History of Hula

Great Events of the 50s & 60s DVD Set

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Travel back in time to two decades that helped shape the course of U.S. history. Witness dramatic moments from the Korean War, the tragic Andrea Doria story, the Beatles, the Kennedy assassination and more.

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Retro Luau

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(Cooking.com Cookbooks)

Includes a history of the luau in Polynesian culture plus a glossary of Hawaiian terms to impress your friends. Learn how to make a lei, do the hula, and cook a pig. Includes a section on popular games perfectly fit for a luau.

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History of hula

Legendary origins

There are various legends surrounding the origins of hula.

According to one Hawaiian legend Laka, goddess of the hula, gave birth to the dance on the island of Molokai, at a sacred place in Kaʻana. After Laka died, her remains were hidden beneath the hill Puʻu Nana.

Another story tells of Hiʻiaka, who danced to appease her fiery sister, the volcano goddess Pele. This story locates the source of the hula on Kauaʻi, in the north shore valley of Hāʻena.

Before European contact

Explorers and traders in the 18th century

During the 19th century

American Protestant missionaries, who arrived in 1820, denounced the hula as a heathen dance. The newly Christianized ali`i (royalty and nobility) were urged to ban the hula -- which they did. However, many of them continued to privately patronize the hula.

The Hawaiian performing arts had a resurgence during the reign of King David Kalakaua (1874-1891), who encouraged the traditional arts. Hula practitioners merged Hawaiian poetry, chanted vocal performance, dance movements and costumes to create the new form, the hula kuʻi (kuʻi means "to combine old and new"). The pahu appears not to have been used in hula kuʻi, evidently because its sacredness was respected by practitioners; the ipu gourd (Lagenaria sicenaria) was the indigenous instrument most closely associated with hula kuʻi.

Ritual and prayer surrounded all aspects of hula training and practice, even as late as the early twentieth century. Teachers and students were dedicated to the goddess of the hula, Laka.

20th century hula

Hula changed drastically in the early twentieth century as it was featured in tourist spectacles, such as the Kodak hula show, and in Hollywood films. However, a more traditional hula was maintained in small circles by older practitioners. There has been a renewed interest in hula, both traditional and modern, since the 1970s and the Hawaiian Renaissance.

Contemporary hula