“Although it is described as ‘water drops from the lehua trees,’ in my family my aunt taught me not to use the word maʻi (sick) when referring to my time-of-the-month because it is not shown as a sickness but as a blessing. We use ‘waimakalehua’ because the ‘water drops’ represent the ‘drops’ from our bodies, and the lehua trees represent the red coloring. We use waimakalehua as a better word other than maʻi.”
