THE MERRIE MONARCH FESTIVAL

THE MERRIE MONARCH FESTIVAL is coming soon! This grand display of all things hula will unfold next week in Hilo, Hawai`i, as hula lovers from near and far gather in the often sleepy town to celebrate the art with pageantry, color and energy.
The highlight is the Merrie Monarch Hula Competition, held April 20-22, but the weeklong festivities begin on Sunday April 16. Ticket holders have been guarding their tickets since last December---only days after the tickets go on sale, they are sold out, and prized by their owners. The Edith Kanaka`ole Stadium is the site of the competition, but all of Hilo town is transformed into a hula venue during this week.
Named after King David Kalākaua (“Kah-LAAH-cow-uh”), the cherished patron of hula and the Hawaiian culture during the last years of the Hawaiian monarchy, the festival is enhanced in many locations by photos and drawings of Kalākaua, Hawai`i’s last king, who restored Hawaiian cultural traditions that had been suppressed for many years under missionary teachings. He advocated a renewed sense of pride in Hawaiian mythology, medicine and chant as well as hula. A hula step is named for him, so he is remembered in each and every hula class!
The relationship to the monarchy which stretches back in time to when Hawai`i was a sovereign kingdom is marked in hula tradition in many ways---the competition itself begins with a royal couple, splendidly dressed in the Victorian finery which Hawaiian royals wore in monarchy days, entering and seating themselves on thrones to watch the competition. It’s a most moving sight!
The lineage of hula, of course, goes back much farther, to a time before written history, and that ancient, ancestral hula form, the kahiko style, occupies an entire day of the competition.
Although not every hula dancer can attend in person, the competition is visible on television in Hawai`i, and is streamed on the internet to the mainland. Video of the entire competition can be purchased later in the year, and a new dancer can learn to her heart’s content as she watches dancer after dancer: each one is a living, breathing testimonial to the resilience of hula!