Mana: (noun) pervasive supernatural or magical power.
Indeed, mana is supernatural.
Mana is inspiration.
Mana is chant and mana is hymn.
Mana is ạitu.
Mana is atua.
Mana is Tagroa Siria and Gagaj Ạitu.
Mana is Jisu Karisto and Sagta Maria.
Mana is Raho and Hanitema’usu.
Mana is Saint Pierre Chanel.
Mana is Kirkirsasa.
Mana is lagi.
Mana is hefu and mana is hula.
Mana is oroi ta.
Mana is rotu and hanua.
But mana is also power.
Mana is force.
Mana is efficacy.
Mana is endurance and energy.
Mana is community. Mana is herd immunity.
Mana is the majau’s healing.
Mana is the hau of the tufunga tatau.
Mana is the tautei’s feeding.
Mana is kiu a’ana. Mana is authority. Mana is prestige.
Mana is ‘apei and tefui.
Mana is humility. Mana is the back row of the hafa. Mana is the ha’i.
Mana is violence. Mana is stillness.
Mana is moving. Mana is maka, meke, mako and haka.
Mana is täktäk, sua, hi’i and tipa.
Mana is dignity. Mana is grace. Mana is mạru.
Mana is distinction. Mana is unity. Mana is victory.
Mana is ascendance. Mana sets us apart and allows us to transcend the ordinary and embrace the extraordinary.
Mana is water. The unending, relentless dynamic of the ocean, source of food, fun and fear, friend and foe, to and fro, indefinable and indefatigable. Brought us close but now keeps us apart. The bridge and the troubled water. But mana is also piercing and pushing back the waves with an oar and an outrigger.
Mana is oxygen passing through the gills of the i’oro, filling up the lungs of the temamfua to give voice to the haharagi. Calling out to the people, sounding the conch trumpet. Raising alarm, awareness, and ambition.
Mana is salt, dissociating in solution, traversing voltage-gated sodium channels, allowing action potentials to travel down axons, stimulating neurons, muscle fibres twitching. Lifting up peoples. Potentialities becoming realities. Aspirations becoming action.
© Matt Bray 2010
