Exploring Hawaii

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Hawaii Is ...Aloha

Ask the man on the street to describe Hawaii, and his response will probably include coconut palms and idyllic beaches, beautiful grass-skirted girls garlanded with fragrant flowers, the lazy notes of the slack-key guitar, and maybe even Elvis crooning away in front of a lurid Technicolor sunset.

Replace Elvis with a trio of talented local musicians, and every word of it is true. Hawaii really is Everyman's tropical paradise.  All the necessary ingredients are in place, plus one vital addition: the spirit of aloha, the warmth and generosity of the islands and the welcome of their people, which is what makes the Hawaiian experience so memorable.


Hawaii is ...Cultural Diversity

"The meeting place of East and West," a multiracial "melting pot" -- Hawaii and its people have been described as both of these and more. Interracial marriages account for some 50 percent of all Hawaiian weddings, and the children of these unions may combine half a dozen ancestral nationalities.


The Hawaiians

The fastest growing ethnic group is the Hawaiians or, more accurately, people of Hawaiian blood.  (Less than 4 percent of Hawaiians can claim to be pure-blooded descendants of the first Polynesian settlers.)  A drop of Hawaiian blood guarantees entry into the Hawaiian community with its extended families, but the Hawaiians are also the most disenfranchised sector of society. Proportionately, they receive more welfare and are convicted of more crimes than any other group.

The resurgence of Hawaiian culture since the 1970s has spawned a number of successful rallying points for the community, from Hawaiian-language and traditional craft programs to schools teaching hula, the Hawaiian dance form and chants.  Hawaiian-ness is now seen as something to be proud of.  This new sense of empowerment has in turn feuled political activism, notably the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. The movement's many factions have no single, united agenda, but between them they address vital political points such as the need for official recognition of the Hawaiian race, in addition to several issues viewed with exasperation by non-Hawaiians.  Examples are the suggestion of recompense to full and part-blood Hawaiians for U.S. annexation of the islands in 1898, and the demand that the U.S. withdraw, to be replaced by a Hawaiian kingdom.  These issues hamper the movement's credibility in the view of outsiders, and betray resentment of other ethnic groups. However, the Hawaiians have found an identity and a voice that they are now not afraid to use.


Hawaii is ...The Hula

Before the written word existed in Hawaii, the time-honored traditions of the mele oli (poetic chants) and mele hula (chants with movements) were the chief means of passing information from one generation to the next.  Legend traces the origins of the hula to the goddess Laka, and hula halau (hula schools) were established near heiaus (temples) constructed in her honor.  Here, students were taught the sacred music and dance forms of the kahiko, or classical hula.  The training was rigorous and the stylized delivery of the chants and dances had to be strictly observed.  Far from being the "exhibitions of unrivaled licentiousness" that the missionaries claimed, the mele hula was performed at religious and ceremonial occasions and recorded historical events, ancestor geneologies, customs and legends.

Hawaii is ...Luaus and Lychees

First, take a volcanic island or six and place in a bountiful ocean. Add balmy temperatures, sunshine and rain, and leave to set.  Then sprinkle liberally with Polynesians and food staples such as coconuts, bananas, yams, chickens, and pigs, top with exotic fruits and spices -- voilá!  A recipe for culinary success.


Long Live the Luau

We can only guess what the well-rounded Hawaiians of old would make of the delicious but dainty dishes of modern-day Hawaiian regional cooking.  It is said that the Hawaiian does not stop eating when he is full but will carry on until he is tired, and there is no better place to experience the generosity of Hawaiian portion control than at that most traditional of local culinary and social events, the luau.

In ancient times, the Hawaiians would arrange feasts to thank the gods for a good harvest or victory in battle.  Today, holidays and festivals from the birth of a child to a wedding are all good excuses for a luau. Preparations begin with the imu, a cooking-pit dug into the earth and lined with lava stones.  A fire is lit to heat the stones, then the ashes are swept away and the food is added, wraped in a protective layer of banana or ti-leaves.  The centerpiece is generally a whole pig, and there are plenty of laulau, little packages of other meats, vegetables, or fish wrapped into taro leaves.  The pit is then covered with more leaves, layers of earth, and damp burlap sacks.  For the next four or five hours the imu bakes and steams away until the coverings are ready to be stripped off amid clouds of steam.

Few visitors are lucky enough to attend a real Hawaiian luau, and most of the commercial luau ventures are a pale imitation of the real thing.  However, one of the best is the Kona Village Luau on the Big Island, where the groaning buffet provides all the usual kalua (cooked in an imu) favorites, plus other traditional foods such as mauve poi paste and lomi salmon (a salad with onions and tomatoes).