Hawaii Day 6

Friday, February 25

Friday morning started out with a wonderful breakfast of my favorite of Hash Browns and two eggs over easy but today it came with two guava chiffon pancakes. They were amazing and the only downside is that we had to wait for an hour to get our table.

The restaurant was called Cinnamons and while it was wonderful I’m sure I would have waited an hour for breakfast had I known before we got there. Luckily we were able to use most of the time running a couple of errands that needed to be done.

Our next stop was Pali Point which is extremely beautiful, extremely windy and extremely sad. The Pali cliffs were created as the island was forming. At one point the mountain split in two and one half fell into the ocean. These cliffs are where the island split.

As King Kamihamaha was taking over the islands Oahu was the last island to be taken. King Kam had a definite advantage since he was able to get his hands on a few rifles and a canon. He was finally able to force the local warriors along with a bunch of women and children into a corner and drove them up this valley until they were backed up against the cliffs where he proceeded to force the warriors along with their women and children over the cliff. It wasn’t long afterwards that King Kam ruled over all of the Hawaiian Islands.

In 1898 they were building a highway along the base of the cliff and the workers found 800 human skulls and the bones to go along with them. They included skulls from men, women and children.

Now it was on to the Polynesian Cultural Center. On the way we were listening to Lisa’s app and I learned two very fascinating stories. The first was the origin of the shaka. The shaka is that hand symbol that is symbolic of Hawaii. It was actually started by a Mormon.

Back in the day the saints in Laie made money by growing sugar cane. A man named Hamana Kalili worked in the sugar mill and ended up losing the first three fingers of his right hand. After he recovered they gave him a job directing traffic around the train. He also directed the local choir. The people in the cars and the locals hitching a ride on the train just assumed that he had his fingers folded down and waved back with their fingers folded down. It didn’t take long before this hand sign was used all through the islands.

The other story is the origin of the Polynesian Cultural Center. In the early part of this century a local chapel burned down and the local wards decided to raise money to rebuild it. They decided host a hukilau and sell tickets to the event. A hukilau is an ancient Hawaiian way of fishing. The village would get together and cast a large net out to sea. They would all pull in the net and share the catch among the workers.

They intended to sell 700 tickets but ended up selling 2,000 tickets. This turned into a regular event and it soon became obvious that there was a strong interest in understanding and preserving the local cultures. The PCC was created to do just that and has “islands” representing Fuji, Samoa, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii and Tonga.

We knew that Ellie Sanchez was attending BYU Hawaii and we had plans to meet up with her for lunch but what a delight it was to see her at the front gate. She gave us the low down and which Islands we had to see and so off we went.

The entire place was amazing but for me there were three highlights. Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand. Samoa had a great show, Tonga started a fire in less than a minute by rubbing two sticks together and New Zealand was special for a very different reason.

As a young man my dad served a mission in New Zealand and then again as a senior he and Maurine served a mission to New Zealand. They were several men from his age group in Southern Alberta that served missions there and it became a tradition that when one of them pass away the rest of them sang a Mauri song at their funeral. They sang at the viewing before my Dads funeral and recently Lisa (and I) have been wondering what song it was that they sang. There is no one left that we can ask so at the Maori pavilion we asked some of the workers there. They made many suggestions but none of them sounded right. After the show two of them waved us over and asked us if they sang a song if we would recognize it. One of them played a guitar and they sang to us. We both felt the spirit very strongly and knew that this was the song. It is called Now is the Hour. The lyrics in English are:

Now is the hour when we must say goodbye
Soon you'll be sailing far across the sea
While you're away, oh, then remember me
When you return, you'll find me waiting here

Sunset glow fades in the west
Night over the valley is creeping
Birds cuddle down in their nest
Soon all the world will be sleeping

Now is the hour when we must goodbye
Soon you'll be sailing far across the sea
While you're away, oh, then remember me
When you return, you'll find me waiting here

 

In case any of you know Maori the lyrics are:

 

Pö atarau

E moea iho nei

E haere ana

Koe ki pämamao

 

Haere rä
Ka hoki mai anö
Ki i te tau
E tangi atu nei

 

"Haere ra,"
te manu tangi pai.
E haere ana,
koe ki pamamao.

 

Haere ra,
ka hoki mai ano,
Ki-i te tau,
e tangi atu nei

It was an amazing experience.

We stayed and had a good visit with one of the men and he shared with us his thoughts on “Father Hagoth” who President David O McKay told a group of Maori members was their ancestor. He pointed out the Maori symbol at the peak of the pavilions roof and on the left is a figure holding a ball “of curious workmanship” and the figure on the right is holding a stylus much like one might us to engrave on plates of gold.

We then took a tour of the Town of Leia and the temple but unfortunately the temple visitor’s center was closed that day. Bummer.

We then took Ellie for dinner at the food trucks. I had a batch of delicious fish and chips and then we enjoy an amazing night show. It was another great day in Paradise.