Frommer's Kauai - Jeanette Foster [35]
Obon Days & Festival, Koloa. This cultural festival honors the dead (see “Honoring the Dead: Obon Festival,” below). Koloa Jodo Mission, 3480 Waikomo Rd., Koloa. Early June. Call 80 8/742-6735.
King Kamehameha Celebration Ho’olaule’a, several locations. Daylong festivities in Lihue feature entertainment, arts and crafts, and food. Call 80 8/586-0333; www.hawaii.gov/dags/king_kamehameha_commission. Mid-June.
Garden Isle Artisan Faire, Lihue. Come browse through the array of handicrafts, products, and art by Kauai’s artists in Lihue. There’s Hawaiian music all day, and plenty of food to buy. Call 80 8/586-0333. Mid-June.
Kauai Concert Association’s 3rd Annual Red Clay Jazz Festival, Lihue. This day-long music extravaganza features local, state, and nationally known jazz artists, plus food and beverages at the Performing Arts Center of Kauai Community College, 3-1901 Kaumualii Hwy., Lihue. Late June. Call 80 8/245-7464.
Annual Hula Exhibition, Lihue. Na Hula O Kaohikukapulani presents an evening of chants, music, and hula at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall. The date varies; call 80 8/335-6466 for information.
Banana Poka Roundup, Kokee State Park. This forest education fair features music, workshops, crafts, children’s activities, and exhibits on ridding Kauai’s native forests of this invasive weed. Kokee State Park, Mile Marker 15, Kokee Rd., Kehaha. Late June. Call 80 8/335-9975.
Honoring the Dead: Obon Festival
The Japanese immigrants who came to Kauai brought their cultural Obon Festival, which honors the departed spirits of those who have died. During the summer months, several Buddhist temples have an Obon Festival, which usually includes dancing and food. They welcome visitors to come to the festivals and encourage people to join in the dancing. The festival has its origins in the story of Buddha’s disciple, Mokukren, who used his supernatural powers to see how his deceased mother was doing. He saw she was in the Realm of Hungry Ghosts and was suffering. Upset, he went to the Buddha and asked how he could release his mother from this realm. Buddha told him to help the many Buddhist monks who had just completed their summer retreat, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The disciple did this and felt his mother’s release. He also began to see the true nature of her past unselfishness and the many sacrifices that she had made for him. The disciple, happy because of his mother’s release and grateful for his mother’s kindness, danced with joy. From this dance of joy comes Bon Odori or “Bon Dance”, a time in which ancestors and their sacrifices are remembered and appreciated.
Participants in the Obon Festival traditionally wear colorful yukata, or light cotton kimonos. Many Obon celebrations include a huge carnival with rides, games, and summer festival food. The festival ends with Toro Nagashi, or the floating of lanterns. Paper lanterns are illuminated and then floated down rivers symbolically signaling the ancestral spirits’ return to the world of the dead. This ceremony usually culminates in a fireworks display.
JULY
21st Annual Concert in the Sky. Fourth of July fundraiser for Kauai Hospice at the Vidinha Stadium, Lihue. Concert and fireworks. For more information, call 80 8/245-7277.
Kekaha Town 4th of July Celebration. Kekaha. Family activities with crafts, food booths, cultural displays, entertainment, and music. Faye Ballpark, Kekaha. Call 80 8/346-2342.
Annual Family Ocean Fair, Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge. Daylong festivities include live entertainment, lectures, games, food, and demonstrations at the Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge. Free admission. Call 80 8/246-2860. Mid-July.
Koloa Plantation Days. Koloa and Poipu. This is a weeklong tribute to Kauai’s plantation heritage, with events like the Sunset Ho’olaule’a, Paniolo Rodeo, Plantation Tennis Tournament, Hapa Road Walk, Hawaiian Olympics,