b'KNOWING: THE PUUHONUA SOCIETYBy Sarah B. HoodWEAVING CONNECTIONSThe Puuhonua SocietysA long the coast of the Pacific Ocean, in important role linkingHonolulu, generations of women in one Hawaiian culture, community,family have been working diligently to create safe, nurturing spaces for artists and heritage and social justice cultural practitioners. One could say that theirs is a story of relationships: the bonds between family members, connections within a community, ties with the natural world, and even the interweaving of plant fibres. Its the story of a family of women and their extraordinary work developing the Puuhonua Society, an organization that gives space to traditional Hawaiian cultural expression.Indigenous Hawaiians have a word for all this, pilina, says Maile Meyer, a Puuhonua Society board member and the organizations former executive director. Pili is a single blade of grass that is thatched so tightly with another blade of grass that its almost indistinguishable. We use it for roofing. Its a manifestation of a basic Hawaiian tenet.The Puuhonua Society was built on the intertwined work of four generations of one family. The name was first used in 1914 by Ahahui Puuhonua o Na- Hawaii, a social and legal services centre founded for and by Hawaiians. Among its founders were attorney and community advocate Noa Webster Aluli and the revered hereditary chief, activist and statesman Prince Jonah Ku- hio-Kalanianaole, who has a Hawaiian state holiday named in his honour.28Spring/Summer 2023'