﻿We're taking you to one of the world's best hula festivals celebrating the art of hula,
which is an essential part of Hawaiian culture and history.
We're going to show you hula highlights along with many other activities happening here at
the festival. There is a lot going on here. So we'll take you back and forth from the craft
booths to the food to the hula. We're here at the Prince Lot Hula Festival in Honolulu. It's
an annual event that happens. And there there's dance music, food and Hawaiian arts and crafts.
We'll learn about pounding Poi in a few minutes. And all of these events, including
the hula performances, are free taking place on the lawn of City Hall in downtown Honolulu. It's
an entertaining cultural event with a lot going on where people can go back and forth from watching
hula, play some games, get a bite to eat or just sit and relax. It's like a big friendly party.
We'll see more of the fun and games and hula in a minute, but first, we had a chance to talk with
Hawaii's governor. And it's just wonderful to see the thousands of people that are here. I want to
also say, not just as governor, because it's been wonderful to see hula return, but as dad.
My daughter Maya was in the halau just right now with Auntie Vicki. Well, we have 12 halau today,
and all of the halau come together from all across really the islands to perform usually
three or four performances. You will see men and women and certainly some young ones out.
But we have, oh, my goodness, several thousand people coming out because this Lot event hasn't
been on because of COVID. So bringing people back after COVID is special to. And we’ve got
food and crafts over here. Yeah, my kids just got shave ice, and I'm sure there's, you know,
some Hawaiian food just around the corner. So people should come. They should celebrate
this. It's all day. The Royal Hawaiian Band is playing right now here at the interval. And,
you know, we're we're really just honored to be a part of it. This is how we reunite our people and
our families. And I can tell you, having been on the mainland this last week, people are amazed by
Hawaii and it's because of our culture. So mahalo, everyone, for believing in us. (music and dance)
We'll come back and see more hula in a few minutes. But first, let's have a little walk
around and see more of the exhibits. The city Park Department has a display about
making leis. There are some art galleries here and a demonstration of pounding taro into Poi,
or in this case, a thicker version called pa’i’ai. This demonstration is presented by Kualoa Ranch,
and they grow taro in their valleys on the windward side of Oahu. I am making pa’i’ai which
is made from the kalo corm. So the corm looks just like this. It's very similar to potatoes. It grows
underground. We harvest the corm and we cook it, either a steam cooking it, pressure cooking it. We
put it on this board which is made out of wood and we mash it with the stone poi pounder. And kalo is
a very important staple crop of Hawaii and the Polynesian islands. So it's very high in fiber.
It has a lot more vitamin C than oranges. It is hypoallergenic so anybody can eat it and won't
get allergic to it. And it's a great baby food. So a lot of us grew up eating it. The baby food, they
eat it in poi form, which is a lot more thin with added water. So the Taro grows in both wetlands
patches or dry lands, and there's over 300 varieties that grow around the island. Yeah. They
even give away free samples of this pa’i’ai, a thick version of poi, delicious and nutritious.
Some more hula. And then we'll hear from a Hawaiian craftsman and his philosophy.
(music and dance)
We had the pleasure to meet Umi Kai, who is making authentic replicas of Hawaiian artifacts.
What I have today at the festival is a collection of my fishhooks, fish lures, weapons,
to demonstrate how I make them. And why are you interested in this kind of activity? But I'm
interested in it only because of curiosity, and a continuation of my culture, of being Hawaiian.
This is a kiholo. A kiholo is a shark hook. This is a leho he’e. Leho he’e, is an octopus
lure with the cowrie shell here or leho, and a stone weight, with a bone hook. The idea is to
drop this in the water with a cord coming out of this hole to the canoe. So you yank on it
and impales him here and you pull him up to the surface. I think through the material world, we
start to learn the philosophy of the Hawaiian as well. You have to take care of your environment.
The natural resources are all dependent on you taking care of all of the natural resources. What
kind of job do you think the ancient Hawaiians did of taking care of their environment? Oh.
Letting things grow back over a certain period is always vital. You can't just take, take and take,
and not let things reproduce. For Hawaii, we import most of our food. But the Hawaiians,
of course, were self-sufficient. What can we learn from that? We need to be at 70%
self-sufficient today in order for me to classify ourselves as being self-sufficient. Obviously,
we can't do it at 100%, but I think at least 70%. We need to stop reclassifying agricultural land
for building homes, for building condominiums, for building more highways. So there's too much
cement that doesn't allow the water to seep through the aquifer. We need to stop that
and take a good look at our environment and how well we can take care of it.
This festival is named after Prince Lot, the last great traditional chief who ruled Hawaii as
King Kamehameha, the fifth, from 1863 to 1872, when Hawaii was still an independent kingdom.
He was a great leader who inspired a cultural renaissance, including the revival of hula. He
lived in Moanalua Valley which today is the home of the Moanalua Valley Gardens
foundation. And they are the sponsors of the Prince Lot Hula Festival with an exhibit
here showcasing their efforts. Moanalua Valley Gardens foundation? Yeah, I’m part
of the Education Department. And what is what do you do? What is that? We offer free education
programs. This is a festive and family-friendly event. The atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming
with a real sense of aloha. The festival plays a significant role in preserving and
promoting Hawaiian culture. Locally made clothing, crafts, books and other items
are presented for sale. Hands-on workshops educate people in traditional activities,
and it provides a platform for hula practitioners to showcase their talent and dedication. It
helps ensure the continuation of this essential cultural heritage for future generations. (music
and dance) We
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