Hawaiian Village at the Polynesian Cultural Center

The Hawaiian word "aloha" is well known around the globe, symbolizing the beauty not only of Hawaii’s exotic islands but of its people as well. Visit the Polynesian Cultural Center here in paradise, to experience the enchanting spirit of aloha; local Hawaiians are welcoming and always eager to splash color onto their culture by storytelling. Encounter heartfelt hospitality at its best with interaction between service providers wearing muumuus to hula dancers passing along proper gesturing, each radiating aloha into their surroundings. Don't be shy just stay for a while – you never know whom you may meet or what awaits!.

Nearly two centuries ago, kauhale or villages offered a traditional picture of Hawaiian life. Nowadays, you no longer find the same kind of grass huts referred to as hale. In spite of this happenstance, the advent of the Polynesian Cultural Center over four decades ago sparked a revitalized admiration for Hawaiian culture throughout the world.

When visiting this iconic and remarkable Center, you will be continuously immersed in the spirit of aloha demonstrated through various art pieces, such as hula. Such encounters with authentic Hawaiian culture are reflective of a strong ethnic background with immense pride among Polynesians today—gladly extending both warmth and recognition to all those lucky enough to collaborate within their realm.

Island of Hawaii activities:

Five times each afternoon — at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 and 5:30 — the Hawaiians present in-depth demonstrations on their ancient culture:

Hula dance is much more than just learning the motions; it requires a deep commitment and if you're lucky, you can travel deeper and learn about the significant hertiage of implements and instruments associated with it. There are hidden secrets to discover; unravel the ancient kapu or taboo system that kept men and women in seperate houses. Do you have an appetite for knowledge? Tease your tastebuds as you dive into harvesting, prepare, and cooking taro into poi —Hawaii’s simplest but staple grub— before indulging in every last drop. Curiosity around nature shouldn’t stop there; observe how talented Hawaiian women craft leafy stems into exquisite leis, paired with craftsmanship precision when competing at Ulu Maika, a form of Hawaiian bowling, or game mentalities practiced through Konane – Hawaiin checkers. See, feel and taste for yourself what this magnificent land has to offer!

The "village" houses:

As with all Polynesians, the Hale Ali'i or chief's house dominated most Hawaiian villages by its size and height. Nearby is the Hale Papa'a, where the chief stored his valuable possessions.The Hale Pahu or "drum house" was used to store the sacred hula dance implements. Women demonstrate their handicraft skills in the Hale Ulana or "weaving house." The Hale Mua is the men's eating house (it was taboo for women and children to eat with the men). The Hale Lawai'a or fisherman's house is built closest to the water, as is the Hale Wa'a or canoe house — which is also where the poi pounding and samples are located. The Halau is used for educational purposes. The Hale Noho is a family dwelling.

Learn more about Hawaii:

With over 6.5 million visitors a year — more than all the other islands combined — Hawaii is the best known and most often visited part of Polynesia; and the Polynesian Cultural Center is the number-one paid attraction in Hawaii. Here's more information on some of the things you'll experience visiting the Center's Hawaiian village.

Hawaii: the land and people of aloha

Quite simply, there are good reasons why Hawaii is one of the leading visitor destinations in the world: The natural beauty of the islands is superlative; the tropical climate is ideal; the visitor infrastructure accommodates all levels of travelers in comfort and budget; and the reputation of the Hawaiian aloha spirit — indeed, the same spirit found throughout the islands of Polynesia — is well deserved.

All of these factors and more are sharply focused at the Polynesian Cultural Center, where the host islands of Hawaii will welcome you with warm aloha.

Location:

Hawaii is located about 2,500 miles west-southwest of the mainland U.S.A., about a five-hour flight from the California coast. Hawaii Standard Time (HST) is three hours behind the west coast (PST) during daylight savings months, and otherwise two hours behind.

