The hula was originally a religious dance performed to promote fertility, honor the gods, or provide praise to chiefs. Courtesy of Sri Maiava Rusden/Big Island Visitors Bureau
Hawaii is indelibly associated with hula, the story-telling dance style invented on the island of Molokai. Every spring, the Big Island city of Hilo celebrates hula at the Merrie Monarch Festival. The week-long event includes art exhibitions, craft fairs, hula lessons and performances, a parade and a three-day international hula competition.
The Annual Ukulele Festival, every summer in Waikiki, showcases Hawaiian music’s signature instrument, invented there in the 1880s. The festival includes free concerts by world-class ukulele players and an all-ukulele orchestra.
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