Aloha Hawai’i: Mermaids, Volcanoes & Luau

May was the month that it warmed up enough to hold our 3rd Thursday potluck at dinner time.  And what a fun way to kick off our first evening potluck dinner of the season with a Hawai’in Luau.  But before the Luau,  we spent a day crafting hula skirts from paper bags, making Hawai’in mermaid puppets and learned how our 50th state was gained (one based on prospering businessmen against the pull of indigenous royalty) and the tumultuous nature of the volcanoes that originally made this archipelago in the first place.

With a chalk rendition of the 8 islands that comprise the state of Hawai’i, and some help from a few MudPies & Butterflies who had visited the islands in person we gained a better understanding of the only royal palace on American soil and the powers of Goddess Pele – “She Who Shapes the Sacred Land.”

For a visual representation of Volcanoes, I got the kids to assist me with the calcium carbonate recreation of volcanoes – Mentos and 2 liter sodas.

Granted the volcanoes of Hawai’i are not under such pressure, nor do they explode with such impact.  On the contrary, the lava flow and physiology of these volcanoes are some of the calmest and least fatal of our entire planet.  But the experiment is pretty amazing to create.  And in teams of two, many of the kids took turns either aiming the tube of mentos to fall into the mouth of the soda bottle or pulling the card out of the way to start the chemical reaction.

We also had fun making hula skirts with brown paper bags, string for the waistbands and foam flower stickers and markers to make them as individual as their creators.

More fun was had making the Maheli Heli otherwise known as Hula Mermaids.  This simple mermaid puppet craft was just one of the great ideas found at a fun site.

Jessica’s condensed and Brief History of the Hawai’ian Islands for those who want to understand how hundreds of years of royalty was extinguished, numerous colonist regimes thwarted only to become our 50th state.

300 – 750 A.D.  Polynesians arrive by outrigger canoe from Tahiti

1778   British explorer Capt’n James Cook discovers the Sandwich(Hawaiian) Islands and surfing.

1789   The first Chinese arrive after jumping off a trading ship.

1810   King Kamehameha the Great unites all the Hawaiian islands into one kingdom.

1813   The first pineapple plants are introduced from Spain.  1817 Coffee is first planted.

1819   King Kamehameha I dies. Son Liholiho (KII) ascends the throne.  He abandons taboo of eating w/ women.

1820   First American Protestant missionaries arrive aboard the brig Thaddeus from New England.

1840  The first Hawaii constitution of the kingdom was established.

1848  The Great Mahele is signed by King Kamehameha III which allows commoners and haoles to own land outright or in “fee simple,” a concept that continues today.

1874 – 1891 Reign of King David Kalakaua (secured Hula). US only royal residence, Iolani Palace built on Oahu.

1883   Mutual Telephone Company was started in Hawaii.

1885   The first contract laborers from Japan work on sugar cane plantations. 1892 Macadamia trees are 1st planted

1893   Hawaiian kingdom was overthrown as result of intervention of foreign business interests and US military.

1895   Queen Liliuokalani abdicates her throne.

1898   Hawaii is annexed to the United States (after a 4 year republic run by Sanford Dole & Lorrin Thurston)

1900   Hawaii becomes a United States territory. The Honolulu Chinatown fire leaves 7000 people homeless.

1922   Prince Jonah Kalanianaole Kuhio dies. He was the last powerful member of the royal Hawaiian family.

1927  First non-stop air flight from the mainland to Honolulu.

1959  Hawaii becomes the 50th state. Ala Moana Shopping Center is built. The first jet arrives. The age of tourism.

1987   John Waihee, the first governor of Hawaiian descent is elected.

And then it was time for the LUAU.   Luau was traditionally a way to mark an occasion but more importantly bring people together.

“Whenever you’re at a luau, you are ‘ohana — family.”

But the most fun had by all were the coconut races that occurred after the potluck.