Geography:

There are actually over 100 islands in Hawaii, including the Leeward chain that extends for a thousand miles toward Midway; but most people think of Hawaii as the six major inhabited islands: Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai (and the privately-owned Niihau, 20 miles off the west coast of Kauai, with its small population). The land mass of approximately 6,400 square miles rises from sea level to the snow-capped peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island — both over 13,000 feet in elevation. By the way, most of the Leeward islands are coral atolls that have been included in a fish and wildlife conservation district: Travel there is restricted.

Since King Kamehameha moved his capital from Kailua-Kona to Honolulu almost 200 years ago, Oahu — the third largest island in land mass — has been the center of government and commerce. Over 80% of the Aloha State's population lives on Oahu, and the Polynesian Cultural Center is located about an hour's drive from the famous Waikiki Beach.

Hawaii is the only major part of Polynesia that is north of the equator. Our tropical climate means temperatures at sea level rarely rise above 90° (F) in the summer and seldom drop below 70° (F) at night, even in the winter. The islands are also graced most days by gentle trade winds.

Population:

About 1.2 million people currently live in Hawaii, with over 80% of them on the island of Oahu. About 20% of the overall population is Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian. There are also significant numbers of Samoans, Tongans and other Pacific islanders. The remainder of the population — in which no group holds a majority — is divided among Asians, Caucasians and others, making Hawaii the "melting pot of the Pacific" and a truly unique and diverse place.

European discovery and history:

Among the ancient Polynesians, Hawaiians and anthropologists believe the original inhabitants of these islands came from the Marquesas and Tahiti, starting as early as 1,500 years ago. There is also oral tradition of early interaction with Samoa, as well as Hawaii being an origin of some of the early Maori emigrants to Aotearoa (New Zealand).

British Capt. James Cook is credited with being the first European to discover Hawaii in 1787, although some oral traditions and scholars hold that the Spaniards — who first crossed the Pacific Ocean in 1522, and regularly crossed from Peru to The Philippines by the late 1500s — also made inadvertent landfall in Hawaii, but never correctly mapped their accomplishment. When Cook arrived, he was well received and some Hawaiians thought he might even be an incarnation of their god Lono, whose sign was white kapa or tapa cloth like the sails of Captain Cook's ship. Of course, Captain Cook is also well known for having been killed several months later by Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay in Kona while trying to retrieve a long boat.

After Cook, the stream of Europeans quickly grew, even including Russians for a short period. In addition to appreciating the beauty of the islands, they participated in whaling and the sandalwood trade. The first Christian missionaries arrived in 1820 and the people quickly converted: The year before, King Kamehameha II and Queen Kaahumanu had abolished the age-old kapu or taboo system based on the ancient Hawaiian religion.

In 1850 the Sandwich Islands kingdom made it possible for foreigners to own private property in Hawaii, which along with increasing international trade with America, gave rise to the sugar industry. The rapid depletion of the Hawaiian population due to illnesses eventually led the sugar plantation owners to import contract laborers from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Russia, Scandinavia, Portugal and the Azores, Europe and Puerto Rico, among other places: The descendants of those who stayed give Hawaii its cosmopolitan population today.

In 1893 a revolution largely led by influential non-Hawaiian businessmen deposed the last reigning Hawaiian monarch, Queen Lili'uokalani. In 1900 the United States of America annexed Hawaii, reportedly for the purpose of gaining the Pearl Harbor anchorage: We were known as the Territory of Hawaii until an overwhelming majority of the population voted for statehood in the 1950s: Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959.

Today, Hawaii with its ancient Polynesian heritage and overlays of Asian and other cultures is one of the most unique parts of America.

Languages:

English and Hawaiian are the official state languages. At one time, the number of Hawaiian speakers had greatly diminished, but a tremendous renaissance of Hawaiian culture has take place over the past generation or two: Today, thousands of people study the Hawaiian language and other aspects of Hawaiian culture, and there is even a K-12 Hawaiian immersion school system within the the statewide Department of Education.

Hawaiian is closely related to the other major Polynesian dialects: Tahitian, Maori, Marquesan, Rarotongan, Samoan and Tongan. Although it is not necessarily mutually intelligible with these other dialects, many Hawaiian words and grammatical concepts are identical or nearly identical with the other dialects.

