Lu'Au in Hilo

In the evening of the 25th my friends and I had the opportunity to go to a Lu'Au hosted by the University of Hilo. We boarded a bus and traveled to the University as Hilo students told us about the history of Hilo and the University. After a nice little tour of the Hilo campus, we went to the University of Hilo's agricultural farm where the Lu'Au was being held.

Entering the Lu'Au area was great. There was this little path lined with tiki torches, that we walked down as the sun set. Then we arrived at a large open air pavilion with tables and chairs all set up. Each table had a bamboo vase with beautiful flower arrangements.

As we reached the pavilion, each person was given a ti leaf. These leaves were twisted into rope to hold canoes on the shore in Hilo's earliest days. In Hawaiian the word "hilo" means "to twist" and that is how Hilo was named.

Our task with the ti leaves was to twist the leaf into our own wrist or ankle lei. This was a fun activity. The leaves have a sticky sort of juice in them that, as you twist them, gets all over your hands. In the end everyone was lined up to wash their hands because we were all sticky. My lei turned out pretty well and I wore it on my arm because it was a little too big for my wrist.

After the lei making, our night continued. The Hawaiian club at the University of Hilo welcomed us and told us a few stories. Then different groups got up and provided classic Hawaiian entertainment as we ate an appetizer salad. For the life of me I could not tell you what was in this salad other than onions, but it was very good.

Then we were welcomed to dinner where there was Hawaiian pig, chicken rice, macoroni salad, poi, salmon salsa, and squid-something. Most of the dishes were very salty to my taste but the squid thing was delicious! It was like a steamed spinach with little squid tentacles in it, but the greens weren't bitter like spinach. Poi was interesting. It was pasty, but there really was no flavor; not good, not bad, just poi.   

As we ate entertainment continued. Two guys came up and sang Hawaiian songs while playing a ukulele and a bass. Another club from an island that I remember being called "pei" but I am really not sure (not Samoa, that comes later). Anyway, the club from "pei" was very cool. The were energetic and fun. They came out in grass skirts and large sticks. For each song/chant/dance there was only a couple callers and the other 15 or so students would move fluidly to the chant, smacking the sticks together creating a powerful rhythm. Through the sound of smacking sticks, the voice of the caller was loud and clear, that was especially impressive.

The Hawaiian club came out and performed multiple hula dances. What I loved about it was everyone was having a good time and enjoying the dance. A few people may have forgotten the next sequence, but they would just laugh and get right back in. It made the experience more personal and much more fun and joyful.

At the end of the evening the Samoan club came out. The "happy people" as they are known are very happy, joyful, fun, and full of energy. They had backward C's painted on their cheeks so that when they smiled, it was a large and wonderful smile. Their speaker was awesome and picked up our energy with:
"Are you excited?! I am excited because we are in an area where we cannot get in trouble for making too much noise!!! Isn't that exciting?!"

They taught us how to yell with a "chi-oo," to show appreciation for their dances. We interacted by rubbing our hands together, clapping, and yelling. Their dances were fun and told stories of their island. The dance was similar to hula, but seemed to have a different vocabulary of moves. On their last dance, palm leaves were slapped down in front of a main dancer, who kept smiling and moving to the music. A few of the University of Hilo students began approaching this dancer with $1 bills and putting them in her blouse. Eventually some SAS students began to participate and show their appreciation. Everyone was having fun, the dancer smiled and gracefully took these compliments. Some of the more elderly individuals starred in shock, and others smiled and laughed along. It was a wonderful end to a good evening.