Hula maidens, rolling surf and “the perfume of a million flowers”—it’s an image familiar to those for whom the Islands are a faraway dream, an image often based on the music known as hapa haole. Hapa haole (half foreign) music usually has English lyrics with a sprinkling of Hawaiian words. Born in the early 1900s,…
Category Archives: Island Life
Don’t believe the common myth about “haole” in Hawaii
Pale strangers stumble ashore from the great sailing ship that has just appeared along a Hawaiian coastline in the late 1700s. Polite Hawaiians attempt to greet them in the local style, but these newcomers reject the traditional practice of touching noses. The Hawaiians conclude that these strangers are “without breath,” or spirit — in other…
Maui Halloween an Exercise in Creativity
Celebrating Halloween in Lahaina would revive even the most jaded cynic’s faith in human creativity. The annual event in Maui’s picturesque seaside town draws thousands of revelers to promenade along Front Street. Some stroll through the balmy autumn evening in costumes as homemade and traditional as witches or cavemen. Others wear outfits that would pass…
Sugarcane Days Wins Preservation Award
I am happy to announce that Sugarcane Days: Remembering Maui’s Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company is winning an award from the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation. According to the foundation’s website, “The Preservation Honor Awards have been presented annually since 1975. The awards are Hawai‘i’s highest recognition of preservation, rehabilitation, restoration and interpretation of the state’s architectural,…
What Created Maui’s Famous “Crater”?
Welcome to the “crater” that is not really a crater. This giant valley atop Mount Haleakala has been called a “crater” since at least the first written mention of it in the early 1800s. In recent years, the National Park Service has emphasized the fact that the great depression at the summit is not a…