Hawaiian is also sometimes recognized around the world as the language with the fewest letters in its alphabet: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p, w — 12 in all, although there's actually another consonant sound, the glottal stop [such as in the middle of the English slang term huh-uh, meaning 'no'], represented by the 'okina or inverted apostrophe.

Most Polynesian languages, including Hawaiian, also have longer sounding vowels, sometimes marked with a bar or macron above the letter [here with a European-style umlaut, since most computers do not normally include macron options] or what the Hawaiians call a kahakö. These should not be confused with the bar or macron that is used to differentiate an English "long" vowel from a "short" vowel, as in the words "hate" and "hat," respectively.

Hawaiian words with lengthened vowels have different meanings than their counterparts with regular vowels: For example, kala is a type of fish, kalä means the sun, while kälä means dollar or money. English vowels can also be lengthened in pronunciation, but that usually just changes the emphasis and not the meaning of the word.

A pronunciation problem has arisen over the years because when early Christian missionaries first devised the Hawaiian alphabet, almost everyone spoke the language and so they often did not indicate the inverted apostrophe for the 'okina or the macron bar of the kahakö in writing: Native speakers already understood the difference, say, between kala and kälä by context.

As the years went by and the number of Hawaiian language speakers greatly diminished, however, many people didn't know about the 'okina sound or long vowels. For example, Kaua'i became Kauai (as in 'cow-eye') and O'ahu became Oahu. Along with the rest of the Hawaiian renaissance, people and institutions such as media and government are becoming more sensitive to including the 'okina and kahakö in written Hawaiian; so don't be surprised to see both Waikiki and Waikïkï or Lanai and Läna'i...and try to pronounce them in the old Hawaiian way.

Hula:

Hula, the ancient dance of Hawaii which has also evolved into a modern form that is famous for its grace and romantic music, is an interpretive and expressive dance that often tells a story or expresses meanings and feelings from almost any phase of life.

In ancient times, hula was a religious homage to the gods, accompanied by chanting, drums and other traditional percussion instruments such as the feathered gourd, rock castanets, bamboo rattles and striking sticks. In those times, hula was the exclusive domain of men.

After contact with Europeans, however, Hawaiians adapted western music but added their own unique influences, and women also participated. The ultimate result is that hula is now better known as a woman's dance, although many Hawaiian men still do the hula today. Also, over the past two centuries hula has lost almost all of its religious significance and has become entertainment. However, hula still has a strong cultural link to Hawaii's past heritage, and thousands of young island people — and many not so young — study and perform this exotic dance. The distinction is also made today between hula kahiko — the dance done in the old energetic style accompanied by chants and percussion instruments, but no music; and hula auana — the modern Hawaiian dance featuring beautiful flowers, and graceful movements and often done to the romantic sounds of the steel guitar and ukuleles.

Hula implements and instruments: Many of the implements used in Hawaiian hula today have actually survived from ancient times. Every kumu hula [hula teacher] who performs hula kahiko [the ancient form of dance], for example, uses a pahu or drum to accompany the movements and chanting. Pahu were usually made from hollowed-out coconut tree trunks that were often intricately carved and covered with dried shark skin.

The puniu or kilu is a much smaller drum made from a coconut shell and covered with the skin of the kala fish. Dancers sometimes tied puniu to their legs and struck them in rhythm or counter-rhythm to their movements.

The puili is a piece of dried bamboo approximately two feet long that has been split into strips down most of the length. Dancers strike two puili together or against their bodies to create a rattling accompaniment.

The ohe is a simple flute that produces a soulful sound, but unlike most other flutes in which the player blows across the hole with his lips, the Hawaiian bamboo flute is angled so it can be played by blowing air across the opening from one nostril: hence, the nose flute.

Like the Fijian derua, Hawaiians strike ka'eka'e — varying lengths of bamboo that are open on one end— on the ground to produce a drum-like sound. Ka'eka'e are also sometimes called a bamboo organ because different lengths produce different pitches.

