Category Archives: Where We Live

Merrie Monarch: Intense!

April 6, 2012 Leslie Lang

I mentioned last time that my daughter, 8, is dancing in the Merrie Monarch hula festival this year for the first time, and so this is our first experience with what goes into preparations for the big hula event.

The number of practices with her hālau has stepped up a lot. During these last two weeks before their performance, they’ve gone from meeting twice a week, as they do during the year, to practicing most weekdays from two to four hours a day.

As a parent, let me just say WOW. That’s on top of school and homework (finding time for her to do homework is taking a lot of parental ingenuity) and trying to make sure she gets enough sleep at night.

But it’s only for a very short time, and as I watch these kids practice on that stage at the Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium I think about how very much it’s worth it.

I marvel at how much they are learning. It is huge, and great, how much they are learning about the Hawaiian culture – stories, chant, hula, history, ways of being, ways of learning, respect, continuity, integrity, community, cooperation and more.

And they are also learning how to come together and be a part of the total hālau by dancing with the adults, whom they don’t usually dance with the rest of the year. They are learning confidence, and how to perform in front of 5000 people. They are learning to take direction.

They are learning how to work hard at something that’s important to them. Is there any greater lesson?

These kids are working hard but there are so many smiles at rehearsal. My daughter is loving it. She keeps telling me she likes practicing every day, because she feels herself getting better each day in a way that’s different from when they meet twice a week.

What I love is seeing her take part in something that’s so much bigger than herself, than our usual world, and enjoying it and fitting herself into it so well. What more rewarding thing is there for a parent to see than their young child successfully taking on a big challenge?

A reporter and videographer from Honolulu were at the stadium and taped part of their rehearsal for the television news last night. It’s starting!

Stay tuned and I’ll report back again.

Community, Music, Where We Live

Merrie Monarch: Cultural Traditions

April 4, 2012 Leslie Lang 1 Comment

I’m not a hula person, but my daughter is and this year is the first year she’s dancing in the annual Merrie Monarch hula festival. If you live in Hawai‘i, you know that’s a big deal here. It’s a hula competition held every spring in Hilo, and it’s one that people come to from around the world.

My daughter, who’s 8, is dancing with her hālau on the Hō‘ike (Exhibition) night, and this is the first time I’m experiencing firsthand what all goes into preparing for the Merrie Monarch.

We’ve been working on her costume, which started with each parent and child going into the forest and cutting down a hau tree. Wow! Pretty intense, but so interesting!

(This blog talks a lot about sustainability, and if you don’t live here that might sound unsustainable to you. Please note that hau trees grow like weeds. I don’t think you could wipe out the hau even if you tried.)

I have since learned how to strip the bark, clean it, and separate the layers, so we can braid it into cordage that we’re using in her costume.

Similarly, we have gathered lau hala – the leaves of the hala tree – and trimmed and cleaned them. When I mentioned that I got a box-type stripper – it lets you strip hala leaves to an even width so you can weave them or use them to make hula implements, for instance, as below – Richard said it makes him think of his grandmother’s house where there were always rolls (kūka‘a) of prepped lau hala.

It was always the same in this house where I live, too, which was my grandmother’s home and her mother’s before her, and where there used to be hula and weaving and more.

Somehow that managed to skip a couple generations, but I love that once again, this house is sometimes filled with hula and ‘oli (chanting), and that rolls of lau hala and skeins of handmade hau cordage and handmade hula implements, like this ‘ulī‘ulī we made, again fill our home.

Canoe, History, Sustainability, Travel, Where We Live

Sailing On The Haunui

June 20, 2011 Leslie Lang 3 Comments

After writing here about the voyaging canoes that just arrived in Hilo from Aotearoa (New Zealand), I really wanted to go down to the bayfront yesterday to help welcome them.

There are seven voyaging canoes at Hilo Bay right now. They left Aotearoa in April, led by traditional-style navigators from around the Pacific, on a journey called Te Mana O Te Moana (The Spirit of the Sea). Their voyages, which are being filmed for a documentary, are being made to raise awareness about our ocean environment and the need to care for it.

