Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 6, 1 June 1986 — Culture Day Highlights DOE's Hawaiian Studies [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Culture Day Highlights DOE's Hawaiian Studies

The Department of Education's Honolulu District Hawaiian Studies division held its third annual Hawaiian Culture Day program in its schools during April to expose its children from kindergarten through sixth grade to several cultural displays and participation in hands-on sessions. Ka Wai Ola O OHA dropped in on Royal School Apr. 25 where 32 district kupuna demonstrated their talents in nine activities involving crafts, medicinal plants, musical implements, music, poi pounding and lei, tapa, kapa and feather lei making. So eager and wrapped up were the students that no one went outside to play when the recess bell rang. The students, who eome from a good cross section of Hawaii's ethnic mix, also enjoyed themselves spinning kukui nut tops on the cafeteria floor provided by kupuna demonstrator Lucy Hooili.

Students from all the classes visited eaeh of the nine activities and listened to explanations on eaeh one. Following the visitations, they involved themselves in hands-on sessions in the areas of poi pounding, Hawaiian crafts, musical implements and lei and tapa making. Sessions were held in both the classrooms and in the cafeteria. Cultural Day highlights the DOE's Hawaiian Studies Program wherein students are taught to speak and sing in Hawaiian. They are also taught about the culture of the Hawaiians and how they lived, utilizing every resource available to them at the time. Coordinating the program with the kupuna and teachers were Helen Matsui, Honolulu district educational specialist, and Solomon Kaulukukui, distrīct resource teacher. /1,

It was Hawaiian Culture Day at Royal School Apr. 25 and these youngsters try their hands at spinning tops made from kukui nuts.