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The Puna lava flow in Pāhoa, Hawai‘i has reached residential areas and has completely destroyed a home and overtaken the local cemetery, as of 4:45 P.M. on Thursday, Nov. 13. The flow has been measured in the past week to be moving at around 960 ft. per day, which is equivalent to about 293 meters.While some locals insist there is a way to divert the flow, Native Hawaiians of the region think otherwise. Dr. Ben, a Scientific Inquiry professor said, “From the outside, it may seem like tragedy, but people who live in Pāhoa and surrounding areas know the risk of living so close to a volcano.”Some residents asked officials in a town hall meeting if there is a plan for diverting the flow, and ‘Ihilani (last name not specified), a Hawaiian woman living in the Pāhoa area made a come back saying, “You’re all speaking on diversion and stopping the lava flow, but as a Native Hawaiian, I know that Pele doesn’t work like that.” She continued, “To Native Hawaiians, Pele is our kupuna; she is our ancestor. You wonder where all the Native Hawaiians are-- some of us are here, but most of us are back home preparing for an important guest.”Community members stress the fact that in the last lava flow in 1959, lava was never the cause of the destruction of homes they burned. Community council members in Pāhoa stress the need to check insurance policies and coverage of this possible damage.One woman of the Pāhoa community said with conviction to “work together” and “when the lava comes into your home, pray and thank God that you had this many years and the opportunity to live in paradise.”‘Ānela Poepoe, a freshman from Honolulu, said, “It is not our job to decide where the flow goes, if you chose to live on sacred land, you must recognize that the land will do as it pleases.”In coming weeks, donations to assist the reconstruction and to feed the displaced residents in Pāhoa will be accepted at hawaii.salvationarmy.org or by calling The Salvation Army – Hawaiian & Pacific Islands Divisional Headquarters at (808)-988-2136.

With Thanksgiving around the corner students on campus find other ways to get together with close family members an ocean away. “Thanksgiving is family oriented, so I felt kind of lost, but the second time I had good friends who became part of my family,” said Evan Hauser, a junior studying pre-professional biology from California. “Freshman year was the first time away from my home. I was able to have friends to suffer with. I went to the school’s turkey dinner, but I didn’t get as much food as I would like, being a growing boy.” For those who feel lost being away from their family, a common word of advice is Skype and friends. Alyx Stuehler, a sophomore studying psychology from Oregon said, “I’d suggest you Skype your family and enjoy the beach. Skype them on the beach, make them jealous.” The YSA wards in Laie host a meal with turkey and mashed potatoes and other Thanksgiving staples on the Thursday holiday, often in conjunction with BYU-Hawaii’s food services. Stuehler spent her first Thanksgiving away from home with friends, and experienced the spirit of aloha. “We had a Thanksgiving lunch on the beach with my ward. Later, we went to get pizza, but it was closed. There was a huge group of people having a family Thanksgiving at Papa Ole’s and they invited us to their feast and we got so much free food.” Chad Naho’olewa, a senior in marketing from Texas, said, ”Get together with a bunch of friends. Friends are family, here.” Naho’olewa said that he has extended family on the island, who he visits for the holidays. “I spend time with aunts, uncles and cousins. I’m never lonely. It’s really nice, actually. I always gain a couple pounds around the holidays.” Thanksgiving weekend is also a good time to travel to another Hawaiian Island. Whether you go with friends or by yourself, the four-day weekend provides an excellent opportunity to get off the island and have a memorable experience, with flights being less than an hour long. Christina Roberts, a senior in biology from North Carolina, said, “My ward had Thanksgiving lunch. I always had a lot of fun at ward activities, because you make a lot of good friends there. If you can’t spend time with your family, at least spend time with people you care about, because they are your family here.”

American citizens Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller landed on American soil Saturday, Nov. 8. They had been detained in labor camps by the North Korean government for alleged anti-government activities. It is unclear why the North Korean government picked up Bae. Soon after detaining him, the North Korean government released a statement saying Bae had committed a crime against the state, according to CNN. Bae had been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.According to freekennow.com, a website established by his friends to promote his release, Bae was in North Korea out of kindness. “Several years ago, Kenneth saw an opportunity that combined his entrepreneurial spirit with his personal convictions as a Christian. He believed in showing compassion to the North Korean people by contributing to their economy in the form of tourism,” the website says.Matthew Miller was detained after he allegedly ripped up his tourist visa at Pyongyang’s airport and demanded asylum. The North Korean government said Miller was trying to go undercover and experience prison life in North Korea to report on the human rights situation of the communist country.William Arnett III, a junior studying music from Arizona, said, “I’m happy they’ve been rescued, but I think no one should go into North Korea.”Once home with his family in Seattle, Washington, Bae eased back into normalcy with pizza and Starbucks. Bae’s sister, Terri Chung, said “Our family loves food, so we talked a lot about food.” Chung said Bae had requested no Korean food for the reunion, after being held in North Korea for two years. “It’s been an amazing two years, I learned a lot, I grew a lot, I lost a lot of weight. I’m recovering at this time,” said Bae to AP. AP added that his plans for the near future include rest, food and reconnecting with friends and family. Victoria Mason, a sophomore from Utah in bio-medical science, said she though such an experience would be awful, and that she would have similar desires after coming home after a long and trying time away. “I would want to have a ‘Sunday dinner’ with my family and cousins. There is always good food and lots of laughs. Something low key, something familiar.” President Obama has recently been in talks with Kim Jong Un. The U.S. maintains a strong military presence in the country with U.S troops stationed in South Korea. According to AP, Kim Jong Un’s approach to the U.S has shifted back and forth from defiance to occasional conciliation.