Hula dancers sometimes make percussive sounds by literally striking two sticks or kala'au together. Most kala'au are short, but some dancers use one short and one staff-like long one.

The dancers also make percussive sounds by striking two small, flat river rocks, or ili'ili, together like Spanish castanets. Dancers would often hold two ili'ili in each hand. They also often switch from one instrument to another.

Dried Hawaiian gourds, or ipu which have had the top cut off and the insides removed, proved invaluable for a wide variety of purposes in old Hawaii; but they are also used as drum-like instruments: Dancers hold the ipu in one hand by its throat, and carefully strike it with the palm or fingers of the other hand, or it is struck against the body or a pad on the ground, in rhythm to the hula. Sometimes two gourds were glued together into an ipu heke.

The grapefruit-sized gourd from the la'amia tree was dried, hollowed out, and after a few pebbles were put inside, often decorated with bird feathers to create the uli'uli, which is still widely used today in both ancient and modern hula.

Other older instruments include the kulili, a clever triple-gourd rattle that uses a pull-string to rotate the individual parts; and the pu or seashell trumpet.

The ukulele and Hawaiian steel guitar are the most famous modern hula instruments. Both, of course, were adapted by Hawaiians from early European instruments; but the results are strictly an island story: Ukulele is perhaps another of the best-known Hawaiian words in the world, and is relatively easy to learn to play simply, and simply beautiful when played well. The Hawaiian or steel guitar was invented in Laie, the home of the Polynesian Cultural Center, by Joseph Kekuku whose descendants still live here. Kekuku figured out he could make beautiful sounds by sliding a steel bar across the guitar strings.

Hawaiian Houses and village life:

Hale Ali'i or Chief's House: 

To establish his social position, the chief always built his residence on a prominent rise. A raised stone foundation further communicated the chief's high standing as well as kept the house drier. The chief would usually sleep in his house and use it to confer with selected leaders. Women and children were forbidden to enter.

Most houses in Hawaii were thatched with clumps of pili grass — hence the term "grass huts"; but you can really think of the grass clumps like shingles. Builders often placed a large fish net over the grass to prevent it from curling up or looking untidy and also to keep it in place during windy weather.

The hale interior was thatched with lauhala (pandanus leaves), and the floor was covered with woven lauhala mats. There was little or no furniture, so Hawaiians and most other Polynesians usually sat on the floor.

Various kahili or royal feathered standards inside, and sometimes outside as well, symbolized the chief's status. When the chief moved about or traveled, he would often wear a feathered cape, the ahu'ula, as a sign of his rank. Aha'ula are exceptionally rare artifacts today, because they required the gold and red feathers of hundreds — sometimes thousands — of endemic birds, and are considered the highest form of Hawaiian feather work. The chief would also sometimes wear the mahi'ole, a helmet fashioned from 'ie'ie vines to which more feathers were attached.

Attendants would carry the kahili in front of the chief. Other attendants would carry long kauila spears, blow conch shells, and sometimes carry the pulo'ulo'u, a ball-like standard on a stick which indicated the chief was kapu [taboo] or sacred.

Thus the common people were alerted the ali'i was approaching. They would bow or even prostrate themselves in respect. Some chiefs were so kapu that to even allow their shadow to fall on a commoner was a capital offense, followed by summary execution.

The women of the royal household often wore the lei niho palaoa, a large hook- or curving tongue-shaped necklace made from a whale's tooth and strung on braided human hair. Lei hulu — "feather leis" — were bound into a circlet for the hair or neck. Royal women also carried finely woven lauhala fans and delicate feather kahili with bone or tortoise shell handles.

The processional guards of the ali'i sometimes wore helmets made from the same type of dried gourds used to make containers as well as hula implements.

The flag posted at the back of the Polynesian Cultural Center's Hale Ali'i represents that presented to King Kamehameha l by the British explorer Capt. George Vancouver. The Hawaiian flag today is a redesigned British flag, with eight stripes representing the major islands of Hawaii.