And of course, their journeys celebrate the revival of traditional navigation.

The official welcoming ceremonies started yesterday morning. There were hakas by some of the voyagers, and speeches of welcome, and more.

Chad “Kalepa” Baybayan, Navigator-in-Residence at Hilo’s ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, told the crowd that Nainoa Thompson had called from Honolulu that morning, apologizing because he couldn’t be there. He’d been up all night with a sick child, and then just as day broke, his other child had woken up sick.

Nainoa Thompson, of course, is the master Hawaiian navigator who was at the very forefront of bringing back the long-lost art of traditional Polynesian navigation.

The seven vaka/wa‘a/canoes were lined up there in the bay, and seeing them there made me wonder how many times in the distant past there had been similar sights there. Many, I’m sure.

Lots and lots of people from the community came out to welcome the canoes, and all the local canoe clubs were there, and it was a neat place to be.

After awhile we left, but then a couple hours later we happened to drive past the bayfront again and I could see from Kamehameha Avenue that the wa‘a all had their sails unfurled. “Let’s go see what’s happening now!” I told my 7-year-old, and we turned in.

They were taking people out on the canoes, that’s what was happening. It was great!

We hopped in line and got to go for a sail around Hilo Bay on the Haunui, or “Big Wind,” as one of the crew members translated it. It’s the canoe that was crewed by people from several different island nations.

It turned out that Ka‘iu Kimura, executive director of the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, happened to come along for a ride at the same time as us, and we chatted for a bit. She’s going to be on one of the canoes when it leaves Hilo Tuesday. They will stop at a couple other islands and then she will continue with it until O‘ahu.

“Are you a canoe person?” I asked her, and she said no, not really, and then told me that she’d sailed with the Hokule‘a back when it voyaged to Japan. That was a month’s journey, and included her getting to meet her Japanese relatives she’d never met before. Wow! What a way to arrive.

We got to go down below on the canoe and see where they sleep. It’s such a small space. One of the crew members said he thinks the bunks must be 6’4” long, because when he lies down he touches both ends. And they are narrow, as is the walkway between.

The narrow walkway between the bunks is filled with jugs of fresh water, which you have to walk atop.

It was so great to get to see the wa‘a. “A once in a lifetime experience!” I overheard a man say into his cell phone, as he told someone about what was going on there.

I totally understood his enthusiasm, but you know what? It really wasn’t something we’re only going to see once. It’s happening a lot now. These and other voyaging canoes are moving around the oceans, and we will keep seeing them.

Traditional Polynesian voyaging, this method of wayfinding and journeying that originated with wise ancestors who lived long, long ago, is back and it’s strong. The new generations are learning it, in different places and on many different islands, and it’s not likely to be lost again.

Along with these skills of being able to find one’s way across a vast ocean without GPS, and not having to depend on oil, comes a lot of other strengths. It is such a positive thing.

And getting a glimpse of that yesterday – learning a little bit about what it looks like, feels like and smells like to sail through the water – was a wonderful experience.

It’s great to see that this traditional knowledge is alive and well; and also that it’s such an integral part of the fabric of Hawai‘i (and other Pacific island groups) again.

Canoe, Hawaiian Role Models, History, Sustainability, Travel, Where We Live

They’re Here! Vaka Welcome Ceremonies Are Sunday

June 17, 2011 Leslie Lang 1 Comment

There’s something historic, and very interesting, going on in Hilo this weekend. Do you know about the vaka? The canoes?

They are seven Polynesian-style canoes, representing different Pacific Islands, and all built in the last two years for this particular mission. Their crews have spent the past two months voyaging from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to Hawai‘i, and Hilo is their first landfall. They arrived yesterday at Hilo Bay.

They are calling their journey Te Mana O Te Moana. “The Spirit Of The Sea.”

“…Several thousand years ago, the Polynesian ancestors traveled the Pacific on great voyaging canoes, called vaka moana, using only the stars, the ocean, and the surrounding wildlife to navigate, and lived closely connected to the sea. In crossing the Pacific from Aotearoa to Hawai’i, we aim to sail in the ancestors’ wake and learn from their wisdom. We want to teach young people about this old bond with the sea.”