Seven score and 11 years ago, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln set the precedent for America’s national holiday Thanksgiving. On Oct. 3, 1863, a month before the Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln set apart the last Thursday of November “as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise.” Abraham Lincoln Online says on Sept. 28, 1863, a 74-year-old magazine editor, Sarah Josepha Hale, wrote a letter to Lincoln urging him to have a “day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival.” She had written several of his predecessors who ignored her petitions. Hale explained, “There has been an increasing interest in our land to have a thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritative fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom.”Abraham Lincoln Online says prior to 1863, each state celebrated its own Thanksgiving holiday at different times. Lincoln quickly responded to Hale’s request with a proclamation recorded by U.S. Secretary of State William Seward.“I had no idea who made Thanksgiving an official day,” said BYU-Hawaii student Alisson McDaniel, a sophomore in elementary education from California. She said Lincoln is her favorite president and she is thankful for a nation with strong traditions. McDaniel said Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday of the year.“I like that Sarah Josepha Hale didn’t give up on making sure that our country would always have a day to set aside to celebrate thanksgiving together,” said BYUH student Carina Aldrich, a junior political science major from Utah.After reading the President’s proclamation (below) BYUH student Justin Kolilis, a junior in exercise science from Washington, said, “President Lincoln was a rad president. He did a lot of great things for our country, and I’m glad this was one of them since Thanksgiving is my favorite.”By the President of the United States of America.A Proclamation.The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, the order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. The population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with a large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and Union.In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.By the President: Abraham LincolnWilliam H. Seward, Secretary of StateSource: Abraham Lincoln Online.

Hawaii has only been part of the United States of America since 1959, and Hawaiian traditions are still deeply embedded into the modern Hawaiian-American culture, including Thanksgiving. Before Hawaii adopted the traditional American Thanksgiving, they had Thanksgiving traditions of their own.Makahiki lasted four months, November through February, and was known as a season of thanksgiving for the harvest. Members from each district would offer fish, pigs, and vegetables at an altar, “which sat on the boundary of each ahupua‘a (land-division). The warlord of each district would pass through, collect the goods, and sponsor a huge feast,” according hawaiimagazine.com.Makahiki was a time when rival tribes were not allowed to fight. The rainy winter weather often prevented the people from working, so they spent their time having surfing competitions, boxing and wrestling matches, and eating, as said in hawaiimagazine.comThen, in 1849, King Kamehameha III declared December 31st a national holiday of Thanksgiving in hopes of strengthening the relations between Hawaii and the United States, Hawaii Magazine reported. This was 14 years before United States President Abraham Lincoln declared the fourth Thursday of November to be a national holiday of Thanksgiving.Napualani Watson, a student from Hawaii, said of Thanksgiving, “It’s more of an American thing. It’s not really traditional for us to celebrate it, so we just celebrate it like Americans do.”Other students at BYU-Hawaii are embracing their Hawaiian heritage and are finding ways to incorporate Hawaiian traditions with American traditions during the season of Thanksgiving.“Every day is a day of thanks for any Hawaiian. Thanksgiving is an American holiday,” said Alena Nu’uhiwa Pule, a student from Hawaii.Keli’i Mawae, a junior studying business finance from Hawaii, said, “I come from a fishing family, so most of the time we always had fish alongside our turkey or sometimes no turkey at all. Actually, it was very seldom that we had turkey, mostly all types of seafood instead.”“The bowl of poi that we made would be huge, and we all shared the same bowl to signify the joining and unity of the family,” Mawae added

The reflection and expression of gratitude is a common celebration to people around the world. However, since not all BYU-Hawaii students come from the same background many students celebrate other holidays.“On the first day of November we celebrate the Day of the Dead,” said Adolfo Arellano, a sophomore from Mexico studying political science. “We remember our loved ones that have passed away.”He continued to explain that for one-night families put offerings out for those loved ones who have passed away. “These offerings can include pastries, cakes or whatever your loved ones enjoyed while here.” Arellano stated that for the one night the spirits come to enjoy their offerings of food and return back to the spirit world the next day.“In Canada we celebrate something similar to Americans called Canadian Thanksgiving,” said Sean Crapo, a junior from Canada studying music. “It’s about a month earlier than the Americans and falls on the second Monday of October.”The Canadian Holiday gives a chance for family and friends to reflect on their year and remind themselves of what they have. In the more rural areas of the country people celebrate the harvest that the year has had to offer as well.On the opposite side of the world the Chinese and Hong Kong natives celebrate what is known as the Mid-Autumn festival or Moon Festival.“The festival falls during the middle of Autumn, just like the name says,” said Aaron Fong, a senior from Hong Kong studying psychology. “Legend has it that it’s the biggest and brightest moon of the year.”Fong described the festival as a time for family and friends to come together and experience the full moon in all its glory. “The full moon represents our family and friends, a full circle with nothing missing.” Fong also added that families usually light lanterns and eat mooncakes, which are decadent pastries either filled with a sweet or savory stuffing.The Moon Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th month, according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar. However, since most students here at BYUH follow the Gregorian calendar there is no set date on when the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival happens, meaning it changes every year. This year the festival fell on September 8.