Hawaii (state)

C

Museums

Hawaii’s major art museum is the Honolulu Academy of Arts, with notable exhibits of Chinese, Japanese, Polynesian, and European art. Also in Honolulu is the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, devoted mainly to ethnology and natural history. Another museum of natural history and geology is the Thomas A. Jaggar Museum in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Several historic buildings in Honolulu are maintained as part of the Mission Houses Museum, including the Oldest Frame House (1821) and the First Printing Press (1822). Also in Honolulu is Queen Emma’s Summer Palace. At the mouth of the Iao Valley on Maui is the Bailey House Museum (1833), which now houses exhibits of Hawaiian artifacts and missionary memorabilia.

D

Communications

There are 6 daily newspapers published in Hawaii. The oldest continuously published newspaper is the daily Honolulu Advertiser, which was established as a weekly in 1856. The other major daily in Honolulu is the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Other dailies are published on the islands of Hawaii and Maui.

In 2002 there were 21 AM and 24 FM radio stations in Hawaii. There were 7 television stations in the state. So-called satellite stations on Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii televise locally produced programs and also rebroadcast programs relayed from Oahu stations. The Hawaii Public Television Foundation, an affiliate of the Public Broadcasting Service, also operates television stations.

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E

Music, Dance, and Theater

Music and dancing have long played a significant role in Hawaiian life. The traditional dance of the islands is the hula, a Hawaiian word meaning dance. Originally it was both a religious exercise in honor of the goddess Laka and a form of entertainment. In the traditional hula, prayers, poems, and stories were interpreted by highly stylized gestures of the dancers’ arms and hands. The sacred dances of old Hawaii (kahiko) almost disappeared but have become popular once again. They bear little resemblance to the modern forms of the hula (awana).

The early music of Hawaii was characterized by chants, but little of this folk music has been preserved. Much of what is now considered to be authentic Hawaiian music is based on hymns that were introduced by missionaries in the 19th century. Hawaiian music until recent decades was the specialty of the Royal Hawaiian Band, which greeted arriving passenger ships and gave weekly performances at Kapioloni Park in Honolulu. The popular song Aloha Oe, which is usually translated as “Farewell to Thee,” was composed in 1878 by Queen Liliuokalani. The ukulele, an instrument closely associated with Hawaiian music, is an adaptation of a small guitar brought to the islands in the late 19th century by Portuguese laborers. The Hawaiian, or steel, guitar, was developed there in about 1895. In more recent times music fusing Hawaiian and other traditions has grown in popularity among residents.

The Honolulu Symphony performs an annual series of concerts that often features well-known soloists from the mainland. In addition, there are numerous music clubs and choral societies in the islands.

Honolulu’s first theater was opened in 1847 with performances by local amateurs. Classic and contemporary plays, as well as musicals, are performed by the Diamond Head Theatre and a number of other community theater groups.

F

Recreation and Places of Interest

The state flourishes as a year-round tourist resort, and outdoor recreation takes many forms. Visitors and residents may hunt for wild boar in the mountains, fish for marlin offshore, examine volcanic craters at close range, trek across desolate lava flows and through dense rain forests, play golf and tennis in Honolulu, or ski on the snowy slopes of Mauna Kea. Ecotourism, which focuses on nature study and outdoor activities that minimize ecological impact, is also becoming more popular in Hawaii. Beach sports include surfboarding, body surfing, swimming, canoeing, skin diving, water-skiing, or spearfishing.

Another form of recreation for tourists is the popular Hawaiian feast called the luau. Tourists can also watch native Hawaiians take part in a hukilau, a community fishing festival on the shore. Everyone helps draw in the huge fishing net and shares in the catch. Still more entertainment is provided by the rhythm of native dancers, who perform in ti leaf skirts and leis to the music of ukuleles and Hawaiian guitars.

G

National Parks

The largest of the five national parks in Hawaii is Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It covers 130,888 hectares (323,431 acres) on the island of Hawaii. It contains the active volcanoes of Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Haleakala National Park, on the island of Maui, includes Haleakala, a volcano that last erupted around 1790 and has a huge summit depression, sometimes incorrectly referred to as a volcanic crater. Geologists refer to this massive basin as an eroded coalescence of two valley systems. Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park on the island of Hawaii is the site of an ancient Hawaiian sacred place of refuge for islanders who broke taboos and for defeated warriors in time of war. Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, also on Hawaii, preserves native culture at the site of a Hawaiian settlement important before the arrival of Europeans. The famous leper colony on Molokai is the site of the Kalaupapa National Historical Park. The Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site, on Hawaii Island, contains the ruins of the “temple on the hill of the whale” (a translation of the park’s name), built by King Kamehameha I. The USS Arizona Memorial on Oahu straddles the remains of the battleship sunk during the December 7, 1941, attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor and which became a symbol of United States resolve during the ensuing war. In June 2006 President George W. Bush established the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. The new marine conservation area is about 160 km (about 100 mi) wide, 1,930 km (1,200 mi) long, and covers nearly 362,600 sq km (140,000 sq mi) of tropical ocean with coral reefs and uninhabited islands. Home to thousands of species of animals, including the endangered monk seal, the national monument is the largest such marine conservation area in the world and will be open by permit to scientific research. Some tourism may be allowed on the Midway Islands, which lie at the western end of the archipelago.

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