As part of the Laie Days’ Celebration, the hukilau gathered the community members, BYU–Hawaii students, senior missionaries and even a few tourists at the Hukilau beach on Saturday, July 7.
According to Laie community members who came to the hukilau event, the history of hukilau was to simply raise money and rebuild an LDS chapel that burned to the ground. However, Barbara Jean Kahawaii, a member of the Laie Community Association, said the purpose of hukilau nowadays is to take care of families and help the community.
It was a windy morning and the event was caught up with rain a few times, but participants’ excitement had only increased.
Robert Kahawaii, the spokesperson of the hukilau event, said, “The youth who come are usually our children, nieces and nephews. We bring them along every time we have the Hukilau and hope they will carry the tradition.”
Harlan Kahawaii, a Laie local, was the one who rowed the boat to cast the net that day. His wife, Sherry Beatty Kahawaii, shared, “The boat was purchased before we were married, and it’s been with my husband for 38 years.”
The Kahawaii brothers, Robert Kahawaii and Harlan Kahawaii, who said they are the remaining fishermen in Laie, said the net was a great possession of the brothers, and everybody who participated shouldn’t see the hukilau as a competition or pull the net without care. Harlan Kahawaii shared how even though the net has several mends, it’s well-kept.
Couple missionaries, who attended the hukilau for the first time, shared their anticipation of the event, as well as those who have been attending each year.
Zane Clark, who is known as “Uncle Zane” and was a former missionary from Idaho, shared how he started attending the hukilau 54 years ago. He said because of the love and kindness the community and people have shared with him, he comes back every year during the summer just around Laie Days’ Celebration.
Barbara Jean Kahawaii said her husband’s grandfather was a forerunner of the hukilau, and she recalled a memory of seeing community members doing the fundraising to rebuild a local chapel which was burned down in 1940. “At that time, the Hukilau Beach was called Hamana Beach, which was named after a beloved community leader, Hamana Kalili. Lots of visitors came, and there were rows of chairs next to the beach. I remember I was running around and putting flowers on the luau tables.
“The Hukilau was stopped in 1963 when the Polynesian Cultural Center was opened,” added Barbara.
According to the website of the PCC, the hukilau event contributed to the concept of opening the PCC. “Busloads of visitors drove to Laie throughout the 1950’s, and by the end of that decade, Polynesian students at Church College of Hawaii (BYUH) had started up Polynesian Panorama — a production of authentic South Pacific island songs and dances.”
When asked why people put fish into their mouths during the hukilau, Pane Meatoga, a Laie local, explained, “At the PCC, there used to be a picture of fishermen with fishes in their mouths, so this tradition has been imitated ever since.”
PCC archived website, shared, “The local fishermen who participated in those revitalized hukilaus happened to shove fish in their mouth on one occasion. Some say as much for showmanship reasons as to free their hands for other purposes.”
Hukilaus are usually held in the early morning, according to Sherry Beatty Kahawaii, so that nobody is playing in the water yet to scare the fish away.
Before the hukilau started, the crews cleaned up the beach and added more dried Ti leaves to the rope. Barbara Jean Kahawaii, said, they got the Ti leaves directly from their backyard, and they would purposefully dry the leaves in the bush preparing for the hukilau.
For more information of the purpose and history of the Polynesian Cultural Center, visit: https://www.polynesia.com/history/