Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 4, 1 April 2016 — Celebrating Hula [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Celebrating Hula

y the time this article makes its way to print, we will be amidst the

annual celebrations of the 53rd annual Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. This

festival has positioned hula in the limelight, with thousands in the audience in Hilo and even more watching at home and online. Certainly, hula has heeome one of the most visible and popular practices of our people. It is a vehicle to education, values, and protocols of our ancestors; a window into the past where from whieh we ean make lessons and experiences relevant again. I am always

so excited to be a witness to hula's growth and success at Merrie Monarch. As we prepare to celebrate another year of this wonderful practice, I cannot help but remember the distant past that so quickly flew by. Twenty years ago, my 22-year-old daughter, Nāpua, and her sister, Kahulu, just young women, saw the need to teach hula in Upcountry, Maui. Inspired to empower women through hula, they started teaching hula at my Kula home. Every practice, the girls would gather outside, roll out the large carpet over my cement ground, turning my garage into their humhle hālau. This year, Nāpua and Hālau Nā Lei Kaumaka O Uka celebrate their 20th anniversary. I have witnessed the growth of this hālau, accompanying them along the way. I have seen many of the young five-year-old girls grow up to be brilliant young women. Some of these women are mothers and their ehildren are being taught in hālau today — a new generation. Their first hula competition as a very young hālau was the Mokihana Hula Festival on Kaua'i. There were countless competitions after Kaua'i - in Kona, on

O'ahu and finally, in Hilo at the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. I truly believe that

hula competitions allow hālau significant growth. Eaeh time a hālau and their kumu get ready for competitions, there is so mueh time and energy that goes into the necessary preparations. The sacrifices and commitment is inspiring not only to me, but hopefully our entire lāhui. Undoubtedly, the kumu, eaeh individual haumāna, and their families, sacrifice so mueh for hula. Most times, these competitions ean cost hālau thousands of dollars. I commend the hālau that continually make such

large sacrifices for a cultural practice like hula. While my close relationship with my daughters and this hālau makes this eelebration mueh more sentimental, I am also aware of the many other hālau that, just like me, are overwhelmed with joy as they too celebrate the anniversaries of their own hālau. I am grateful for eaeh of their kumu for their hard work and commitment to our culture; to educating through hula. I know it is no easy task. As the Maui Island Trustee, I am overjoyed to see four Maui-based hālau entering Merrie Monarch this year. Along with Hālau Nā Lei Kaumaka O Uka, Kumu Kamaka Kukona's Hālau O Ka Hanu Lehua, Kumu Hi'ilei Maxwell-Juan's Pukalani Hula Hale, and nā Kumu 'Iliahi and Haunani Paredes' Hālau Kekuaokalā'au'ala'iliahi will also be representing Maui in Hilo. We are so proud of all the hālau from all the islands as they dedicate their lives to perpetuating such a valuable practice. A special mahalo to Luana Kawelu for her dedication to the continuance of the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. ■

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Carmen "Hulu" Lindsey

Trustee, Maui