Modern materials almost replaced the traditional Hawaiian weaving arts in the early 19th century, but one group of weavers on Hawaii Island are not only practicing the craft, they’re perpetuating it. Last week, 130 weavers and 26 kumu (teachers) spent four days honing their skills as part of the 21st Ka Ulu Lau Hala O […]
If you want to know what the Islands sounds like, just press play and let the soothing strings of this acoustic guitar wash over you like a gentle breeze and take you there. Local musician Wayne Enos of the Kahaluu, Oahu group Natural Vibrations shared this video on his Facebook page casually playing “He Aloha
The island of Niihau has long been shrouded in mystery, isolated in space and almost in time. As a result, the residents there have been able to practice their unique traditions much longer than any other Hawaiian community in the archipelago. But with the population in steady decline, there are fewer people left to pass
In September 2014, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation to expand the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) south of the main Hawaiian Islands, currently the largest marine reserve in the world. Now, an environmental group is encouraging the President to use those same executive powers to expand another reserve, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (PMNM),
*This story was updated on Apr. 22, 2025. Lei (garland or wreath) making, whether it be with flowers, shells or feathers, is a traditional Hawaiian custom and art form passed down through generations. Many floral lei were created for a particular person in mind, intended to be gifts, and great care was given in
“May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii.” In celebration of the beautiful art of lei making across the Islands, no matter what day May 1 coincides with, festivities will take place. This year, May Day falls on a Sunday making way for a variety of events leading up to it throughout the weekend. Oahu May
Among the sea of more than 4,000 shows and 50,000 performers to gather this fall at Scotland’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe will be a first for what’s considered the world’s largest performing-arts festival: a stage of Native Hawaiian teenagers singing in ‘olelo Hawai‘i (Hawaiian language) and dancing hula. In August, Kamehameha Schools prepares to debut something
A timeless Hawaiian mele (song) receives a beautiful live version spanning the Islands. Seriously, stop what you’re doing and take a real life moment to pause and press play for this. Cyril Pahinui. Dozens of noteworthy local artists—like Cyril Pahinui, Ledward Kaapana, Paula Fuga, Imua Garza and Kimie Miner—from across genres come together and are
Hawaii is home to so many cute, unique, fascinating, enigmatic, endearing … and did we say cute? … creatures that Pixar could base all of their movies for the next decade on them. Here’s a little about each and some possible adventures fit for the silver screen. 1. Hawaiian monk seal Just look at that
At the 2016 Merrie Monarch Festival, for the first time in its more than half-a-century history, many hula halau (hula schools) opted to forgo traditional lei and adornments from the ohia lehua tree in order to stem the spread of a blight known as Rapid Ohia Death (ROD). The disease is ravaging populations of the
Last week, while the Merrie Monarch Festival’s competitive hula dancers performed, the festival’s Invitational Hawaiian Arts Fair drew crowds into two buildings on Hilo’s Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium grounds. Dozens of invited vendors offered uniquely Hawaiian products—teas and body tinctures of Hawaiian plants, abundant flower and shell lei, even copies of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, translated
Leomana Turalde is a hula dancer for Kawailiʻulā, a hālau (hula school) in Kailua, Oʻahu. Turalde is from Keaukaha on Hawaiʻi Island. I love when the clock hits eight on that Merrie Monarch Sunday. It’s such a freeing feeling. The first shot of adrenaline for the week. By this time I’m usually 30 minutes deep
