Pola Hanau (Birth Bowl)
808-966-8108 polahanau@gmail.com
“Pola Hanau”
(Birth Bowl)
A new Hawaiian Tradition - the making of an heirloom for a newborn baby by Malulani KONANUI.
The concept of the “Pola Hanau” is the birthing of a bowl on the day of childbirth, thus making it an heirloom for the baby and the generations to follow.
Each bowl is completed within 24 hours of a child’s birth and blessed with a simple prayer. “Born the day of my ‘hanai’, I hope to bring Harmony, Love, Respect, Understanding and Humility in the tradition of the Hawaiian Way.”
Pola Hanau was an idea born in 1997, during the pregnancy of his niece who was expecting her first baby in October of that year.
“I wanted to do something special for her and her baby so I decided to complete a bowl on the day of her delivery.”
During the thought process, it wasn’t only the visual beauty of the bowl that mattered but the feeling (mana’o) for what it meant. Then the realization that the bowl would become family and an heirloom.
On October 1, 1997, Mykala Konanui Tokunaga was born and the first Pola Hanau was created and the beginning of a new Hawaiian tradition, “Na Pola Hanau.”
Today, every Pola Hanau is blessed, recorded, photographed and laser engraved with a registered trademark in the chronological order of birth to insure it being a ‘one-of-a-kind’ family heirloom.
