Merrie Monarch

Eternal life, and forever, forever.

But will I be the G that I was?

“So much more than could imagine, even dream of, so we lack your soul.”

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See you at shoppyfein.de/recorder. Nine years old, sitting in this church, angry, and my parents angry at these brethren in this place, and now their preacher, oh puffed up, red face bugged eye, steps to podium, commands us to open your battle. To X-32, here, brethren, Moses climbs the mountain to see God, to the people

wait patiently. They do not, sit, they work with your forges, their ovens, with wickedness in their hearts, with evil, then look right here, look here, look here. They pull a golden calf from the flame, what do they do then? The very worst thing you can do.

They call this thing, this is a domination of God, who needs that other God? When this one gleams golden, then a bowler heads before it blasts me, but know this brethren, there's no sure way to summon the Lord, then to mock him. The God that delivered them from slavery under Pharaoh stretches out his mighty hand and

“smights with fire and horned pain for their betrayal, remember that?”

If you want to see God face the face, you remember that? Later, anger has an idea, I snatched two hangers from the hall closet, pick him back to my bedroom, strip the wires from the hangers, bend them, vaginal, work it just so, then I cover it, now with gold, I don't have any of that nonsense, I wrap sheet after sheet of aluminum foil around it, pinching shape it into a face, the horns, the body of a calf.

I admire it for a moment. Beautiful, my own grave and image, and I wait for a love, and the ever-present noise of my household, peek outside my bedroom down the hall, push the front door open quiet, quiet quiet. Back down the front steps of our trailer, aluminum calf wrapped

“tight, my jacket that I run, out to the middle of the woods, my secret fast fast run”

running until I reach the spot, reverently, set the calf down on a patch of hard earth, doubt stops me, fear, the anger returns, the fury, I have asked, beg, their God to reveal itself as many ways as I know, still each judge is me unworthy of even a word, even a whisper answer me, this is all I have left, so I steal myself, look to the sky one last chance answer me, then I drop to my knees, bow my head, and I pray to my own

Now, how do you wake the God, the next door begins on the spring night in 1986?

“The thousands of people have gathered in Hila Hawaii, not just around the islands, from the”

four corners of the earth to witness the largest, the most prestigious Hula competition in the world, as the sun sets over Hila, rollers pack even cannot go all a stadium, the rafters, air-taste rich with the smell of glua pork and a sound of ancient drums and [ Music ] >> Good evening and welcome to the 23rd Annual Mary and Monarch Festival of Hula competition.

We are here live in Hilo.

>> Tonight, the Kaiko competition where 30 hallows will be sharing the ancient dancers of Hawaii. [ Music ]

“>> Leanne Durant is back stage with the other dancers in her hallow or Hula school.”

After nine months of practice and preparation, they're about to take the stage and perform their addition of the three winstorms of Hina. [ Music ] >> The women's chant, Hima, speaks of the goddess Tina from Volokai and her three devastating wins that were able to bruise children's and devastate land.

>> That's all we should get from these dancers, male and female. The rest is strong, emotional, kaiko, ancient dancers should be very interesting this evening. [ Music ] >> And we were all ready to go and we're standing in a circle and then all of a sudden the lights went out.

[ Music ] >> This pitch black, the storm is going crazy. That's when the dread really comes like. I had bad feelings from the very beginning of learning the dance. I was like, okay, what do we do to stop this?

[ Music ]

“>> Leian has been dancing Hula for almost as long as she can remember.”

As a girl growing up in Honolulu, she learned a dance version of Hula called Hula Awana. It's an instrumental style of Hula that became popular after the Hawaiian language was banned in the islands. [ Music ] >> I grew up in the generation where Hawaiian language Hula was not accepted. During the overthrow of our monarchy, we were illegally taken by the United States.

And once that happened, as a people, we weren't allowed to speak our language. Ancient Hula was underground because we were not allowed to dance it. And then when it came home from college in 1977, there were things happening here in Hawaii,

which they called the first run of songs of things Hawaiian.

