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.
And 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.
Recent Comments