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Visit Laie: New website explores Oahu’s north shore treasure!
Visitlaie.com — a new website about Laie, home of the Polynesian Cultural Center — consolidates visitor information in one convenient place.
The Village Approach: Māori Child Rearing
Maori culture is built upon the premise that…“Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari, he toa takitini” (“my achievements are not of myself, but because of the many”.) Māori culture personifies the belief that “it takes a village to raise a child”.
Polynesian Cultural Center pioneer: Patoa Benioni
More than 50 years ago, Patoa — who was born in Aitutaki in 1941 but spent most of his boyhood on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands — played a key role as an original Polynesian Cultural Center performer. Today, almost everybody calls him Patoa or Uncle Patoa, but like some Polynesians, his actual name is much longer: Te Are Toa O Te Patoa o Maouna Tama Pikikaa Benioni.
Long-time friend Pulefano Galea’i remembered Patoa … as “a great singer, leader, composer, and a great drummer. But one thing he always had in mind, he wanted to bring people here from the Cook Islands.
“Yesterday Patoa and I sat together watching a full-fledged Cook Island group. “Patoa, you can never be forgotten for all that you’ve contributed to the Polynesian Cultural Center, to Laie, and to all of us,” Galea’i said.
Cook Islands performers thrill at the Polynesian Cultural Center
The Cook Islands group “consists of five drummers, four female dancers, four male dancers, and two weavers plus the group leaders,” said PCC senior manager William Mahoni, who has been coordinating logistics for them. He added they perform every afternoon in a special mini-village located between the PCC’s Hawaiian and Tahitian Villages, and also several evenings each week in the Center’s Hukilau Marketplace
MOST POPULAR POSTS
Polynesian Football Hall of Fame
Polynesian Football Hall of Fame The Polynesian Football Hall of Fame, which partners with the Polynesian Cultural Center in showcasing the organization’s permanent exhibit gallery near our front entrance, announced its roster of 25 finalists who will be on the...
Coconut Tree Climbing – Samoan Style!
* Editor's Note: Before trying this exercise, we suggest you be in the best physical shape possible, be of Polynesian descent and if necessary, have a physical check-up (just kidding, well maybe not because this skill is dangerous!). Recently my wife called a Samoan...
No Walls, No Problem: Life In a Samoan Village
Talofa! Welcome to the Nu’u. This is where the “Happy People” of Samoa work, live, and celebrate. A courtyard is surrounded by high, domed structures favored by Samoans. Heavy tropical rain runs easily off the durable sugarcane roofs supported by tall posts. Each...
Palusami: A Samoan Staple
Photo courtesty of Boschen American Samoa Making palusami (PAW-loo-SAW-mee) is the man's job in Samoa as is most of the traditional cooking. Anything that goes into the umu (oo-moo), a type of above-ground oven that uses red hot lava rocks to cook the food, is handled...
August News Around Laie
News in-and-around the PCC Hukilau Marketplace, Laie Courtyard hotel dedication ceremonies: A General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially dedicated the Polynesian Cultural Center’s new Hukilau Marketplace on August 29, 2015. “We...
Pounders Restaurant New General Manager
Meet Pounders Restaurant’s new GM Meet David Nagaishi, a 40-year-plus veteran of Hawaii’s restaurant industry, who the Polynesian Cultural Center recently appointed as general manager of our new Pounders Restaurant in the Hukilau Marketplace. Nagaishi, who is from...
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