The Hale Pahu, literally the "drum house," was used to store drums and other implements used in sacred hula dances.

The Hale Ulana or "weaving house" is where women completed their weaving and other handicrafts, creating baskets, mats, bracelets, fans and other items mainly from dried lauhala or pandanus leaves.

The women collected the dried leaves from the pandanus tree, which is also sometimes called the "pineapple tree" because pandanus fruit looks somewhat like a pineapple. Next they stripped the thorns off, cleaned the leaves, and formed large rolls which were more compactly stored. Starting a project, the women would pull lauhala leaves from the roll, shred them to the required widths and finger weave them into various patterns and objects.

Hale Mua or Men's Eating House: 

The hale mua is an excellent example of the ancient Hawaiian kapu [taboo] system: Men and women were forbidden to eat together. The hale mua was also used by the men to store carvings of the family gods or aumakua. Women and children were not allowed to enter this house because of its sacred nature.

Women would eat in the hale aina or "eating house." Male children would eat with their mothers until the age of six; then, after a special ceremony, they would eat in the hale mua with the other men of the village.

Cooking implements: 

Hawaiians used a dried-out squash-like gourd to make ipu or bowls and containers. This same kind of gourd was also used to make hula instruments.

The smaller, hollowed-out gourd of the non-edible la'amia tree fruit was used to hold liquids and to make the feathered hula rattle. The la'amia was also used to make utensils, as were other local hardwoods.

Perhaps the most important food preparation utensils, however, were the hand-carved wooden poi pounding board and the accompanying stone poi pounder. Every family had at least one papaku'i i ka 'ai board, which could also double as a platter when the men cooked a pig or pua'a in the imu [earth oven]. Other necessities in the kitchen included ti leaves which were used to wrap food before cooking and line the baskets that would be used to carry the food from the imu to the men and women's eating houses.

The responsibility for preparing and cooking food throughout Polynesia fell to the men. Because this was usually only done once a day, enough food was always prepared to feed the family the needed meals. Uneaten food was stored in the eating houses until consumed.

Hale Wa'a: The canoe shelter was built close to the water for easy access. The koa or tropical mahogany canoes at the Polynesian Cultural Center are over 100 years old. Koa tree logs of sufficient size to carve canoes are increasingly harder to find today in Hawaii. For example, when the BYU-Hawaii Hawaiian Studies program commissioned a 57-foot traditional twin-hulled sailing canoe several years ago, they had to import the tropical hardwood from Fiji.

After a straight and well-rounded tree was selected, craftsman cut it, trimmed the branches, and then spread red-hot rocks along the tree trunk to slowly burn the area and prepare it for the hollowing out process. Builders would then chip away at the trunk with sharpened rock chisels and adzes. After the hollowing-out process, the trunk was then dragged to the village for smoothing with pumice stones and leaves that provided special oils. When fully completed, kukui or candle nut oil was rubbed over the entire canoe to waterproof it.

The hale wa'a at the Polynesian Cultural Center is also used to demonstrate how the Hawaiian staple food, poi, is made: Poi starts as the root of the kalo or taro plant, which comes in two basic varieties: wetland and dryland taro. The PCC grows its wetland in a flooded patch next to the hale wa'a. When harvested, the root is cleaned and set aside to make poi. Young kalo leaves are boiled and used like spinach. The plant stems are replanted, and take from six-to-12 months to grow a new corm, so it was common in old Hawaii to rotate the planting of different patches to insure a continuing supply of poi.

The harvested kalo must be thoroughly cleaned, peeled or scraped and cooked for several hours to eliminate the oxylate crystals in the outer layers. If not property prepared, these crystals will irritate and prickle the throat. The kalo is then placed on the poi pounding board and mashed and kneaded with the stone poi pound, while mixing it with water, until the required consistency is achieved. As it was typically eaten with fingers, Hawaiians traditionally classified poi according to how many fingers were required to lift a dab out of the calabash: One-finger poi being the thickest, and 3- or 4-finger poi rather thin and runny in consistency. Hawaiians also sometimes made poi out of breadfruit.

