**Ohana.......

In the Hawaiian culture, ohana means family. Members of an ohana could be relatives by blood, non-relations who are accepted by the ohana, as well as members of the ohana who have died. It, also, includes the aumakua, the ancestral guardian spirit of the family. Our guardian spirit happens to be the "Honu" or Turtle.

The ohana is the unit that provides emotional support, love, and security, comfort and teachings, respect and faithfulness, wisdom and understanding, truth, honesty and the aloha spirit. The spiritual guardians provided a sense of well-being for the family to "Believe".

Today, ohana still means family, including non-family members and friends and people still believe in their amakua. The meaning of ohana is used more generally now to refer to any group of people with a common bond that treats and respects eachother as FAMILY.