Music and dance
To Hawai段ans, hula is as
much a celebration of life as it is a statement of cultural
identity.
There are various legends surrounding
the origins of hula. One Hawaiian legend tells of Hi'iaka, who
danced to appease her sister, the volcano goddess Pele.
Another legend says the goddess of the hula, Laka, gave birth
to the dance on the island of Molokai.
Schools were begun in honor of
Laka, and temples were dedicated to her. Dancers usually lived
on the temple grounds, and were required to go through
strenuous training.
Hula was the method in which
ancient Hawai段ans passed along the stories and legends of
their culture to later generations. Ancient hula uses dance
and chanting to tell of the proud history, customs, ceremonies
and traditions of ancient Hawai段 and her people. Modern
hula is the dance form most people are familiar with. It
combines dance and music for a more playful and joyous
recounting of modern life in the islands.
Missionaries who arrived in the
islands in the 1820s thought the hula to be too suggestive and
it was outlawed! Today, people from different cultures and all
over the world spend hours researching chants and practicing
dance techniques as part of a hula instruction.
Kapa making
Fashioning clothing from kapa
or bark cloth was a duty of the village women. It was a long
and difficult task to make the cloth out of the inner bark of
certain trees and plants.
After the outer bark was
stripped away, the inner bark was soaked for several days in
fresh or salt water. Strips of bark were then removed from the
water, laid over a stone and pounded into thick strips with a
round pounder. After a second soaking, these thick strips
would be laid on a wooden log or anvil.
When the kapa was finished, it
was often dyed, painted or stamped with colored designs.
Berries, bark, roots and even the soot from burning kukui nuts
were used to create dyes in shades of gray, brown, blue, red
and yellow. Since kapa was more like paper than cloth, the
Hawaiians would soak it in kukui nut oil and coconut oil to
give it additional protection from the rain. Kapa was often
laid away with sweet smelling things, which would give their
natural perfumes to the cloth.
Lei making
The flower lei, a garland worn
like a necklace, is created by stringing individual flowers
into single or multiple strands and then tying the ends
together. A lei may be wide and flat or thick and round. It
may not even be made of flowers at all; the maile is a
fragrant vine with shiny green leaves, that is draped U-shaped
around a person's neck or placed upon an altar.
In ancient Hawai段, the
presence of lei signified special occasions, such as when
villagers gathered to prepare a taro patch for planting or
when they came together to celebrate their combined efforts to
build someone's home. The presentation of a lei symbolized
sharing. The lei also was used in more formal ceremonies.
Jasmine flowers or pikake are traditionally used in courtship
and marriage.
Today, in addition to weddings
and special ceremonies, flower lei are most often presented to
honor birthdays and graduations. Islanders will also wear a
lei on May 1, which is Lei Day in Hawai段, and during the
Aloha Week festivities that take place throughout the islands
during the Fall.