By the way, poi is not eaten alone but as a staple food to be flavored with meat or fish. Because dryland taro is relatively sweet and delicious, it is sometimes baked in an imu and eaten in its simplicity; but is usually made into poi, which is still very popular in Hawaii and can be purchased pre-mixed in plastic bags in most local grocery stores.

Hale Lawai'a: 

A "fishing house" was always located close to the seashore, where Hawaiian fishermen could mend their nets and prepare fishing gear. Such nets and lines were valued possessions.

Along with a farmer, a fisherman was deemed a man of great wealth. He provided the main source of protein for his family, using fish-hooks made out of human bones, tortoise and oyster shells, and pig or dog bones. He used certain hardwoods and rough lava rock to shape the fish hooks. He usually fashioned his poles from bamboo, and wove his nets with cordage made from olona vine or coconut husk fibers.

Halau: 

The "house of instruction" was used to teach various aspects of Hawaiian culture, including the hula, as well as to store canoes, which were considered very valuable possessions.

Hale Noho: 

Hawaiians used their "living house" so extended family members could sleep under one roof. The order in which everyone slept, extending from the entrance door, was very important: Each person would lie down in the middle of the building with legs stretched out towards the wall for safety reasons, and children slept on the outer ends of the hale.

Traditional beds were very simple: Pili grass and dried leaves were spread on the pebbled or sandy floors as a cushion. Mats were then placed over the grass to serve as beds. The mats were often left in sun to cleanse and refresh them during the daytime.

After the missionaries brought framed beds to the islands, Hawaiians copied them by weaving lauhala frames which they filled with leaves and other natural materials. Again, they were covered with simple mats for comfort.

Hawaiian Quilting: 

Hawaiian women were also fascinated by the New England patchwork quilts that missionary women brought to the islands. Of course, after learning quilting techniques, the Hawaiian women began to design and appliqué their own patterns that reflected the natural beauty of the islands. They also added stitching around the appliqués that suggest the wave movements of the ocean. Some of these quilt or kapa patterns have become family treasures and are passed from generation to generation. Some designs were considered royal and were, of course, forbidden to any but kings.

Hawaiian quilting, which is demonstrated in the 1850's Mission Complex, was originally an individual art done on a quilting frame. Older quilts such as those on display at the Polynesian Cultural Center and other places throughout Hawaii are highly prized heirlooms. Today, however, many Hawaiian quilts are machine appliquéd and, therefore, are of lesser value but still represent traditional designs.

To provide light inside the hale noho and other houses, Hawaiians used kukui or candlenuts. The beautiful kukui with its light green leaves that can be seen growing down the mountains in cascades, is the Hawaii state tree. The kernel in the nut produces natural oil that burns like kerosene. In old Hawaii, kukui oil was placed in hollowed-out rocks with a kapa or bark-cloth wick. Sometimes, several kukui nuts were also strung on a coconut leaf midrib and each was lighted in turn. Kukui nuts are widely used today to make lei.

Hale Papa'a: 

The chief's "storage house" for his valuables is nearby. It's contents include fine kapa or bark cloth, gourds, nets, spears, carvings, and other possessions.

Hawaiian Games:

 To keep themselves occupied when not farming or fishing, Hawaiians participated in many activities and games. To develop physical coordination, they played pala'ie which consists of a coconut midrib handle with a small hoop on one end and a cloth-covered ball tied to the other. Holding the handle in one hand, the object was to swing the ball into the hoop. Points were scored for the consistent length of time the game's object was successfully accomplished.

Other Hawaiian games at the Polynesian Cultural Center include ula maika, a form of bowling, and konane — a type of checkers board game. Better konane boards were fashioned out of stone.

Interesting Factoid:

Well-strained Hawaiian poi makes an excellent baby food, and has proven especially helpful for infants who are allergic to various foods.