Stories Of Polynesia and Beyond
MOST RECENT POSTS
Coconut Oil Helps Olympian to Shine Brightly
Pita Nikolas Taufatofua of Tonga became famous this last week. Yes, he is a gifted Taekwondo competitor, but his fame came his desire to honor his culture while representing his nation in the opening exercises of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The world wanted to know,...
PCC Digital Commerce
PCC e-commerce reaches out Like millions of companies around the world, the Polynesian Cultural Center continues to expand its global reach by relying on the internet to convey information and complete sales. “The entire market is moving to online,” said Jeff Dunn,...
Teaching Hawaiian
Meet Nā’auao: Hawaiian language teacher, composer, chanter “I’ve always been interested in the Hawaiian language. I heard it growing up and knew vocabulary, but I didn’t really speak it. My grandfather, my dad’s dad, was a native speaker, but he passed away when I was...
The King’s Chauffeur
PCC chauffeur to the king and queen of Tonga “When I was called to the Administration office, I thought I was in trouble,” said Livingston Pita Unga, a half-Tongan-Samoan man who normally oversees the PCC Warehouse. Instead, Unga was asked to chauffeur their...
MOST POPULAR POSTS
Ta Moko: Maori Tattooing
Ever since I read Keri Hulme’s The Bone People, I have been fascinated with Maori symbols and tattoos, particularly the meanings and significance behind each line of the work. The facial tattoos kinda scared me, but the patterns were still captivating. According to...
Eat Polynesia! Bananas in Coconut Sauce
Last weekend, as part of our weekly date night, my wife and I attended the Gateway Buffet at the Polynesian Cultural Center. The buffet is located in a large and beautiful dining hall, decorated with beautiful dark woods and a huge mural of the native Hawaiian people...
Maori Haka Dance
Aotearoa, “the land of the long white cloud,” is more commonly known to its visitors as New Zealand. Its beautiful mountains, fields, rivers and streams boast more than just being the filming place of the popular Lord of the Rings trilogy; they are home to a proud and...
Origins of Tahitian black pearls
For my 16th birthday, my parents gave me a black pearl embedded on a turtle-shaped mother-of-pearl shell (the necklace in my profile picture). I was immediately mesmerized by its entrancing beauty. Tahitian black pearls are not actually black, but a rainbow of colors...
Eat Tahiti!
If anybody asked anybody what their favorite things to do in life are, chances are “eat,” would be one of the first few things they would say in response. Everyone likes to eat, and everyone has favorite foods. I, myself, am partial to various Japanese dishes like...
Dance Tahiti!
While all cultures around the world have their own dances, none seem to be more synonymous with dancing than the cultures of Polynesia, and none more famous than the Tahitian tāmūrē (tah-moo-ray). Most people in the world will be able to describe Tahitian dancing in...
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