April 09, 2005
The Gathering Place
Dancers of the Polynesian Cultural center Oahu Google shots
Posted at the Honolulu Airport 4-12-05
Oahu means "The Gathering Place" at no place on this beautiful island is this more tru than the
Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie Oahu. Founded in 1963 by the Mormon Church as a way to "thank the people of Hawaii for providing a haven for them during the tumultuous early years of their history, by preserving and nurturing the cultures of Hawaii and the rest of Polynesia,and to provide a means for students at the ajacent Brigham Young University to earn money to pay for their tuition at a world class institution." Young people from over 100 countries work there in jobs as various as caterers, tour guides and dancers. Many s study there and bring their families and we met a man that has three generations of his family currently enrolled in the school. All fees paid and goods purchased help support the students and none of the money goes to the church its self. The website is wonderful and if you are at all interested in this subject check it out...
We were VERY impressed by the care given to the look of the grounds, the way the young people were looked after, and the fact that you dont have to be Mormon to be a part of this and you can be from any place in the world to apply. We took a tour with a regular tour bus guide and park guide later, had a lovely buffet dinner and saw the evening show, which having seen shows in LA, and been to a dozen Luau's, this was by far the most professional production show I have ever seen. Dancers from 17 to 80 participate, including the best known fire knife dancer in Hawaii (more on him in a minute) and a "Kuma Hula" a hula teacher that judges regularly at Merrie Monarch competitions and so impressed me with her chant sans microphone in that open air theatre of 2500 people... Her drum hands were like steel and the joke is that none of her grandchildren disobeyed her for her swats were the worst!
The park is devided into 8 "villages" depicting the cultures and life styles of Hawaii, Tahiti, Sa'moa, Fiji, Marqueses, Rapa Nui, Tonga, and Aotearoa (New Zealand, and the Cook Islands) Our guide was from Fiji, a delightful , and our servers both nights were a from Cambodia, and two young men, one from Mongolia and the other from Pakistan. Talking to each of them about their lives in the home country was facinating. I kept thinking how wonderful it was the each of these people from such diverse places is getting a impossible wish granted. Going to a college and getting a degree.
We throurghly enjoyed ourselves so much so that we went again 4-9 (you get admission to the park for three consecutive days, and get all emenities but the meal and the night show.) We opted to take the 2.00 city bus and enjoyed that, and had the buffet again. I think I ate about 15 lbs of shrimp per sitting... All the fresh stuff you could stand, prime rib and crab legs.... I walked and climbed in and out of so many things that I burned off as much as I took in...
The best thing about day two was that we could leasurly go to each village and see all of the little mini shows about each island group. I think that Sa'moa is Woody's Favorite. The man that we saw both days is the pricipal Samoan dancer for the night show, a well known local artist and AND a grand father who has grand children in the school. We were so impressed with him as a athlete and a scholar. Very fun to talk to about his homeland and life here in Hawaii.
My favorite was the show from Aotearoa, This word means "land of the long white cloud" and it is believed that New Zealand was settled by Hawaiian refugees as recently as 1500 years ago. Here they found aboriginal settlers and intermarried. their culture is more advanced I think yet they were much more distrustful of foreigners, and still struggle to this day against the most recent invaders to their lovely islands. their carvings remind me of the images carved by natives of the Pacific Northwest... the "migration" of cultures in the pacific is about as debated as evolution is. There is no clear path...even DNA is inconclusive... I so enjoyed talking to these performers as many of them are of the heritage of the Maori, a people we didnt see too much of in our time in Hilo.
Two days of cultural overload didnt ease the ache of leaving here maybe it made it more accute... I dont know. I look forward to sharing my photos with you of this lovely place under the Hawaiian sun in this greatest of gathering places.
