Earth Day Celebration

I went to the Volcano's National park to view a special hula celebrating Earth day and it was a wonderful experience to be in the presence of nature and the active lava in front of us. These hula dancers from Waimea are paying tribute to Pele who lives in the caldera known as Kilauea.

 

The hula celebrations are a monthly performance and educational opportunities for the various halau's (hula dance troups) to perform for an audience at the national park. Being in the presence of a living eruption, and a historical presence at Kilauea adds to the excitement of this performance. 

The Kumu (instructor) shared many stories about how important nature and the native Hawaiians care and respect for the aina (land). They used only what was essential in their daily rituals and dances. The ancient people's took very special care of the land, the environment and all the resources that were utilized by the native population. And in a similar tradition, the kumu's dance troup are starting to grow most of their own plants that are becoming more rare even in Hawaii.

With the scarcity of these resources necessary in many decorative costumes and materials for their performances, the troups planting of native plants has created a real appreciation to how important the aina is and respect for utilizing these resources with care.
 

 Facing the active Volcano, the hula dancers perform as a tribute and also entertains the audience with dances commemorating Pele, Laka and other important alii (rulers) from the ancient times. The ancient Hawaiians revered and were frightened by Pele - the goddess of fire, and hulas were a common activity to appease her.

A sweet smile makes the audience more engaged with the performances.

The halau takes their final bow for today's performance....very well done.

Fronting the magical presence of Kilaeau Volcano, it is a very spiritual area.

It was a wonderful performance and such a nice sunny day to be outside sharing this event. This is my contribution to our Earth Day, thanks for visiting.


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