By Dana Benner
Nothing screams Hawai’i more than the lu’au. Every year countless people experience the numerous commercial lu’aus offered on all of the islands, but how many of those people understand what the lu’au, or as it is called by the Hawai’ian people, ‘aha’aina, means to the Hawai’ian culture. In many cases, the modern lu’aus that draw many tourists, only very slightly convey the true meaning of the event.
Tribal language programs nationwide have begun summer program preparations for a range of community language immersion and teacher training opportunities. Among Cultural Survival’s advisor programs, the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project and Euchee (Yuchi) Language Project, will offer multi-week language camps for youth focused on building conversational skills and ceremonial vocabulary to engage students as future community cultural leaders.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