Richard went by yesterday, and saw five of them already moored and latched together. “I watched the last two canoes, with their sails down, tie up,” he said. “They had someone blow the conch shell as they approached. People seemed very much aware of the historical nature of this event.

(Renowned hula master Pua Kanahele)

“The canoe folks stayed on board and some did special ceremonies, ending with each person hugging the rest individually. I left after they all arrived,” he said. “But more and more people were coming by to participate in history being made.”

(Sitting: Patrick Kahawaiola’a, President of the Keaukaha Community Association)

The public is invited to be a part of the official welcoming ceremony on Sunday at Hilo One (“Hilo O-nay.” “One” is the Hawaiian word for sand). Ceremonies at the bayfront beach start at 8 a.m. on the water. Then the vaka will sail to shore, anchor, and come ashore for on-shore activities at 10 a.m., which are scheduled to run through about 2 p.m.

(Palekai is the beach park near where the canoes moored yesterday.)

Kalepa Baybayan, Navigator-in-Residence at Hilo’s ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, said that the welcome ceremony is both so the community has a chance to see the seven canoes on the water, and also as an official exhange between our community and the ones arriving. “To formally welcome them to Hawai‘i, and Hilo,” he said.

“It’s a rare event,” he said, “and will probably never happen again in our lifetime. Seven canoes from the south Pacific sailing to Hawai‘i. This is a first.”

From the website:

“We’re sailing across the Pacific to renew our ties to the sea and its life-sustaining strength. The ocean is the origin of life, and it continues to give us air to breathe, fish to eat, and nourishes our soul as well. As threatened as the ocean is now, however, it soon can no longer provide us with these essential life services. Sailing together, we seek the wisdom of our ancestors and the knowledge of scientists to keep the Pacific healthy and give our grandchildren a future.”

Sailing across the Pacific on seven vaka is to raise awareness about the state of the ocean developed gradually. Dieter Paulmann, the founder of Okeanos – Foundation for the Sea, has felt a strong connection to the sea for his whole life.

Richard met and had lunch with Dieter the other day, and said they have some things in common. “Mostly around how to deal with finite resources in a way that is beneficial for future generations,” he said.

“Dieter’s using the vaka voyage as a way to educate the people of the world about the urgency of changing our approach,” he said. “We are living in a world of limited resources. We need to utilize our resources in a wise way, in a way that benefits future generations. We all know this deep in our na‘au.”

“I told him that here in Hawai‘i we are trying to maximize the use of geothermal for the benefit of future generations,” he said. “We both agree that people are starting to look at things in a different way. No one feels comfortable about the prospects that one’s children and grandchildren will live a lesser life than we did.

“We need to do what we can to ensure their lives are fulfilling,” he said. “And we can do that, but we need to take action now. I thought to myself, That is why I am involved with Ku’oko‘a. It is a way for our children, grandchildren and future generations to have a better life.”

Before he knew anything about this voyage, Richard wrote these words on the Ku‘oko‘a website: “We are embarking on a great journey, much like the ancient people who sailed to Hawai‘i hundreds of years ago. Like them, we are searching for a better tomorrow for our children, grandchildren and generations to come. We will find the place where the Aloha Spirit can thrive because we go with open hearts and minds.” Kind of fitting and cool, huh?

The Voyage’s Goal:

The vaka will sail to raise attention for the bad state of the Pacific, the crew will transport a message to the world, saying that we have to act now to be able to preserve a healthy ocean for us and our children. Otherwise, if the ocean dies, we die. The crew will carry this message to our conference “Kava Bowl” Ocean Summit 2011 in Hawai’i about the consequences climate change on ocean will have if we go ahead with our business as usual. The crew will participate in the conference, contributing with their experience and their thoughts, learning from other people at the conference at the same time.

The Motto:

The motto for the whole project, which reflects the spiritual thinking in Polynesian culture about the sea, which has the same life-force running through its water as runs through our bodies, and how to treat this precious resource to not disturb Tangaroa, the God of the Sea. The following saying is a poetic way to say “be respectful and gentle:” “Move your paddle silently through the water.”

