Island of 1,000 Dances.

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If you’ve been following my journal for the past 6 months, you’d probably agree that the island of Oahu has earned the title of the above. From the American Indian Pow-Wow in the Autumn, the multiple Christmas shows, the nightly Hula and Polynesian performances nightly in Waikiki, the Chinese New Year’s 3 week celebration, the Mardi Gras and just this past weekend, a 2 day Honolulu 13th Annual Festival culminating with a 3 hour Parade through Waikiki.

This Festival is sponsored by the Honolulu Festival Foundation of Japan, “with the purpose of promoting friendship between Japan and Hawaii, and it has now grown into a cultural exchange program among all the various regions of the Pacific Basin”. Some of the highlights this year were numerous Hula Groups from Japan, local entertainers and cultural groups, traditional Japanese and un-traditional dance troupes and to top it off, an Aboriginal Dance Troupe from Australia and a Taiwanese Aboriginal Dance Troupe from Nantou County in Taiwan. For most in Hawaii and possibly the U.S. mainland, it was a first time opportunity to view these Aboriginal dances. Speaking for myself, it blew me away, both the music and the dancing.

The highlights of the parade were the giant Lanterns and the Mikoshis, which are beautifully decorated portable shrines, Shinto, in origin, which I understand are carried through the streets of Japan to ensure a good harvest. Some were the size of dog houses, but there was one, the size a covered wagon. Seeing film clips of them in Japan, they seemed to be carried by drunken shouting men as they are bounced up and down and zigzagged through the city streets. I read that if one should accidentally crash into a home, that home was assured good luck. (Assuring no law suit to be filed, I'm assuming).

Originally when the festivals first came to Hawaii, they also brought men to carry the Mikoshis. However, now , it’s seems the assignment has been passed to various Local Groups, who perhaps not familiar with the tradition, tend to just carry them in a straight line with little or no bouncing or weaving through the streets. One Mikoshi was in the shape of a Pineapple.

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