6 Sunday, March 27, 2016 Hawaii Tribune-Herald 2016 MERRIE MONARCH FESTIVAL Best Fine Dining Best Pau/Hana/ Happy Hour Mexican Fiesta Mondays Wack-O-Lamb Lobster Lovers Hilo Sturgeon Sundays Pau Hana Sunday Brunch Wednesdays Thursdays 2-5pm 11am-2pm 45 Years! NEW! Tiki Bar Live Local Music! Open Daily 11am-10pm www.pondshilo.com 135 Kalanianaole Ave. • 934-7663 (POND) WHO’S COMPETING Ah…53 Years of Hula & the Magic of Merrie Monarch in Hilo! Best Breakfast 19 years in a row! “I always tell my kids whatever we do, it’s not about winning,” Gaspang said. “It’s about keeping the culture alive. If you win, it’s a feather in your cap, but we just have to work harder again.” Other kane halau in the mix include Kawaili‘ula, under the direction of Chinky Mahoe, which won the overall title in 2013; Halau Na Mamo O Pu‘uanahulu, under the direction of Sonny Ching and Lopaka Igarta-De Vera; Ke Kai O Kahiki, under the direction of La‘akea Perry; and Maui’s Halau Kekuaokala‘au‘ala‘iliahi, under the direction of ‘Iliahi and Haunani Paredes. All performances will be judged by an entirely new panel this year. The seven stageside arbiters are: Keith Awai, Ainsley Halemanu, Lahela Ka‘aihue, Etua Lopes, Pi‘ilani Lua and Holoua Stender. Casting a shadow over Merrie Monarch proceedings this year is ohia wilt. There is an informal, voluntary kapu on ohia lehua, one of hula’s prime adornments. The fungal disease has claimed an estimated 34,000 acres of ohia forest on Hawaii Island, and the state Department of Agriculture banned the off-island export of most ohia products, but there is no formal ban on entering ohia forests to harvest the flowers and buds. “If they use it, I cannot score them down for it,” Lopes said. “Because this is the real thing. This is the Merrie Monarch. This is not just another hula contest. Tradition here is so important. I aloha the kumu who say, ‘We’re going to use all palapalai,’ which is just as good. Because you have to use something from the kuahu (hula altar) for your adornments, especially in the kahiko.” “For me, we have to be very conscious about it,” Gaspang added. “We don’t want to spread any kind of disease with the lehua. Because it was stated, and Merrie Monarch agreed that we weren’t going to use it, they’ve given us some leeway on what we can use for our adornment. And it’s OK for me, because in the hula, you try to find different sources of what you can wear for the adornment. “It’s sad that we cannot use the lehua. In the end, we might not have lehua and palapalai. And future generations might not know what it’s like to wear liko lehua or palapalai if we don’t malama what we have right now. “We’ve got to face reality. The climate’s been changing. The world’s been changing. Everything has changed so rapidly.” Email John Burnett at jburnett@ hawaiitribune-herald.com. HEARTBEAT From page 5 HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald Kumu hula Ka‘ilihiwa Vaughan-Darval of Halau Hula Ka Lehua Tuahini reacts to the announcement that her halau is the wahine ‘auana winner of the 2015 Merrie Monarch Festival. • Find a complete list of the halau competing in the 2016 Merrie Monarch Festival on PAGE 9 of this special edition.
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