Knowing the Sky in Moana

Another aspect of the film Moana that I found interesting was the way in which they were intimately acquainted with the night sky. As other ancient people did, they navigated by measuring the sky against their hands and finding constellations that informed them about which way to go. They tell of this way in which they orient themselves, singing, “we read the wind and the sky when the sun is high/ we sail the length of the seas on the ocean breeze/ at night, we name every star/ we know where we are/ we know who we are… we are explorers reading every sign/ we tell the stories of our elders in a never-ending chain/ we know the way”. I found this song particularly interesting because it highlights the ways in which they orient themselves, both in navigating the night sky and regarding identity and patrimony. It causes me to wonder about the ways in which today’s world would look differently if we had a greater sense of who we are and where we came from and a deeper connection with the earth in which we live.