Here’s a video about how they set up the voyage. Richard commented, “It’s very technically proficient. Looks like the objective is to encourage sailing this way – without using oil.”

Baybayan says this event represents a transfer of knowledge from Hawai‘i, which was really the leader of the modern-day voyaging revival. “It’s a transfer to all these different offspring, these families that have sprung up,” he says. “The seven different canoes represent seven different island groups.”

Read more about some of these islands’ preparations, and their journeys, in these articles from around Polynesia:

Samoa News

Samoa Voyaging Society blog

Fiji Islands Voyaging Society

Cook Island News and also this

Tahiti Times

Waatea 603AM – Auckland’s Urban Māori Radio & News Station

Does anyone sketch? Check out this great sketch of one of the canoes, and see a challenge to sketch it here in Hawai‘i!

See you down at the Bayfront on Sunday morning? I’ll be there!

Community, Contest, Hawaiian Role Models, Music, Where We Live

Merrie Monarch 2011

May 6, 2011 Leslie Lang 1 Comment

Hilo just finished hosting hula dancers and admirers from around the world at its annual Merrie Monarch hula festival.

It’s so great to see how Hilo comes alive for that Merrie Monarch week, which is held each year around Easter. The streets overflow with people, many of them Hawaiian, in their designer aloha wear, flower leis and lauhala hats. Everything that is good about the place — the people, the leis, the music, the dancing — is magnified and multiplied. It’s everywhere. It’s wonderful.

From Wikipedia:

The Merrie Monarch Festival is a week-long cultural festival that takes place annually in Hilo, Hawaii. It honors King David Kalākaua, who was called the “Merrie Monarch” for his patronage of the arts. He is credited with restoring many Hawaiian cultural traditions during his reign, including the hula. Many hālau hula (schools), including some from the U.S. mainland and Japan, attend the festival each year to participate in the festival exhibitions and competitions, which are considered the most prestigious of all hula contests. Read the rest

The hula always starts on Wednesday, with a free Ho‘ike (demonstration) night. Watch this year’s Ho‘ike highlights from Big Island Video News here, and some of Halau O Kekuhi’s dances from that night here. They are renowned, and what a treat to see them.

Some other videos from this year’s Merrie Monarch:

This is Halau Hula O Kahikilaulani, of Hilo (It’s their kahiko performance)

Chinky Mahoe’s Kawaili‘ula, from Kailua, O‘ahu (kahiko)

And there’s always a wonderful Merrie Monarch Parade through Hilo town. See some of that here: 2011 Merrie Monarch Festival Grand Parade

It’s never too soon to start thinking about attending Merrie Monarch the next year, if you’re interested. Mark your calendars: tickets are available to purchase by mail only, and your ticket requests must be postmarked on December 26 or later. (If they are mailed later, you might not get seats; it’s best if you email your request on 12/26 exactly.)

Ticketing info is not yet updated for the 2012 festival, but watch this space later in the year if you’re interested in knowing exactly how to order.

Current Affairs, Where We Live

Tsunami on the Big Island

March 11, 2011 Richard Ha

What a night it was last night. We are so fortunate and grateful that the tsunami generated by Japan’s 9.1 earthquake did not take any lives here in Hawai‘i, and that damage was light. It could have been so much worse.

Were you prepared for the sudden emergency? The 4.6 earthquake that hit the Big Island while we waited for the tsunami to make its way across the ocean sort of underscored the need to be prepared.

Our best wishes to those in Japan, where they were not as fortunate.

Where We Live

Watch The ‘Cloudcam’

January 19, 2011 Richard Ha

This time-lapse video was taken by the Canada France Hawaii telescope’s cloud cam at night, outside facing toward Hilo.

Click here to view the short, 1:48 movie.

Awesome.

Water, Where We Live

Rainy Season at the Farm

October 20, 2010 Richard Ha 1 Comment

It feels like the seasons are starting to change. This, the rainy time of year, is when the plastic covers on our growing houses are advantageous. Our crops grow, without interruption, all the way through February. During the shorter days, the ground stays damp because there are less hours of sunlight to dry up the soil.

