Family Circle

A few days ago, I had a week-long trip to warm, tropical Hawai’i. I went to mant places, including beaches, parks, and aquariums. I even went to the DOLE plantation, the headquarters of the DOLE juice company. Yes, I did go to a lot of places, but the one I liked best was the PCC, or Polynesian Cultural Center.

The PCC is a place where you can learn about the Polynesian Islands, the islands in the Pacific. You can explore from the hula-ing Hawai’i to the twisting Tahiti.

There were seven exhibits, Hawai’i, Aotearoa, Samoa, Tahiti, Fiji, Tonga, and Marquesas, though we only got to see three. Each have different traditions and different ways of living, but they all share many properties. I am going to tell you about them.

HAWAI’I

Aloooha!! Hawai’i is a mystical place, full of adventures of every kind. They invented hula dancing and lei making. Did you know in ancient Hawai’i, kids wouldn’t wear any clothes at all until eight? You wore clothes when you were expected to help out and work. If ancient hawaiians stepped in to the future, they’d be awestruck at all the “responsible eight and olders”. Still, you could play Ulu Maika (Hawaiian bowling), Konane (Hawaiian checkers), and Pala’ie (A loop-and-ball game) anytime.

Aotearoa

Kia Ora and welcome to Aotearoa, “The Land of the Long White Cloud”. Did you know that this is the only Polynesian island that has noticeable four seasons? They speak mainly Maori and English, but there are actually many small ingredients that make up the people’s languages that they speak there. Also inventor of the “Poi Ball”, two balls connected to stringsand twirling them so they hit you on the head and each other in perfect rhythm.These helped males in war with weabons, because they aim and rhythm. Also, in wars they would tattoo themselves brightly on the face and stick out their toungues every once in a while.

Samoa

Talofa,(Hurry up, respond with Talofa Lava) and welcome to Samoa, where optimistic, happy-go-lucky samoans dwell.They depend mostly on coconut for a diet. Men climbed trees, made fires, and squashed the milk and juice out of the coconut while women weaved. Long ago, they also had tattoos, bright tattoos of nature.

Tahiti

Iaorana and welcome to the island of Tahiti, home of the fast hip-shaking dance, called the Tamure. don’t get confused with it and the hula! The island is pretty clear, but if you want to go there, pack up with hundreds upon hundreds of language teaching books, because there are a lot of languages spoken there!

Fiji

I say Bula, you say Bula Vinaka. Fiji is directly at the side of the Polynesian Triangle, a triangular shape where all the Polynesian Islands lie. They have strange ways of living. They say that their heads are sacred, so they don’t ever wear hats. Hair was a symbol of manhood, so so you’d be kept bald until you were eighteen! But with their cows, when europeans brang them, the cows went “moo” and “miiee”!

Tonga

Malo ‘e Lelei and welcome to Tonga, where King Taufa’ahau IV, the last remaining monarch, ruled. The island is located smack-dab on the international date line, so they get to “drop the ball” first. They love language and sound, so they play drums and sing songs on New Year.

Marquesas

Ka Oha.This is one of the not-so-famous islands of Polynesia. Marquesans believe that sicknesses are made by supernatural forces. If you did something bad, you would get sick. Healers track their patient’s recent actions to determine the reason of sickness. Usually, they would massage them to relieve their patient’s sicknesses. If they got bitten or hurt, they would hit the wound with a stick so the blood would rush out and “cleanse” the wound.