And it all started with the Hula. >> All over the islands, young Hawaiians were reviving Hula Kihiko and bringing back those traditional dances and chants. >> It looked exciting, so I asked my neighbor if she was dancing Hula anywhere. And she said she was, so I went down with her to Hula class with Kuhula,

I wanted to serve her. She was teaching Kuhiko, which is the ancient Hula. Those chants go back way back.

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>> For all in the vaccine. >> Now the cost of testing of choppy fire.de. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> One day not long after she started studying Hula Kuhiko,

“we and remembers overhearing her Kuhumu or teacher, Mapawana De Silva,”

talking about entering the Mary Monarch Festival. [MUSIC] >> I was like, what is that? That's how out of touch I was. I didn't even know about the festival.

[MUSIC] They started it as a little competition with a few Hulao. And over the years, it just by word of mouth by, you know, word, the Renaissance was bringing more and more Hulao into being. And it just became one of the biggest things ever.

And that's kind of like our big gold star, you know, in the spring is going to Mary Monarch. [MUSIC]

>> The first time Lee Ann went to Mary Monarch.

It was 1981.

“She was in her 20s and having the time of her life,”

preparing for the festival with her Hula sisters. Her allow didn't win that year. But it was just really a fun time. It was a really bonding time. Each Hulao would have their own fundraiser with their own little signature to it.

And because even though we were in competition, we would support each other. We would go to each other's fundraiser. We would help them. They would help us.

It was like a huge, huge family. But as a lot of work, we make our own costumes. We make our own lay. We have to raise money to get there and pay be able to pay for our hotels or vans.

>> Not to mention the hours each week, spent practicing the dances they were going to perform. >> They would have a dance of your choice. And then whoever the committee was would choose a dance where every Hulao dance is the same.

But each club will brought their own spirit to it. >> They'd start rehearsing their dances in September and work on them all the way through to the competition in the spring. But for lay in and the other dancers in Hulao, Mojala, Yelima, the point of all this hard work wasn't just to win.

Although in her first five years with the group,

they did win three times. >> What we would strive for was to share our whole own interpretation with everyone. >> And then came 1986 and the three win storms of Hina. >> It was about the goddess Hina.

She's one of the oldest goddesses in Hawaii. And she was the female that could generate force in Hawaiian cosmology. And she was kind of a protector of the land too. She had this gourd. And if the people wouldn't take care of the land,

she would open her gourd just a little bit. When she opened that gourd just a little bit, the rain got stronger. The wind started to pick up. And it was kind of like a warning to the people that you better take care of business.

And so as the chat goes on, the people still don't heed her call or pay attention. So she opens her gourd a little more. That's when you start getting lightning,

The wind start whipping up.

“And on the third time, which opens the gourd,”

it's the destruction of man. [MUSIC] Leyan was a really experienced answer at this point. And she was a mentor to some of the newer Hula sisters. But when she got into the studio to start practicing this one.

Something was just weird. I remember going to Hula.

And we learned the second verse.

I, all of a sudden, just felt, I don't know how to explain. I was a little frightened. I couldn't really explain why. But it was just a feeling I had and might not know. And my gut.

And that feeling carried through the whole, what I call the meribonic season, starting in September. Leyan hoped that was a time.

“She'd get more comfortable with the routine.”

And the feeling would fade. But it didn't. [MUSIC] When the spring rolled around, that uneasy feeling in her gut was still there,

whenever she practiced. She didn't mention it to her Kumu, or anyone else in her Hulao. She just kept pushing, trying to get it right. But I just couldn't get it.

I couldn't get the dance. I couldn't get the chant. I made mistakes all the time. Was it impossible to me? [MUSIC]

I never had struggles like that, learning Hula.

[MUSIC]

“Finally, the week of Mary Monarch arrived.”

Leyan and her Hula sisters flew to Hilo, and checked in to the Nani Lua Hotel. That night, they sat in the audience, and eat at Kanaka Oli Stadium, and watched the Missalohar competition.

