Great Interview with Hawaiian Culture Expert

Surfing Magazine has an outstanding Q&A with Butch Helemano

who is a minister and expert in ancient Hawaiian Culture.  In other words, he’s a true Big Kahuna.  He lives on the North Shore of Oahu and maintains several historic temples there.

Though the Q&A is written from a surfer’s perspective, non-surfers will definitely enjoy reading it as well. Here are a couple of excerpts:

Did you know that the Hawaiian Language has made a resurgence?

Surfer Magazine:  How many people fluently speak Hawaiian right now?

Bruce Helemano:  If you’re talking statewide right now, thousands. If you’re talking 10 to 15 years ago, dozens. There’s been a resurgence of schools where they learn Hawaiian as a mother tongue. Interestingly, Hawaii is the only state that is legally bilingual; Hawaiian is legally recognized as a primary language. I have the longest running native Hawaiian class on the North Shore.

Did you know rain on your wedding day is considered to be good luck?

Surfer Magazine:  What about the rain?

Bruce Helemano:  We have temples to bring rain. We don’t stop rain because rain is considered to be procreative. It’s considered a blessing. I’ve done about 350 weddings in the past 3 years. A third of ’em got rained out, people crying about their make-up going all over their face. And I tell the bride and groom, you have to understand that for us this a good sign for you; this means you’re going to be fruitful and multiply. And then they stop crying and stop worrying about their mascara and the $2000 dress and see that some smaller things in life should be appreciated instead of being seen as a detriment to their happiness.

I won’t spoil the rest for you.  Head over to the article and read this interesting Q&A for yourself.

Photo credit to Henninga/Surfingthemag.com.  Mahalo to Go Visit Hawaii reader, Chris, who pointed me to this article.