During this pandemic, some of our visitor center park stores may experience intermittent closures. We need your help more than ever to resume support of vital national park programs. Please donate, visit our online shop, or become a member today to save 15% off all purchases, whether in-park or online. Mahalo!
Have you ever jumped in line to learn a simple hula? Woven a flower lei with the helpful advice of a cultural practitioner? Have you sampled the unfamiliar foods of a completely different culture? Tried your hand at throwing a handmade fishing net, carving a simple gourd, stamping your own creative designs on textiles? Have you attended a Hawaiian cultural festival at our partner national parks in Hawaiʻi?
It seems like they have always been there, part of the park experience, a wonderful visitor center store packed with “here and only here” books, clothes, art, photography, gifts for kids, and so much more. Where did they begin? Who runs them? What is done with the proceeds?
Have you ever wondered any of that?
Traditionally, two seasons were named and recognized in Hawaiʻi: Kau and Hoʻoilo. Kau was hotter, drier, what we generally think of as summer. Hoʻoilo was wetter, cooler, closer to a winter feeling. Both seasons were ushered in by changes in the positions of the constellations, and the months of the seasons were dedicated to different pursuits depending on whether it was time to farm or fish, harvest or let the land and sea rest, and so forth. Despite no longer being how we officially track seasons and weather in present day Hawaiʻi, the feeling between the two seasons is pronounced, and longtime residents can sense when the shifts from one to the other are in motion. Humpback whales also begin arriving in Hawaiian waters, making it possible to whalewatch from the shores of our partner parks. One of the best books we carry on the subject of humpback whales in Hawaiʻi is here: https://shop.hawaiipacificparks.org/products/hi-humpback-unveiled
Aloha and hello, and welcome to our first blog. Who are we? Are we interesting? What do we do? Does it matter to you? Well, this is what we say on our website: Who We Are HPPA is a nonprofit cooperating association working in partnership with the National Park Service in Hawaiʻi and American Samoa. Proceeds from our park stores support interpretation, educational programs, research projects, publications, and cultural activities But...what does that mean?
