The Rainbow Colors
According to the data that was collected from one Hawaiian language newspaper article, here are the rainbow colors: ʻulaʻula pua rose, ʻōlenalena ʻalani, lenalena maoli, ʻōmaʻomaʻo, uliuli, ʻinikō, mākuʻe (waioleka).[1] These colors are shown in the diagram below. In English, starting from the outside of the rainbow the colors are: ROYGBIV, or Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.
The usual thinking is that there are 7 colors of the rainbow, although, the rainbow is really a color gradient. All of the colors are not seen at all times when a rainbow appears, sometimes only one color is obvious.
Perhaps, the importance of red is greater than the other colors, because, red occurs in the definitions of some rainbow types and within some of the Hawaiian poetical sayings (ʻōlelo noʻeau) about rainbows. For example, the ʻōnohi ʻula, the pūnohu ʻula, the uakoko, the kūleiʻula, the koʻiʻula, the haka ʻula a Kāne,[2] the koʻiʻula a Kāne, etc. Red is a color of royalty.
There are 69 words about the color red that were collected by one researcher.[3] Furthermore, according to another source, there are 3 Hawaiian words that have the red color of the rainbow in their defintion: [4]
kiawe ʻula. Faint streak of red, as in the rainbow or in the clouds..
kōkō ʻula. Network of red color, as of a spreading rainbow..
mākolekole. Ua mākolekole, a rain with rainbow colors.
When all the colors of white light enter water drops suspended in the atmosphere, the rainbow that appears will have all the colors of the gradient, and the observer will see the 7 colors. However, if the white light is changed before entering the water drops, then the colors of the rainbow will be changed. If there is dust in the air, a rainbow containing a large amount of yellow may be seen. If it is close to dawn or dusk, the blue, green, yellow, and violet will disappear as a result of these colors being scattered by the atmosphere with the exception of red, therefore a red rainbow will be seen.[5] It is possible for other rainbows to appear that have just one color. For example the hakahakaea, the pūnohu ʻula, the keʻokeʻo, etc.
[1] G.K. Keawahaku. (1893, Iuly 29). He Kumumanao. Ka Nu Pepa Kuokoa, ʻaoʻao 4.
[2] Keaulumoku. 1886, 2015. Na Mele Aimoku Na Mele Kupuna a me Na Mele Ponoi o ka Moi Kalakaua I. Honolulu, HI: Hawaiian Historical Society. ʻaoʻao 5.
[3] Keoni Kelekolio. 2013. ʻO ka Hiwa, ka Lawa, ka ʻUla: He Noiʻina Waihoʻoluʻu Hawaiʻi. Hilo, HI: Palapala Noiʻi Laeoʻo. Ke Kulanui o Hawaiʻi ma Hilo: 20.
[4] Kati Loke Rose. 1980. Ka Ua. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaiʻi Press.
[5] Katherine Wright. n.d. Think You Know Rainbows? Look Again. Accessed Apelila 2024. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/think-you-know-rainbows-look-again-slide-show1/.
