HANAPEPE — Peace Day falls on Saturday, but a multitude of events pertaining to Peace Day start observances and celebrations from as early as Wednesday.
“International Day of Peace is a United Nations-sanctioned holiday observed annually on Sept. 21,” said Jerry Hirata of the Kauai Soto Zenshuji Temple in Hanapepe. “Peace Day is a day dedicated to world peace and calls for the absence of war and violence. We observe this day with expressions of Peace in music, song, dance, prose, poetry, and art.”
Starting as early as Wednesday, The Storybook Theatre hosts the “Native American Landscapes of World Peace” from 6 to 8:30 p.m. with Prayers for Peace with Marshall “Golden Eagle” Jack, and Mark Jeffers and Na Pua Kalani Hoku hosting Medicine Wheel Children’s Earth Count and Story of Jumping Mouse.
Thursday from 6 to 8:30 p.m., Stream, also known as Steve Backinoff leads An Evening of Song, Poetry, and Conversation to End All Wars to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the UN International day of Peace at the Storybook Theatre and Sparks Matsunaga Peace Garden.
Friday from 4 p.m. until 5:15 p.m., Mariela Gray and Heiura Itchener celebrate Keiki &Me Yoga where Itchener will introduce a traditional Tahitian keiki song and dance, and Gray will work with children from 4 to 10 years old in centering yoga postures emphasis on rhythm, movement and storytelling to help them attain self discipline and strength.
Saturday morning rises with the Blessing of the Peace Pole Center at the Saint Catherine’s Church, Coyle Hall starting following the 8 a.m. Mass.
“Bring your peace prayer on a small piece of paper that will be included in the Saint Catherine Peace Pole,” said Terri Mansfield, the Peace Pole coordinator on Kauai. “This is to help bring peace and nonviolence to our planet.”
The sun climbs to the International Day of Peace programming that will take place at the site of the World Kannon Statue located back of the Kauai Soto Zenshuji Temple in Hanapepe from 3 to 7 p.m.
“The World Peace Kannon is dedicated explicitly to World Peace,” Hirata said. “The Storybook Theatre and the Kauai Soto Zen Temple joined efforts to observe this day in honor of Kauai’s native son and Hanapepe boy, Sen. Spark Matsunaga. Matsunaga is a peace advocate and peach activist whose efforts in Congress created the U.S. Institute of Peace. He isd an example of someone who walks the talk.”
Joining the peace day celebration at the Kauai Soto Zen Temple are the Peace Walkers, Ka Pa Hula o Hinano, Taiko Kauai, Universal Dancers of Peace, the Kauai Museum, the Kupuna Klub, Eleele Elementary School, Kalaheo Elementary School, Artists Caylin Spear and Leah Orr, Kim Sueoka and Friends, and the Interfaith Roundtable of Kauai.
The day starts with a parade at 3 p.m. when participants gather at the Storybook Theatre and Sparky’s Garden.
“‘Walk the talk’ will be the theme for the evening as we try to engage guests in walking the talk by putting words into action, showing that you mean what you say by actively doing it yourself,” Hirata said. “We have many community partners who help us deliver a message of peace from Hanapepe, Kauai, to the rest of the world.”
