From ancient Polynesia to the present, designs and symbols which have passed through the ages on tapa cloth, petroglyphs, carvings and tattoos are influenced by nature; plants, birds, animals, elements. The meanings for many of these symbols have been obscured, lost or forgotten. While Polynesian Design incorporates the use of many of these symbols into contemporary design, the meanings listed below are but one of many possible interpretations for each symbol.

Polynesian Design has many symbols to choose from, each of which may be rendered in a particular culture’s style:
• Leaves and plants: coconut frond, fern
• Flowers: hibiscus, plumeria, tiare
• Elements: water-ocean, wind, fire-sun, earth
• Animals: birds, fish, horses, etc.
• Stories and legends
• Designs from petroglyphs, carvings, Polynesian artifacts
• Custom designs may be created for your project by knowledgeable artists

Being aware of what a symbol or design means and using it in a design project brings about intention and evokes the underlying meaning into one’s home, business or life.

Polynesian Design Symbol
This symbol is taken from Ma’ata’s tattoo on her right shoulder. Said to mean “Spiritual Travel,” the symbol is a counter-clockwise spiral. It incorporates all of the elements of earth, wind, water and fire in Tahitian designs. The name Ma’ata translates from Tongan as Martha. The more ancient meaning of Ma’ata is “Mother of the Depths,” a reference to the swirling energy that creates stars or matter. A counter-clockwise spiral’s motion can also mean “where one is coming from,” and a clockwise spiral can symbolize “where one is going.”

Inner Faith
This symbol is found on tapa, similar to a cross, but the inner point branches out and the four petals can mean vocation, family, spirituality and service. In the ancient past, people grew up with inner faith rather than others telling them to “have faith” or to believe in something. Names were given to babies because their spirits could be sensed and like many cultures, the child carried the name and lived up to it. There comes to be a certainty brought about by inner faith. Sometimes people change their names to more reflect who they are and become stronger in their inner faith.

Grace
Grace is a way of being, of how you treat people. In ancient Polynesia, grace was a state of mind where all was in acceptance. When someone is in a true state of grace, they accept that people, things, circumstances just are. They are not to be judged, and therefore, allowed to live. The symbol for grace is a series of wavy lines, such as a wave. Water accepts a pebble and ripples and then becomes calm again. A wave can be designed in many different ways.

Intention
Intention is about setting goals or projecting forward what you would like to have happen in your life. In ancient Polynesia, intention was especially used in healing, as it was a type of prayer teamed with herbs or treatment which helped to heal the patient.

 

True intention is always done with requests from spirit for higher good and then released. The fish hook represents the preparation and care taken to make the fish hook, then it is thrown out with the outcome unknown, and yet with some expectancy that fish/meal will be caught. Because the ancients lived one with the ocean, they were experts at creating fish hooks to survive, the knowledge passed down from generation to generation. There are some very beautiful examples of ancient Polynesian fish hooks and octopus lures that are made of cowry shells and sennit (cordage made from coconut husks.)

Spiritual Weaving
This symbol represents the weaving of stories, relationships with others or the events of one’s life that makes a person who he/she is. Other ways to create the effect of “spiritual weaving” in design is the use of anything woven; mats, baskets or woven wall hangings.

Integrity
Integrity is individual responsibility for self. In ancient Polynesia, it was very important for those in “higher” positions to hold high integrity within themselves in order to lead the others correctly. When there was a lack of integrity, many things could go wrong within one’s own life or home and that lack spread out into the community. When people gain true integrity, they start to become more aligned with their purpose, with how they treat others and with how they treat their own body. It is a reflection, therefore the symbol is a reflection of the other.

Completion
Completion was important to ancient Polynesians in the sense of learning lessons and finishing to completion what was learned. It was important to teach what was learned to the younger generation. Completion applied in lessons with chanting, fishing, making nets, building canoes or shelter or healing. If things remained unfinished, it showed lack of care. By using a symbol that is linked, it represents the fact that when we each complete our part, the whole is stronger like a chain. It can also represent knowledge passed to others.

Choice
Every day, one person may make thousands of choices, from choosing to get out of bed, to what route to drive to work. Every choice made affects everyone and everything in our lives, even on the subtlest of levels. Our choices link us from from our past choices to the present. This symbol can be very simple or embellished with many designs.

Right Attitude
In Hawai’i, “right attitude” is known as pono, and is a learned trait passed from elders to younger generations. Right attitude has to do with being responsible for oneself and not judging others. It is about trying to find lessons and meaning in circumstances that make their way into one’s life. Right attitude is also about not forcing anything, be it will, beliefs or anything else onto others. Being pono can be symbolized by a sun and its rays. The sun is always in the sky as a reminder that it is always there, bright, brilliant and strong, as we should all try to emulate it with right attitude.


Mahalo to Jason Alden for his artistic depiction of the symbols for this website.