KOKEE — Hula and chanting will ring through the Kanaloahuluhulu Meadow in Kokee State Park on Saturday as Kauai celebrates the 29th annual Eo e Emalani i Alakai festival.
It’s an afternoon of free activities, history and hula in celebration of Hawaii’s Queen Emma, in a recreation of her pilgrimage to the Kokee uplands and Kilohana vista in 1871.
“In Hawaii, we honor people through stories, chants and through hula,” said Chris Faye, director of Kokee Natural History Museum.
Presented by Hui o Laka, the Emalani Festival runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with snacks and hula as well as exhibits, a craft table and a silent auction.
Live music will fill the meadow beginning at 9 a.m. with KNUI and Friends with Ukulele Na Haumana O Namolokama, followed by Nick Castillo and Friends.
At 11 a.m., Queen Emma enters the meadow on horseback with her entourage.
“We always pick a woman from our community to represent Queen Emma, and it’s always someone who is involved in the community,” Faye said.
After the queen and her entourage are settled under their tent in the meadow, hula begins. And it’s not necessarily a performance for the crowd.
“They’ll be dancing for the queen, so sometimes they’ll have their backs to the audience,” Faye said. “It’s not a performance, it’s more watching the interaction between the queen (and the dancers).”
The event is a recreation of the queen’s 1871 journey from her Lawai beach house, with more than 100 people. As they traveled through the landscape of Kokee, Emalani requested her court chanter offer oli, which are poems of appreciation, for the landscape and animals in Kokee.
“The dancers were so taken by the landscape in Kokee that they started sort of an impromptu hula,” Faye said. “So they had to stay through the night — and it gets cold in January in Kokee.”
Queen Emalani’s guide couldn’t get a fire started because the Alakai Swamp was too wet, so the queen chanted ancient mele to keep everyone warm and to comfort them throughout the night.
“Queen Emma was a resilient woman, with considerable skills and talents, a great leader of her people,” said Hui o Laka Trustee Wai Kuapahi, who portrayed the queen at the 2009 festival.
Halau, or hula groups, from across Hawaii and from the Mainland will dance, chant and share gifts until 4 p.m.
Parking is limited and carpooling is recommended, and people should bring lawn chairs or a blanket for relaxing in the meadow.
It’s a drug-, alcohol- and pet-free event.
The festival is co-sponsored by the Hawaii Tourism Authority and the County of Kauai.
Info: 335-9975, ext. 0 or visit www.kokee.org
