APRIL SHOWERS
They don’t use the expression “April showers brings May flowers” here on the Hamakua Coast because there are flowers all year around and usually only a four week dry season in January or February (this year we had hardly any rain from late December to late February) . But there are noticeably more flowers now than during winter. Also the fruit blooms are showing their rapidly growing results. It looks like our lychees have set none, our avocados set lightly (but more than enough for us), our durian none, and our mango more than last year but still lightly when compared to many in the neighborhood. Those not mentioned are all reliable annual producers.
Four weeks ago I got my first tilapia to experiment with feeding home grown food. I can now report that they are noticeably larger and showing a good appetite. The two most aggressive males are no longer feeding which probably means they have a mouthful of eggs. The females lay the eggs then the males fertilize them and scoop them up into their mouths to incubate. For a few days after the eggs hatch they will emerge from papa’s mouth to feed then rush back in at the first sign of danger. I’m not able to observe this here because the black walled tank has a heavy enough algae bloom that I can’t see to the bottom. When I grew tilapia in a 3,000 gallon ferro-cement tank that I built at Tolstoy Farm in the ‘70’s I saw that the fathers would put up with the fry trying to all cram into their mouths till past the day when they could all fit in then they would go back to eating for a few days before mating again. The bottom line here is that it is time to start digging a level spot for the big tank because I think they could be worth keeping here and they will need more space real soon!
The week after Easter is the biggest event of the year in Hilo David Kalakaua who ruled in extravagant style for about 12 years spanning the 1880’s. You could say it amounts to the world’s biggest hula contest and dancers do come from hula schools, called halaus, from all over the world. This gathering, however, is much more important to renewing the Polynesian culture even though many of the dancers come from other ethnic backgrounds. And contrary to what mainlanders may think, the men originally were the only ones allowed to dance although the women did a sitting or kneeling hula. When white sailors started visiting the women here learned they could get more gifts from them if they danced for them. When the missionaries arrived they put a stop to this topless expression of sexuality and tried to stop hula altogether. As a large part of the population died from the diseases brought by these new settlers, the natives became more determined to retain some of their traditional sources of celebration so hula was practiced in private till King David reinstated the public exhibition of hula by proclamation around 1880.
The actual contest part of the week was only three days. Tickets were mostly sold out a year in advance and hotels were all full even though they double their prices for the week. There were many free opportunities to view what were in essence the dress rehearsals for the contest or special performances put on by out of country halau who were not allowed to participate in the actual contest. The contest itself was also broadcast live on TV and streamed live on the internet. Myrna and I caught three performances in person and lots on TV. There were separate traditional and modern categories and wahine (women) and cane (men) divisions. The most impressive aspect to me was not the beauty and charm of some of the women (who were indeed impressive) but rather the power and aura of some of the halau leaders. They hold the respect of their members and the whole community for their manna. I think there were more women than men leading halaus and some of them were led by a husband wife team. All the halaus had both men and women dancers and in the pre-contest events they sometimes danced together. I think that during the contest they always danced separately. Each halau also had its own set of musicians who didn’t get as much attention as I thought they deserved. I was surprised to see that some of the traditional male dances were outright odes to sexuality with chants about their physical attributes and costumes that made them look bigger where it counts the most.
It is now a day after I started this and I have indeed begun the excavation for the 12’ diameter fish tank. With my back as tender as it has been lately I expect the digging will take me a week, judging by today’s results, but at least there are rarely rocks. Some of the dirt is going to a garden extension and some will be used to add to existing terraces.
Aloha!
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