How a traditional Hawaiian practice is striking a new note for visitors - SF Gate

Hapuna Beach at sunrise. 

Jeanne Cooper/Special to SFGATE

Clop-clop-clap, clop-clop-clap … clap twice with cupped hands, once with flat hands, and repeat. It seems easy enough, but when it’s sunrise on Hawaii Island’s distractingly gorgeous Hapuna Beach and you’re a novice at chanting, it can take a while to get the hang of it.
 
Healani Kimitete Ah-Mow, an “aloha ambassador” from Mauna Kea Resort, is patiently leading a small group of guests from the hotel in “E Ala E,” a short oli, or chant, intended to be chanted from just before dawn until the sun appears on the horizon. The call — which was composed in the modern era by renowned Hawaiian cultural practitioner Pualani Kanaka‘ole Kanahele to awaken (E ala e!) and, like the sun, strive for the highest — has ancient roots in Polynesian protocol.
 
Hawaiians use chants to seek permission to enter a home, school or region and to signal a welcome in return, among other purposes. Now, with Hawaii tourism fully roused from its pandemic slumber, many with ties to the industry are hoping visitors will open their eyes and ears to the importance of preserving such traditions — and the land that inspires them.

Healani Kimitete Ah-Mow chants on Kauna'oa Beach.

Courtesy of Mauna Kea Resort

“Our culture and the land are one and the same. Without the land, there is no culture,” explains Kainoa Danes, director of culture and product development at the Hawaii Convention & Visitors Bureau. The first person specifically responsible for Hawaiian culture at the agency, founded in 1903, Danes recently helped develop its Malama Hawaii (“Care for Hawaii”) program, which encourages visitors to participate in a variety of cultural and environmental activities and, in some cases, receive hotel discounts in return.
 
Guests at the Sheraton Resort & Spa at Keauhou Bay, for example, can receive a fifth night free when booking by volunteering with Uluha‘o o Hualalai, a nonprofit involved in reforestation of the upper slopes of the active volcano above Kailua-Kona on Hawaii Island. But the real incentive, as I discovered, is the chance to go behind the locked gates guarding this wahi pana (sacred area) and plant a koa tree while listening to the song of rare native birds at 7,000 feet of elevation. Another bonus: listening to the legends and history of Hualalai told by a member of the family stewarding the area for generations.  
 
“It is pretty amazing,” says Uluha‘o operations manager Kimo Duarte, whose grandfather first put in protective fencing for landowner Kamehameha Schools in the 1950s. “As a small kid, I would never have thought it could be like this.  Thousands of goats were running here, and eucalyptus was spreading and killing native trees. It’s becoming a forest again. It’s exciting to come up every day.”

Kimo Duarte with a traveler in Hualalai forest. 

Jeanne Cooper/Special to SFGATE

Before we ascended into the forest, though, program director and kumu hula (expert hula teacher) Lelehua Maunahina Bray chanted “E Ho Mai” three times as a request to enter and be granted knowledge. Kanahele’s equally renowned mother, the late Edith Kanaka’ole, composed this five-line oli kahea (request for entry) for students of her hula school, now under the direction of another daughter and granddaughter in Hilo.
 
“Any time before we go up the mauna, we always take a moment to just get grounded and say thank you to the ‘aina and our ancestors,” says Bray, using the Hawaiian words for “mountain” and “land,” respectively. Also a kumu hula, Bray says she chants “E Ho Mai” on Hualalai because “it’s saying pay attention and be aware. It’s a privilege to be here.”
 
Visitors can also book the five-hour “Hualalai Crater Experience” on their own directly from the nonprofit. The $200 cost includes riding in a Polaris UTV, easy hiking, koa planting, a simple lunch at a rustic cabin built by Duarte’s grandparents and, perhaps most important, official access to an area otherwise off-limits. With the numbers of visitors in some parts of Hawaii poised to exceed records set in 2019, concerns about trespassing and overtourism of natural areas are also on the rise.

Noting that warning signs don’t seem to dissuade visitors from entering risky spots like Halona Beach on Oahu, Danes believes teaching more about cultural values, including the tradition of chanting requests for entry, as well as offering more opportunities for community service could help change travelers’ mindsets.
 
“A lot of people feel, ‘I saved for my whole life to come on this trip to Hawaii,’ and I can understand they feel entitled, but they need to come with an open heart,” says Danes.  “Come here and be part of the community. That’s all that we’re asking people to do. We want people to come to Hawaii, but we want to set up parameters in a gentle, beautiful way. You’re welcome to my house, but there’s still some level of kuleana — that means ‘responsibility,’ but also ‘privilege’: You get to do something, rather than you have to do something.”

Adblock test (Why?)

"traditional" - Google News
June 26, 2021 at 06:03PM
https://ift.tt/2UBMY1D

How a traditional Hawaiian practice is striking a new note for visitors - SF Gate
"traditional" - Google News
https://ift.tt/36u1SIt
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update

Bagikan Berita Ini