A very special event is currently taking place in Hawai'i and it's the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture with events being hosted in different parts of Hawai'i. The FestPac as it's been abbreviated to brings together at least 27 nations sharing their various arts and culture at different arenas around the hosting islands of Hawai'i.
The event started on 6th June and will be running through to the 16th June where it will have a closing ceremony as well. The event is action packed as each day has a programme that has been planned and especially designed for viewers to attend the special events.
The has been "regenerating Oceania" and that's a fitting theme as there has been so much discussion about climate change and how it has affected Pacific nations but also about how the Pacific ocean joins the people of the Pacific rather than separating them although living in different nation states or islands they share very similar values, principles and some histories of colonization as well.
It was neat to watch the opening ceremony and especially with my home islands representing as Samoa and even American Samoa. It was also interesting to see the gifts that they gave at the opening ceremony to the Hawaii dignitaries as a siapo (or tapa cloth), a to'oto'o or talking staff, a tuiga or special headress for ceremonial occasions in it's different parts and an ula fale or a special red necklace. It was also neat to see the dances and singing of Samoa.
The other neat part of the opening ceremony that I enjoyed watching was the double hulled canoes from different nations arriving on the opening day to Hawaii as they had sailed from different parts of the Pacific ocean representing their nations and the wayfinding for large canoeing tradition still being kept alive.
So why not check out the website which can be found on: https://www.festpachawaii.org
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