All Hawaii Honors King Kamehameha Each June 11

In 1871 King Kamehameha V set apart June 11th as a national holiday honoring his great-grandfather, King Kamehameha I, who first established the unified Kingdom of Hawaii through a series of military victories and alliances with other island ali’i or rulers between...

Polynesian Men Do All the Cooking?

Up and until the time I entered college, I had no idea that men do all the cooking anywhere.  Certainly not in my home, though my dad was a good cook himself.  Unfortunately, his genes never got passed down to me.  It wasn’t until I started working at the Polynesian...
Maoritanga — The Maori Way of Life

Maoritanga — The Maori Way of Life

Māoritanga — Māori culture — is very much alive  Occasionally, a travel writer may describe the Polynesian Cultural Center as a “living museum”: That is, a place where we’ve recreated the past, but that’s not really accurate. Granted, most Polynesians now-a-days live...

The Awe of the Haka

Story by Polynesian Cultural Blogger, Bobby Akoi, Jr I was in high school when I first witnessed my first haka in Hilo put on by a dance troupe from New Zealand. The first thing that came out of my mouth was, “WOW”.  It was so powerful it gave me goose bumps all over...
Kalua Pig, Hawaiian Style in Your Own Kitchen

Kalua Pig, Hawaiian Style in Your Own Kitchen

Story by Polynesian Cultural Blogger, Bobby Akoi, Jr I grew up in a Hawaiian homestead community of Keaukaha on the the Big Island of Hawai’i.  One tradition that I loved participating in as a kid was putting a pig underground.   Kalua is a traditional Hawaiian...