nvi. Feast, dinner party, banquet; to feast, Lit., meal gathering. Many types of ʻahaʻaina are listed below. hō.ʻaha.ʻaina To feast, give a feast.

Still on that Thanksgiving theme, homes throughout the U.S. will be having an ʻahaʻaina this week. A feast!

Now I am not one to celebrate Thanksgiving for its original purpose, you know, the whole indian and pilgrim thing. I have my own understanding of that relationship and trust me, it isn’t taught in the history books. Not one to deprive my ʻohana of another reason to have an ʻahaʻaina, I like to gather with ʻohana and special friends and just give thanks for all the blessings that life gives us. But mostly to eat good food. And lots of it.

That, coupled with the fact that I LOVE working in my kitchen, means that I am all for an ʻahaʻaina.

ʻAhaʻaina comes from two words: ʻaha – gathering or assembly, and ʻaina – meal (the word for land has a kahakō – ʻāina). A meal gathering. FEAST! My home always lovevs an ʻahaʻaina. It is no small feat. The food flows forever, we all eat way too much and we have leftovers for days.

The word, lūʻau, that we are much more accustomed to using, is more a “modern” term, first used in the 1850s.

Tomorrow we will learn a different word for those who do a small scale celebration of thanks.

E hele mai ana ka ʻohana i koʻu hale no ka ʻahaʻaina – The family is going to come to my house for the feast.

Robert Louis Stevenson at an ʻahaʻaina with aliʻi