The next day, it was their turn to compete. [MUSIC] Leyan remembers waking up that morning to perfect Hilo weather. Blue skies with a cool mist coming off the ocean.

The dancers spent the day rehearsing on the hotel lawn before heading over to the stadium. When they got there, they had some time to kill before they had to get ready, and most of the dancers wanted to watch

the first groups perform. But Leyan decided that she needed some time alone and fresh air to clear her head, so she made her way back outside. [MUSIC]

I was super nervous because I had a hard time with the chat. I needed to calm my nerves. So I remember going down. I sat on the sidewalk kind of along the fence. I would just keep kind of just taking a deep breath.

I would always just tell myself, just let it go once you get on that stage. You're going to forget all your worldly worries. [MUSIC] As she sat there, breathing in and out.

Leyan could hear the first women's group take the stage inside the stadium and start to perform Hena's chant. [MUSIC] We welcome you to the people throughout the state of Hawaii

from all of the Hawaiian Islands. And now, from Las Vegas, Nevada, under the direction. [MUSIC] This is our first opportunity to see the Wah Hena's constitution chant,

which will always be performed first.

[MUSIC] And then as I could hear the chanting on the stage, it started to rain. It came so fast. It pretty soon it was pouring rain.

First I didn't think anything because he was unpredictable. It all was those things like that. So I went in and I started dressing. And then my whole assistant came. We dressed under the bleachers.

So we could hear what was going on on the stage. [MUSIC] And then we could hear what was going on on the stage. [MUSIC]

I kept watching the rain.

“And I was noticing the gutters of those.”

Tennis stadium was the water, which is gushing out. And it was coming really quickly. All of a sudden, I just felt like this is the story. [MUSIC] The rain kept coming and the rain kept coming.

It seemed like every time I heard the chant, the rain got worse and worse and worse. That was just like observing and thinking, wow,

this is like the first storm.

[MUSIC] Clouds were really dark and heavy. And I could hear the chant again. I would see lightening or hear the thunder. [MUSIC]

“And then I went to this is like the second storm.”

[MUSIC] We're dancing about the story. And the story is coming true. Everybody's on stage, like they're chanting and their energy is there. And they're bringing this to life.

So I felt very uncomfortable. And I did not want to go on that stage. What if we were the ones that she decided then and there,

let's open the gourd the third time.

And it would be destruction of man. [MUSIC] And stadium was full of man. [MUSIC] So I really felt dreadful.

But I was not going to disappoint. I didn't want to be the one that was like, I don't want to do this. You know, because not performing on Kuhiko Night automatically disqualified us from the competition.

And we worked so hard. You've sacrificed.

You know, we've had girls sacrifice.

Being in sports, going to proms. You know, doing all the things that you do as young people. Because we loved it so much. And what if I was wrong? So I talked myself back into it.

It's just like, okay, you're here. This is the commitment you can do it. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC]

[MUSIC] Intermission was ending, people were going back to their seats. [MUSIC] We're about to go on. My stomach is in knots.

We were already to go on. We're standing in a circle. And then all of a sudden, the lights went out. [MUSIC] You hear the audience say, "Whoa."

And then there was silence. It's pitch black. And the storm is going crazy. I start to kind of panic because they felt like the lights were the warning. And I just kept thinking in my mind.

We need to break the cycle. We have to do something to stop, to stop the momentum of this storm.

“And the only way I knew how to break the cycle would be to not dance.”

[MUSIC] And then one of my holistic solutions that was standing next to me, she told me that she was afraid and she didn't want to go out in dance. And several other people came up and told me that.

I went into care, nurturing mode.

So I said, "Okay, I'll go talk to Komu and see what happens." [MUSIC] So I left the circle. And I went up to her and I said, "Mopu, I have to tell you something. We don't feel good about dancing."

[MUSIC] There was no anger. She just said, "Okay, so she came to the group and she talked to us and said,

"Do you not want to dance?"

