The Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture, familiarly known as FestPAC, is the largest celebration of Indigenous Pacific Islanders worldwide. This year marked the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture, which convened in Hawaiʻi on June 6-16, 2024, on the island of Oʻahu. It kicked off on June 5 with a welcoming of a select set of representatives of each delegation who sailed on traditional voyaging canoes from the military base at Mōkapu to the shores of the Waʻa (canoe) Village at Hakipuʻu-Kualoa, the birthplace of our kupuna (Elder) voyaging canoe, Hōkūleʻa. There they were welcomed with the traditional greeting protocols of visitors arriving on our shores. FestPAC started in 1972 and has been held every few years, with a longer hiatus due to the pandemic. The festival has been held across the Pacific and is planned and sponsored by the hosting nation. This year’s theme was Hoʻoulu Lāhui: Regenerating Oceania, Honoring Traditions with an Eye to the Future.
Although lauded as the premiere showcase of arts and cultures throughout the Pacific, an underlying theme emanating from the participating nations was succession through educating the next generation. As in many Native traditions viewed widely through an external lens yet put into practice from an Indigenous worldview, the theme of Indigenous education was evident in the abundance of multi-generational participation, teaching from Elder to youth, and witnessing youth taking on kuleana (responsibilities) assigned to them by their Elders. How the youth accept and execute these kuleana are a vital step in their education and preparation to carry the traditions of their Peoples forward.
Crew from Hawai‘i and Aotearoa/New Zealand sail Hawai‘i Island‘s deep-sea voyaging canoe, Makali‘i, to Mōkapu to pick up delegates from Samoa, Kiribati, Niue, and the Marshal Islands and sail them to Hakipu‘u-Kualoa to join more than a dozen other canoes and delegates to partake in the traditional welcoming protocols to our island home.
In Hawaiʻi, we have an ʻŌlelo Noʻeau (wise saying), “Ma ka hana ka ʻike,” which translates to “In doing, one obtains knowledge.” Only when one turns their hands to the Earth and does the actual work will they truly know, with all of their senses, the intricacies of the task taken on and the fullness of the fruit that comes to bear. Unlike other modern methodologies, our teachings are not theoretical, but rather follow a master-apprentice approach, an intricate holistic approach that includes the task at hand and elements of history, custom, spirituality, and more. An example of this is when my Kumu Hula (teacher of traditional dance) taught us a specific hula for a journey to Aotearoa/New Zealand a couple of decades ago. I offered to videotape the dance so students from other islands could learn it. He responded, “Kaimana, the video cannot be the teacher, the video has no hā (breath of life). You may record the dance to practice with, but before sharing the recording with others, you need to teach it to them in person so that the life of the dance continues on through the hā you share.” That was an intergenerational moment from teacher to student that shaped my thinking and doing in many ways for years to come, and I am grateful and humbled to see many examples of that intergenerational transference of ʻike throughout the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture.
On the deep sea voyaging canoe Makaliʻi (Hawaiʻi Island), we witnessed a proud moment when a long-time voyager was able to bring his teenage son along as a new crew member. When not voyaging, this long-time crew member is a school teacher who is well versed in planting, growing, and cooking traditional foods with his students. In fact, some of the food they grow at their school is preserved and goes to feed the canoe on its many voyages. During this short leg of the trip, we witnessed the growing bond of father and son, and the lawe hānai (taking care of as one’s own) of other crew members to his son. It culminated when father and son prepared meals together for the crew and the son took on greater responsibility, allowing his father some reprieve.
Young adult and youth members of the Pinuyumayan Peoples of the Kasavakan Community of Taiwan shared their journey through music and dance aboard the deep sea voyaging canoe Moʻokiha o Piʻilani of Maui Island. In this exchange on the water, they learned about
voyaging traditions and how knowledge is also kept in song and dance in Hawaiʻi in a fashion similar to their Apuy (asking for fire) Project. They shared with their youth the similarities of our native languages and traditions of their Palakuwan and our Hale Mua, which are our menʻs houses where intergenerational learning and rites took place.
At the dance exchange, Indigenous delegates from Taiwan taught FestPac participants a traditional hair-flipping dance.
Also on the waters of the bay, a father raising his nine-year-old son as a waterman guided him on the operations of their double-hulled coastal sailing canoe in these waters of a less familiar island and bay. His teachings culminated when he stepped off the canoe and turned over the leadership to his young son to lead and take participants out on sails.
The Tahitian canoe, Faafaite, sailed from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi to participate in FestPac. Although the crew spanned the generations from youth to Elders, one element that made this voyage special for them is that their captain and navigator were both young and new crew members when Faafaite first visited Hawaiian waters in 2012 as a part of the Te Mana o Te Moana voyage. Now they are the leaders and are training the next generation to take their place. At an evening pāʻina (gathering), they shared their stories and recounted their learning journeys, and as they left our islands, they took with them some of our young leaders to learn alongside them on their voyage home.
Delegates from Rapanui teach their song and dance to participants on a day of cultural exchange.
On land at the waʻa village, we had the privilege of watching skilled weavers from many nations of the Pacific work together to weave a sail while at the same time inviting and exciting young hands to join in, learn, and do the work alongside them.
Perhaps the greatest and most poignant example of intergenerational transitions and the passing of the torch was the presence of the single-hulled sailing canoe Mauloa and the younger double-hulled voyaging canoe Makaliʻi at the festival. Mauloa was the highlight of the exhibit hall, greeting everyone as they entered. Makaliʻi was part of the fleet that brought delegates to the shores of Hakupuʻu-Kualoa. Their relationship is that of the elder to the youth. When our leaders first desired to build the voyaging canoe Makaliʻi, they were instructed to kālai (carve) a traditional koa sailing canoe first, by following the customs and practices of old. With the support of the community and many Elders and knowledge holders who guided the traditions, protocols, and customs, this task was completed and the carvers were bestowed with the title Kālai Waʻa, Carvers of Canoe. They then were able, and given permission, to build Makaliʻi for our island. This effort did not stop there, as they constructed other waʻa such as Alingano Maisu, a gift to our teacher and master, papa Mau Piailug, and his people.
This festival truly embodies the wise saying, “He Waʻa He Moku, He Moku He Waʻa” (Our canoe is our island, our island is our canoe). This speaks to the interconnectedness and interdependence of life on the canoe and life on the islands. On our canoe, everyone has a role; there are no passengers. We are focused together on our destination and do our parts to realize the vision and reach land. If we can live on our island as we live on our canoes, interdependent on each other, and working together for the benefit of the whole, we as a people will thrive. If we as States and nations live in this way, we will thrive. If we live this way as a planet, we will all thrive collectively as residents, as family, of Island Earth.
Read this article in Hawaiian at tinyurl.com/ikekuuna.
Top photo: Delegates from Samoa, Kiribati, Niue, and the Marshal Islands transfer from the large voyaging canoes to paddling canoes and are taken to shore for the welcoming protocols.
