Seventeen hula halau brought grace and beauty to the forefront of the festival as they danced together for the 25th He Halia Aloha No Lili‘uokalani to celebrate the Queen’s birthday at Lili‘uokalani Park and Gardens in Hilo. After offering ho‘okupu to Queen Lili‘uokalani, the halau filled the park to perform a mass hula to “Lili‘u E,” which is a personal song of praise for the queen. The music seemed to fade as a helicopter flew overhead and released flower blossoms over at least 1,000 people in the crowd, which has been the tradition of the Hilo festival.
Halau danced to “Mahalo E Hilo Hanakahi” to finish the ceremony and dispersed to friends and family throughout the gardens. The dancers from Na Wahine Punahele ‘O Ka Pu‘uwai each hugged their Kumu Hula Iwalani Woo-O’Brien, who recited a portion of a speech that was given by Queen Lili‘uokalani as she and her halau offered ho‘okupu. “This celebration is important for the great memory of a queen who tried everything to keep her kingdom, but couldn’t because of the powers that be,” Woo-O’Brien said.
“The amazing speech was about the love of her people, which is why she could not regain her power. She could never sacrifice her people.” Queen Lili‘uokalani was an accomplished composer and songwriter and made sure to preserve key elements of Hawaii’s traditional poetics.
According to the Lili‘uokalani Trust, many of her compositions were love songs in the tradition of mele ho‘oipo.