Cycles & Seasons
Hawaiian (Kaulana Mahina)
Thirty named moon-nights, each with its own work and kapu
Every night of the moon has its own name, character and guidance — when to plant, when to fish, when to rest. The thirty nights fall into three anahulu of ten: hoʻonui as the moon grows, poepoe while it is round, emi as it wanes. It is a calendar of the sea and the garden as much as of time.
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In UTC at 02:02 on October 27, 2026, this calendar read Māhealani. The reading above is live, in your own time zone.
At a glance
- Type
- Lunar — thirty named nights of the moon
- Origin
- Native Hawaiian tradition
- Year
- Twelve moons in two seasons — Kau, the dry, and Hoʻoilo, the wet
- Months
- Each a lunation of about 29½ days, its nights named one by one
- Week
- No week; three anahulu of ten nights — waxing, round, waning
- Day
- Counted by nights
- Counts from
- No running count
- Where it’s used
- Planting, fishing and ceremony in Hawaiʻi, kept and taught again
- How it’s worked out here
- Thirty equal parts of the average lunation, from a reference new moon — an approximation of nights that are traditionally observed
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