Posts Tagged "Hawaii"

9 More Interesting Facts About Hawaii | The Second Part

Dear Kid,

If you missed yesterday’s blog (shame on you) Time to Learn About Hawaii | The First Part, now would be an excellent time to go read it. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. Go ahead. Ready to move on? Good.

Continuing our tour of Interesting Fact of the 50th State (also known as “the state where I am not going in the next few weeks but would like to go”).

The “Happy Face Spider” (I kid you not) is native to Hawaii. The Happy Face Spider has a smiley face on its back—one of the first known instances of emoticon tattoos in the animal kingdom. There are lots of endangered animals in Hawaii although the HFS is not one of them.

Speaking of animals, the state gem of Hawaii is actually an animal, black coral, which is often used to make beautiful jewelry.

This is exactly what I would look like if I were in Hawaii. DearKidLoveMom.comAnd speaking of beauty, ancient Hawaiians believed that heavier women were more beautiful than skinny women. I love those ancient Hawaiian dudes.

Speaking of Hawaiian dudes, the hula was originally a form of worship performed by highly trained men, the first of whom had been taught the dance by the god Luka (who might also be the god of sports).

And speaking of Hawaiian gods, Maui was a demigod who liked to fish. Not having any hula boppers handy (hula boppers were one of the kind of hooks Grandpa Lou used to fish with), Maui used his dead grandmother’s jawbone, cast it into the ocean, and fished up the Hawaiian Islands. Then he taught the Hawaiians how to fish, use spears, and make fire. All of which resulted in happy Hawaiians and a great dinner.

And speaking of dinner, poi (which is made of mashed taro and is a traditional Polynesian food) is often classified as “one-finger,” “two-finger,” or “three-finger” depending on the consistency and how many fingers it takes to scoop it up.

Hawaii is the only state that has its own time zone. That’s probably so there is no question of getting to dinner on time.

Not only are large women popular, large volcanos are popular in Hawaii. Kilauea Volcano has been erupting for 30 years, so the Big Island gains about 42 acres each year. Fun Fact: Ka Lae on the Big Island of Hawaii is the southernmost point of the US of A.

Most importantly, Hawaiians know how to listen to a story. Their history and traditions were handed down through trained storytellers. The stories were considered sacred, so listeners were not allowed to move (or interrupt) once the story began. I can think of some children who would do well to adopt this behavior.

Aloha,

Love, Mom

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Time to Learn About Hawaii | The First Part

Dear Kid,

Turns out that people are visiting Hawaii. This is not exactly news since people have been visiting Hawaii for years. But all of a sudden People We Are Related To are visiting (without taking me, I should point out) and it seemed like a good time to learn about our 50th state.

There will be a test. (There will not be a trip, but it is possible someone may send you a postcard.)

Hawaii means ‘place of the gods’ or ‘homeland.’ The state nickname is the ‘Aloha State’ (Aloha is one of the most used words in Hawaiian Language). Aloha is used as both ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye.’ Quick—name another language in which the same word is used for both hello and goodbye.

There are only 13 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet and every word—and syllable—ends with a vowel. It’s not clear how many times you have to sing the Hawaiian alphabet song while you wash your hands.

Leis are a sign of affection in Hawaii. DearKidLoveMom.comI assume you know what a lei is (no college humor jokes, please). It’s a symbol of affection, but it comes with Rules. Of the Serious variety.

You must never refuse a lei or remove it in front of the person who gave it to you. You must never wear a lei you intend to give to someone else (it’s just rude).

A lei should not be thrown away. It should be returned to the earth (ideally to where the flowers were gathered).

Never, ever give a tied lei to a pregnant woman—it’s very bad luck.

Speaking of rules, billboards are illegal in Hawaii. Snakes are outlawed (except in zoos). And no buildings on Kauai can be taller than a palm tree.

If you’re in Hawaii, you’re a minority. Or there are no minorities depending on how you look at these things. It would take far more work that I plan to put in to figure out which numbers are correct (My Friend the Internet is supplying lots of inconsistent data on this topic), but diversity runs by itself there. You may create a Pie Chart on your own time if you like.

Obviously, diversity is a good thing since Hawaii has the highest life expectancy in the US. Although that may be because they eat more Spam per capita than anywhere else in the country. Or possibly it has something to do with the fact that Hawaiians are all living in paradise and they want to stick around to enjoy it.

Tune in (probably tomorrow) for Part Next of Hawaii.

Aloha!

Love, Mom

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