May Day, known as Lei Day in Hawaii, is celebrated annually by Molokai schools. Every school features a May Day court of student representatives of every island, wearing the colors symbolic of each. Here are a selection of photos from the various celebrations.…
By Paulele Alcon
Molokai, I hope you’re ready for the biggest and most anticipated show to ever hit the Friendly Isle. This Thursday, HI Finest Clothing presents the Molokai Throwback Jam 2012 Featuring Fiji, The Mana’o Company and Bruddah Waltah. Molokai has seen some pretty big shows over the years, but nothing quite like this one. It’s been years since these local music pioneers blessed our island with their music, and they are all going to be performing together on one stage in one night.
Fiji, The Mana`o Company and Bruddah Waltah all share multiple Na Hoku Awards, been in the business for over 20 years each, sold out shows all over the world, and all share a common love for Molokai.…
Paschoal Community Hall, formerly known as Kalaupapa Social Hall, was once the center of Kalaupapa’s social life, but it had been years since the building was fully usable – until last week. Kalaupapa residents and patients celebrated the unofficial reopening and blessing of the 97-year-old hall, the settlement’s largest historic building, which was recently renovated and restored by the National Park Service (NPS).
History
The hall was built in 1916 as a place “for coming together, for socializing, for ‘talk story,’” according to the NPS website. It was used to host silent movies, dances, amateur theater performances and concerts.…
Local artists and artist-hopefuls were able to explore their own talents last semester as part of University of Hawaii-Maui College, Molokai’s first art studio class, Outdoor Studio Art 190. The fruits of their labors are currently on display at the college.
“It’s good to see artists developing their own style and personal enjoyment in art,” said instructor Heather Williams, who will also be teaching Intro to Painting Course –Art 123 in the fall. The students, who ranged from 18-year-olds to kupuna, were instructed to focus on natural sites as much as art concepts.…
This year’s Healthy Baby Contest, hosted by Na Pu`uwai, featured 12 of Molokai’s cutest keiki. It was held at Kaunakakai School’s Ho`olaulea on Friday, where the small contestants crawled their way to big prizes.
First Place: Kayani Rapanot-Casino, daughter of Mahailia Rapanot-McGuire and Justin Casino
First Runner Up: Dailee-Ann Angco, daughter of Arlan and Hinano Angco
Second Runner Up: Shania-Ann Greenleaf, daughter of Christina and Travis Greenleaf
Photos and Captions by Eileen Chao.…
Hawaii State Public Library System News Release
The Molokai Public Library will celebrate its 75th Anniversary with special music, hula, and dance on the front lawn, and exhibits in the library on Wednesday, May 23. This free, public event will be held from 1 to 6 p.m.
The Molokai Public Library opened on May 21, 1937 and provides the only public library services for the island. The library’s Bookmobile has provided services to various schools and outlying areas since 1954. On July 17, 1993, Molokai Public Library was placed on the Hawaii Register of Historic Places.
Exhibits will feature paintings and artwork by various artists, quilts, First Book Molokai display and literacy activities, books about Molokai and by Molokai authors, and a Molokai Public Library slide show and picture albums.…
Community Contributed
By Kahuna Lono
In the ancient days, in the island of O`ahu (the offering place) on the coastline of Kaimanahila (directly east of Waikiki Beach), a la`i fish was born. His name was Nahe, and he was unlike any other fish of his species because the maunalua came (big barreling wave) and sucked him out to sea. He knew the deep blue sea as his first home, unlike most la`i that live on the kahakai (reef). He grew up playing with the kohola (whale) in the winter time, and the mano kama`aina (local sharks) were his companions throughout the rest of the year.…
Kleiwerks International News Release
Women who want to learn natural building techniques have a unique opportunity at their doorstep this fall on Molokai. Kleiwerks International’s Women of the Americas Sustainability Initiative (WASI) is hosting a three-month Women’s Bamboo & Mud Building Apprenticeship. During the apprenticeship from September 15 through December 15 that brings together a group of Native Hawaiian and off-island women to live, learn and build. Apprentices will construct a start-to-finish prototype house for island residents, build a permanent community commons, develop leadership skills by facilitating local groups and working as a team, gain understanding of how one community is facing issues of “development,” and engage multimedia storytelling strategies to share with larger audiences.…
The annual three-day Ka Hula Piko festival brought locals and visitors together to celebrate the birth place of hula on Molokai. This year’s theme was “Lei `ia Molokai ke aloha hulu mamo,” or “Molokai wreath in the love of the ancestors.” In honor of the kupuna, this year’s first Creative Keiki Contest featured posters, poems and essays expressing what their kupuna means to them. Check later this week for contest winners.
Saturday’s event, held at Mitchell Pauole Center, showcased a variety of halau and traditions.
Dancers of Oahu-based Hula Halau Kukunaokala performed ancient hula centering around Molokai. The halau was founded in 1977 by the late Kumu Hula John Kaimikaua to carry on the hula traditions of this island.…
I Aloha Molokai News Release
I Aloha Molokai (IAM) has launched a worldwide petition to stop Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s multi-billion-dollar Big Wind Interisland Cable boondoggle. Gov. Abercrombie, Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and some House and Senate members are now finalizing legislation that would allow the project to fast-track without sufficient environmental analysis or public review.
Noting the project’s huge potential impacts on whales and “critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals – one of the rarest marine mammals in the world – as well as five species of sea turtles, three species of dolphins, and hundreds of other marine species,” the petition adds that the project “will be rubber-stamped without due process – without public input from residents of Hawaii and, not to mention, everyone worldwide who wants to protect whales, sea turtles, seals, and dolphins.”…
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