Surrounded by Blossoms!

 The Lehua blossoms on our Ohia trees are bursting out right now -- we are surrounded on four sides by these stunning puffs of red.  When we were here in October, many trees on the north side of the property were in bloom, but right now nearly every single tree is in bloom, and there are easily 50 trees on our property.

The Ohia trees are the most abundant native trees in Hawaii and are among the first life in new lava flows. According to Hawaiian mythology, the tree represents a young warrior. Pele, the goddess of fire, wanted to marry the warrior. When he refused, she turned him into a tree. The other gods weren't able to turn him back, so they turned his true love, Lehua, into the blossom so the two lovers could be reunited. It is also though that if you pick one of the blossoms, it will rain – the tears of lovers.

As new residents, we were thrilled to watch the activities of the 50th anniversary of the "Merrie Monarch Festival" in Hilo just a couple weeks ago, where many of the participants used these blossoms in their costumes and leis.

The Merrie Monarch Festival is (http://www.merriemonarch.com) dedicated to the memory of King David Kalākaua, known as the Merrie Monarch. King Kalākaua came to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1874 and reigned until his death in 1891. He was a patron of the arts, especially music and dance. Kalākaua restored Hawaiian cultural traditions that had been suppressed for many years under missionary teachings.  He advocated a renewed sense of pride in such things as Hawaiian mythology, medicine, chant, and hula.  Ancient Hawaiians had no written language, but chant and hula served to record such things as genealogy, mythology, history, and religion.  Hula, the dance of Hawaiian people, was one means by which culture was expressed and passed down through generations.