Finally, in this past week, the stream is starting to increase in volume. We’d been starting to worry about the spring water flow. Coming back from Kona on the Saddle road recently, we noticed the pastures are starting to turn green. It feels like the dry period is over for some parts of the island.

Here are some more pictures from the farm. This is the first kalo crop grown at Hamakua Springs and it looks really healthy. Tom Menezes is the farmer, and he really knows what he is doing. Among other things, he is a taro breeder.

This is the first ‘ulu tree growing at Hamakua Springs. It wants to grow tall and we will have to constantly prune to keep its fruit within reach. We would rather plant a variety that is shorter in stature.

We transplanted this ‘ulu at the farm a few weeks ago. Instead of fertilizer, we used the spent coconut media that we use for our hydroponic tomato crops. The tomato plant is a volunteer that germinated from the coconut media. There is one flower cluster, and the plant is very healthy even though we did not give it any conventional fertilizer.

We found this kalo growing in the river and we are growing it on the hydroponic solution we use for green onions. To my great surprise, it has thrown out runners. I wonder what Jerry Konanui will say?

Biofuel, Geothermal, Renewable Energy Sources, Where We Live

Oahu Owns Us

April 1, 2010 Richard Ha 1 Comment

O‘ahu owns us!

In a HECO press release yesterday:

Hawaiian Electric Co. is looking for long-term suppliers of biofuels derived from Hawaii feedstocks for its generation sites statewide.

The company’s request for proposals includes land or water-based crops, waste animal fat or yellow grease feedstocks that can be converted to liquid biofuel for power sites on Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and the Big Island.

“This call for proposals sends a clear market signal to landowners and agricultural interests that if they plant today they will be able to sell their products for a reasonable return on their investment and effort tomorrow,” said Robbie Alm, Hawaiian Electric executive vice president, in a prepared statement Thursday.

A reasonable rate of return on their investment? What about the goals of the ratepayer to get cheap electricity? Everyone knows that biofuels are expensive – more expensive than oil and way more expensive than geothermal. In New Zealand, geothermal electricity is produced for 5 cents per KWH.

Again O‘ahu is making decisions for the Big Island, and the people here resent it very much. Lots of folks I talk to feel that we would be better off with our electric company being a co-op, like on Kaua‘i. At least they make their own decisions.

The view from Bishop Street is very different than the view from Kino‘ole St.

I attended the first meeting of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) steering committee Wednesday. I think that the HCEI steering committee will serve a good function. But I raised these concerns:

I said that I do not believe that we should use a one-size fits all approach – after all, each island has a different set of resources. I
said that I worried that the subsidies floating around would prevent the Big Island’s use of geothermal, which we know to be the cheapest source of electricity. The Big Island has the lowest median family income and it’s the folks on the lowest rung of the economic ladder whose lights will be turned off first.

We cannot afford to be separated into the haves and have-nots. If we go down that road, it will tear our society apart. Hawaiians complain all the time that the game is rigged in favor of those who have the money.

But choosing geothermal is not the same as giving charity to the rubbah slippah folks. Cheap electricity means people will have discretionary income to spend, businesses will flourish and folks will have jobs by which to raise their families. It benefits us all. And besides low electric cost, it is the only renewable energy source that gives royalties to Hawaiians.

I am not surprised by HECO’s announcement. I was just waiting for it to happen. And it happened before the HCEI steering committee was able to make decisions.

The world has changed. Now, when we have the ability to make the right choice, we must not go down that road where we separate into have and have-nots. If we do that, we put our society in danger of coming apart. In that case, we would be better off to be a co-op like Kaua‘i.

Mauna Kea, Photography, Where We Live

Where We Live: A Pacific View’s Slideshow of the Big Island

February 28, 2010 Richard Ha 2 Comments

Richard ran across this slide show, by Tom of the blog A Pacific View, on Puna Web. The photos were so spectacular, Richard told me, he had to stop and send the link to June before he was even done viewing them.

"It's easy to forget what a special place the Big Island is," he told me. "Even Mauna Kea!" But you only have to look at these photos to appreciate where we live all over again.

Click to see the slide show:

– posted by Leslie Lang