''Hānai'' is a term used in the

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

an culture that refers to the informal

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of one person by another. It can be used as an adjective, such as "''hānai'' child," or as a verb, to ''hānai'' someone into the family. Traditionally, ''hānai'' (which translates roughly as "feeding") took place shortly after birth, when a baby's biological parents gave the infant to another couple to raise. In pre-contact Hawaii, paternal grandparents had a claim on the first-born boy, and maternal grandparents on the first-born girl. The practice could serve to expand and strengthen family ties, and was an efficient way for a society to pass knowledge and culture down the generations. However, the adopting couple might be more distant relatives, or not related at all. ''Hānai'' also was used for political alliances to link royal families, and continued among royalty even after Western contact. Lili‘uokalani, Hawai‘i’s last monarch, was the ''hānai'' child of chiefs higher ranking than her biological parents. In her

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, ''Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen,'' she wrote that hānai “seems perfectly natural to us. . . . this alliance by adoption cemented the ties of friendship between the chiefs. It spread to the common people, and it has doubtless fostered a community of interest and harmony.” Hawaiians also traditionally practiced '' ho'okama,'' which was the adoption of older children and adults. In Hawaiian culture, ''hānai'' has historically been a practice of one family ''hānai''-ing their child into another family. It has made tracing genealogical roots somewhat more complicated. When Hawaiian culture expert Winona Beamer spoke about the issue of ''hānai'' and its relevance to admission at Kamehameha Schools, she had first-hand knowledge of the practice in her immediate family. The

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Kaliko Beamer-Trapp was born in

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, but emigrated to the

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with his biological mother and later moved to Hawaiʻi. When Beamer decided to ''hānai'' Kaliko into her family, it was with a special ''hānai''

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. Other Polynesian cultures, such as the Tahitians and Māori (in which culture the phenomenon is known as '' whāngai''), have similar practices of adoptions. There is also a centuries-old Japanese tradition of adopting adult men to continue the patrilineal line.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanai Hawaiian words and phrases Hawaii culture Hawaiiana Adoption in the United States

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