Dear Mr. Finley and Mum Staff,
Thank you for assembling your collection of menstrual materials for
viewing on your website. I have enjoyed reading the scanned printed media.
Many of the ads are overtly obsessed with hygiene. It is with the issue
of hygiene that I feel as though I need to clarify the menstrual huts in
Polynesia, particularly in Hawaii. I have read an except of the non-fiction
book 'The Polynesian Family System in Ka'u, Hawaii' written by Handy &
Pukui'* regarding the taboo placed on menstruating woman and their segregation.
These taboos were a far more pleasant time in a woman's cycle than I feel
is being portrayed on the MUM.org site. Taboo does not, in fact, refer
to menes in particular, but is a very broad term signifying sacred, holy,
concecrated, forbidden, keep out, and priveleged area. Kapu reaches all
parts of society via agriculture, medicine, dining, foodstuffs, healing,
hunting, fishing, geneology, marriage, the Polynesian (lunar)calendar,
ect. The word kahapouli refers to mentruating women and their time within
the hale pe'a (mentsrual hut).
While kahapouli literally means place of dark night, the atmosphere
and activity in and around the hale pe'a placed emphasis on relaxation
and recentering the mind and body of the menstruating woman. Women rekindled
family and friendship ties (ohana) while she was given a needed break from
homelife and children within the hut. Kahapouli took precidence over all
other womens kapu. For example, when it was her kahapouli time, a nursing
mother placed her child with a nursing relative. The menstrual blood that
collected on fine wood fiber and such was then buried and a kapu of sacredness
placed on the spot. The woman to handle this task was also kapu.
Incidently, the word for moon, Mahina, refers to the godess Hina. The
moon represented all things female.
Lastly, since much of the Polynesian belief systems relied heavily on
the support and input of other family members, the elders were revered
and rarely unquestioned.
Mahalo nui loa,
****