Travel the Pacific - Hawaii

ALOHA!

Home of the world’s most active volcano and the world’s tallest sea mountain. Birthplace of surfing and the hula. Former seat of a royal kingdom. One of the youngest geological formations in the world. But perhaps HAWAII’s most unique feature is its Polynesian Spirit of Aloha: the warmth of the people of HAWAII that wonderfully complements the Islands’ perfect temperatures.

May 15th 2008
Hawai'i lights up

The fierce and acrobatic art of fireknife dancing returns to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the 16th Annual World Fireknife Championships in Hawai’i. LOUISA TE’I reports exclusively to SPASIFIKmag.com.
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March 26th 2008
Issue 24 Article
Where Haka meets Hula

Hawaiians are embracing Maori culture like never before as LOUISA TE’I finds out at the annual Te Whanaketanga performing arts competition held in O’ahu.
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November 29th 2007
Issue 23 Travel Feature
Fiery Traditions

The World Fireknife Championships at the Polynesian Culture Center in La’ie, Hawaii is becoming a must-see event in the American state’s cultural calendar. LOUISA MOSESE TE'I covered the 15th Annual event this year where the competition was more diverse and fierce than ever.
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Mighty Mauna a Wakea

During his trip to Hawaii to attend a business conference in November 2006, editor and publisher INNES LOGAN visited the big island of Hawaii, home of SPASIFIK Hawaii columnist Ana Currie and the second tallest mountain in the world.
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HAWAII: THE BIRTH OF A MAOLI MARAE

New Zealand based artist Filipe Tohi visited Hawaii and added an ancient Tongan touch to its first marae. ANA CURRIE reports.
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HAWAII is comprised of 18 islands and atolls spanning a distance of 2,400 km (1,500 miles). At the southeastern end lies the 8 ‘main islands’; Ni’ihau, Kaua’i, O’ahu, Moloka’i, and Hawai’i (Big Island), in order from northwest to southeast. All of the islands were formed by volcanoes arising from the sea floor because of the Pacific Ocean’s tectonic plate movement. This volcanic formation, the isolation of the Hawaiian Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, combined with the extensive range of environments found on the large islands located in and near the tropic, has resulted in a vast array of endemic flora and fauna.

The islands volcanic formation means that a human presence originated from the ‘3 W’s’: wind, waves and wings. HAWAII was first inhabited around 1000 AD by Polynesian settlers, mostly probably from Marquesas. These first Hawaiians lived isolated for 800 years without interference, building a complex caste society governed by various chiefdoms and following a social and religious lifestyle named the kapu system. Captain James Cook, a British explorer, then discovered the Hawaiian archipelago in 1778. The new European presence had hugely significant influences on the Hawaiian lifestyle, as the help of foreign advisors and weapons allowed a Hawaiian warrior Kamehameha to succeed in conquering all the major Hawaiian Islands. This led to a singular rule over HAWAII until 1893, the kingdom then overthrown by a coup led by supporters of the Reform Party of the Hawaiian Kingdom. A Provisional Government was set up, and later a Republic. In 1898, HAWAII was annexed to the United States of America, then attaining statehood in 1959.

HAWAI’I has become a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities over the last 200 years, combining to create a contemporary culture unique to its Polynesian, Asian, Caucasian and American population. Much of the native Hawaiian culture was replaced after the influence of the vast numbers of immigrants. However, recently these old traditions have seen a revival thanks to the 1978 HAWAI’I State Constitutional Convention, where the HAWAI’I state government committed itself to a progressive study and preservation of the native Hawaiian culture, history and language. This enabled a comprehensive Hawaiian culture curriculum to be introduced into public school teaching, with emphasis on Hawaiian art, geography, history, hula and Hawaiian language vocabulary. Many of the differing cultural groups within the islands have kept vestiges of their native cultures alive by including or modifying them within artistic areas, such as music and dance.

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