cloud chart part 2 by Steven Businger and Gavin Shigesato (from here: https://coe.hawaii.edu/kahuaao/cloud/)

Alternate link for the Hawaiian cloud chart

A video for identifying 10 common clouds, with links to more quality, kid-appropriate videos about the weather.

There is also a worldwide Cloud Appreciation Society with a lot of great resources and lesson plans.

This blog post is a great Hawaii-based explanation of how deep observation and documentation of the clouds you see and the weather patterns you notice can help you learn and make predictions.

ʻŌlelo Noʻeau (Hawaiian sayings) related to clouds from waahonua.com

This is just so fun and adorable by artist Chris Judge (what if you drew cartoon images of what you imagine in the clouds in your journal?): https://mossandfog.com/chris-judges-daily-cloud-interpretations/

The Moon — Ka Mahina

Now a separate post on this site: https://hawaiinaturejournal.org/the-moon-ka-mahina/

Stars — Nā Hoku

From Bishop Museum: Chart of the night sky for this month

From Imiloa: Learn about the four star families

From Roseann Hanson: Journaling Night Skies

Kristin Link has examples of her nature journal pages of the night sky: https://weeklynaturejournal.substack.com/p/sketching-the-night-sky

From John Muir Laws: Astronomy Nature Journaling

Learn about the ancient methods of navigation using the stars, wind, and currents, and how they’re being taught and used in modern times: https://waahonua.com/

Also be sure to check out the post about navigation and wayfinding on this site!

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