You know, of course, everybody's kind of like, "Oh, what should I say?" And then I just said, "Well, I don't want to." And then the majority of the girls are like, "Yeah, we don't want to. [MUSIC] Meanwhile, out in the audience, somebody had started to sing.

“I don't remember what song, but just to take the tension off, I think.”

Someone started to sing and then everyone was singing. So despite the festive mood, it was haunting if not coincidental to think that the night's intense lightning and thunderstorm literally shook. Edith Kanaka, only indoor tennis stadium. The storm caused a 40-minute blackout. Eventually the lights went on.

With the storm raging against the black sky, the announcer got on the mic. He says, "I'd like to announce our next hallow, hallow, hallow, hallow, hallow, eema. Under the direction of Mapuana, disilva." She comes up, goes up the ramp by herself, goes to a mic in the middle of the stage. And nobody knew what she was going to say.

But then she said, "We have decided that our girls will not be performing this evening."

My concern and care is first for my ladies. Thank you.

Then everybody was clapping.

“I think they were clapping because she made her students number one.”

It mattered what we felt mattered to her. And that we were willing to be disqualified. So this Mapuana came back from being on stage and making that announcement. The rain just stopped. As we were undressing and putting our costumes away and taking care of everything,

it went back to being a light mist with a little breeze. And it was no rain for the rest of the competition. I don't know what would have happened if we went up. There were a whole bunch of hallows after us. They danced, no problem.

But I felt it's not meant to be done as by us. It didn't matter that we missed this competition, that we got disqualified, none of that mattered. Because I feel that we broke the cycle. Thank you, thank you, Leanne, for sharing your story. Leanne told us that even her group was disqualified from the 1986 competition the next night.

They did have another chance to dance and after all the ups and downs of the festival, they rock this stage from the best performances ever.

“And spoke to us, you should know the next Mary Monak Festival is just days away.”

There'll be a link in our show notes where you can learn more. This piece was scouting, like each cell Lopez. The original score was by Clay Xavier. It was produced by Zoe Frigno. Now, for just a moment, let's talk about babies.

Tiny little bundles of joy, fact cheeks, that smell, that baby smell, the other baby smell. Make your heart grow three sizes too big, but long time, let's just to this show, no. They're often starts at the beginning.

that they did learn at nursery school, tell me about it.

“Spooked, it's now judgment.org because there's nothing better than a spooked story from a spooked listener.”

Spooked studios, stand centered between this world and the next cloaked by KQED and San Francisco. Don't seek to find it. This, it seek to find you. No step-to-deal content, maybe use for training, testing, and developing machine learning, or AI systems, without prior written permission, on team spooked, the union represented producers, artists, editors, and engineers,

our members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians,

“Communications Work of America, AFL, CIO, Local 51, and Spooked Sprock to you.”

By the team that loves the Hula Dance, except from Mark Ristich. No, Mark refers to dance with the devil, with the pale moonlight. There's David Kim, sorry for it. No, Eric Ganyas, Ristich Dodge, a genobediacal miles last, he tailed the cut. So he chew, even stern, he's Jeff Coat, he shall Lopez, Jack Darrell, Doug Stewart, Nicholas March,

the spooked theme song, is by Pat Masini Miller. My name is The Washington. And you know, I know what's my auntie's house. My auntie's by some kind of plating, I look quest for the divine. The search I know she would think was silly.

My auntie, she always wanted kids of her own.

“I think she did, I think, think that she did, but it never happened that way for her.”

So I believe this was my personal stroke of good fortune, because when I was in the crazy in my house, she could sometimes be the escape, the respite, the hug, the hot meal, the field trip, the couch, the sleep on the kind word, the new kicks, the gas money, the good book, the screaming from the stands at the graduation, the address to write down when I didn't have an address. The emergency contact, well, I didn't have an emergency contact.

All these little things I think about this, walking to her, her tiny apartment, busy searching for the divine, but here the divine is shining bright in front of me, and not the divine is cussing me out. For not that cold air inside, leave it her door wide open.

Never, ever, ever, ever, never, never, never, never.

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