Last Saturday night, the Hawaiin Club at ERAU put on their Fourteenth Annual Hawai’i Club Luau. They turned the whole Activity Center into a flowery, tropical party! The theme of the luau was “Na Mele Aloha”, which translated from Hawaiian means, “The Songs of Aloha.” They had awesome dances as well as fabulous food and souveniers even imported from Hawaii! Here’s my Hawaiian adventure:
I stood in line with one of my friends for about ten minutes behind fellow students and in front of two elderly ladies who come every year for the food and the dances, from what I could tell from the broken pieces of conversation I overheard. We paid the entry fee, got a smiley face drawn on our hands, then received a lei from the people who were welcoming guests in their traditional outfits. There were tables EVERYWHERE, with a stage and a HUGE mural of the Hawaiin sunset behind it. Luckily, we got front row seats!
I couldn’t get the whole stage properly, but here’s a picture of the mural behind the stage that the members of the club danced on.
Of course, immediately I had to go see what kind of stuff they imported from the islands just for this event. Here are the tables!
They had everything from kitchen mitts and potholders to leis to jewelry to Tshirts and shorts. It was so colorful!
Also imported was the food that they served. It was SO delicious! My teammate, Sarah Galeai, (who is from Somoa), is a member of the club, and she helped to put it on, make food, and dance in the dances. She explained to me how some of the parents of the members actually flew to Prescott from Hawaii to help make the food! I could DEFINITELY tell it was authentic, it was just so good. Here’s what was on the menu:
I recognized most of the foods, or some words in the foods anyway, but I was able to try everything and I was thoroughly amazed! It was SOO good!
After the food was served, the Hawaiin Club performed a series of traditional dances, each of which the announcer said were the equivalent of running two miles at a 5-minute mile pace. I could totally see that. It looked really graceful, how they were doing it, but I don’t think I could keep moving my hips for so long and still have the energy to do another dance! Haha. Here’s another pic:
Overall, it was a really cultural experience for me and I was so glad I was able to experience another way of life! Now, if I could only convince my parents to let me go to Hawaii for spring break… if not, I’ll listen to my Lilo and Stitch soundtrack and call it good.
“Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.”
-Jawaharlal Nehru
