Hukilau & lau lau

Laie Days

Laie is a fun place to be during Laie Days.  On Friday we invited our friends, Ron & Nina from Sequim, over for dinner.  Foodland makes a yummy Chicken Lau lau so that was our main dish.

The chicken is wrapped in taro leaves and then in tea leaves and steamed into a lovely moist dish.  I just love the taro leaves!  Mmmmm (you throw away the tea leaves)

Also that evening we went with the Jones's to the Cook Island performance in the marketplace.

Saturday's Laie Days included the now once a year Hukilau at Hukilau beach which is less than a five minute walk from our apartment! :)

                                                            

Pulling in the net

Chris helped this cute little guy untangle the fish from the net.

From Chris:

Yesterday they had a hukilau on Hukilau Beach.  We all gathered while the fishermen rowed a boat out into the bay and set the net in a big arc.  It was a blustery day with 25mph winds and larger than normal waves for a low tide.  Under direction of the fishermen, we pulled the net into shore which yielded about 50 fish – mostly goatfish with a few what I think were akule.  Everyone had a great time; there was great joy that we actually caught some fish.  This was a reenactment of earlier days; days that I vividly and fondly remember.  I was able to help a young boy untangle a fish from the nets; a shadow of the past.  This celebration was a part of “Laie Days” and only occurs once a year.  I thought of bringing my uke but most of the sounds of the day were drowned out by the surf and winds.

Here are some photo's (used with permission) Elder Bob Decker took:

Preparing the net

Taking the net to the water

This is a cool photo Nina posted.  Her hubby Ron, 

went under water to help with nets

These last two are Elder Deckers:

Pulling in the net

for some reason this is tradition!  Yes, the
fish is still alive!  Eeewww!

A LITTLE HISTORY:  The church purchased 6,500 acres of land in Laie (for $14,000) back in 1865.  Hukilau was used to earn money for the building fund.  

Not many people came to that north side of the island.  Servicemen would often stop & offer to pay if they could help pull in the nets.  Children would sell them coconuts and dive for lobsters.  

Hukilau became a grand luau.  Not only did the men pull fish from the sea but Relief Society sisters would cook and they sold the food and had dancing and singing with the ukulele.  Tickets were printed and left with tour groups in Honolulu. Dancers would hula along the side of the road to let people know there was something happening at Hukilau Beach.  

The Hukilau's popularity grew & in 1948 a popular song writer, Jack Owens, visited and wrote a song about it called "Hukilau Song" that is well known today.  ("Oh we're going to the Hukilau...)