Pssst! You! Yeah, you... are a passenger on a planet... on a blue-green planet that's orbiting a golden star. The ever-changing quality of light that we receive as we spin and orbit around this star offers us all that we know as LIFE. We've come to rely on calendars and clocks to tell us where we are on this trip around the sun, but without those, would you know where we are? You might know if you were a native Hawaiian living centuries ago. You would know if you were a honeybee. You might even dance about it! So... what do Hawaiians and honeybees have in common?

Bees who scout out resources like nectar, pollen, water or housing share this vital information with their fellow bees through a "waggle dance." This dance points out the direction of, the distance to, and the quality of the resource and directs the other bees there. The dancing bee's movements relate to the sun's position. Of course, that position changes from one latitude to another and it changes during the day and during the year. Even the rate of change changes at certain times. Scientists can calculate these changes only with complex mathematical tables. Honeybees do these calculations - and communicate them through dance - using methods so simple and natural that scientists are still struggling to understand them.

You can have the sun shining directly over your head only if you're here in the tropics - in the belt that straddles our equator, 23.5 degrees north and south of it. Right now, for those of us living in the Tropics, we are traveling through a place in our yearly journey that offers us a very special gift. But... do you know how to receive this gift?

When the sun is shining down directly onto the crown of your head it's in your zenith - at the height of its power - and you are crowned with the radiant force of this star that's big enough to hold a million Planet Earths. Hawaiians call this force "mana." But... when and how might we tap this power? The when in the Hawaiian Islands is late May and mid-July, and the precise moment depends on your precise latitude.

In ancient Hawaii certain people were trained in the natural science of downloading this solar power. If you were one of these people, you would work with the astronomer, whose careful observations would provide the precise moment of this zenith sun. You would illustrate the sun's relationship with the tropics by using your waist to represent the equator. You would radiate mana received at this time to your community through complex dance movements and audio frequencies called hula and mele, or chant.

The timing of this moment changes from the northern to the southern end of the island chain. As a dancer, you indicate this range of moments with a range of foot positions, and you indicate precise moments with precise foot positions. This kind of communication is called hula. When white missionaries arrived in Hawaii they outlawed hula for being crude, lewd entertainment.

Now, as our planet is transporting us through the place in our orbit where we in Hawaii experience the zenith sun, I'm wondering... what can we learn from honeybees and native Hawaiians' relationship with the sun?

This is Harriet Witt, your guide for this little ride on our passenger planet.


If you have any questions, drop Harriet an email: harriet@passengerplanet.com


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