Aloha from the Polynesian Center

Honolulu, Hawai'i - November 12, 2012

Today we went to the Polynesian center.  The Polynesia center is a center were they build small replicas of each of the major Polynesian islands. 

The first island we went to was Aotearoa.   Aotearoa is the Maori was to say New Zealand.  In Aotearoa their main culture is Maori.

The Maoris play with sticks and toss them back and forth for there brain muscles. We even got to try playing with the bamboo sticks it was very fun and hard at the same time.  

 

Next we played with Poi Balls. Poi balls are Maori instruments that are used for dancing and are balls on strings filled with rocks. I apparently was not so good with poi balls. 

The next Polynesian culture we went to visit was Samoa.  Samoa was my favorite.  The Samoan people have very strong feet.  One Samoan stepped on fire. OUCH!

In Samoa, the man cooks all the meals. The men cook many different ways. The way they get coconut milk is by squeezing the coconut meat.  They shred the white coconut meat with a knife and then they squeeze until milk comes out.  But first they have to climb a tree to get the coconut.

Now you might be wondering what the women do, the women weave and sew. The women sew but all out of nature they use leaves and sticks. 

After we went to Fiji. The people in Fiji usually wear sarongs and play bamboo instruments. 

Next we went to Tonga.  In Tonga, houses are made from mats.  In Tonga when the boy is 16 they are kicked out and the girls bet there own room. In Tonga the parents are most respected. In Tonga the more mats you have the more rich you are. 

Finally we went to is Hawaii. Hawaii is well spirited and there traditional word aloha which means greetings, hello and goodbye.  It's a little like shalom in Hebrew. We also learned the hula dance.  It was fun.

Well I think it's time to go. 

Aloha