Cultures and Dances of the Polynesian Islands

One of the biggest attractions in Oahu is the Polynesian Culture Center located in the small town of La'ie, on the north side Oahu. This center was created by the Mormon church to attract visitors and help subsided Brigham Young University students from all over the Pacific Islands . They do a recreation of island life from around Polynesia. This is not a Disneyland. This is a laid-back collection of recreations from various island villages from around Polynesia. We learned a lot about the culture of the islands.

At one of the ceremonies from a tribe of New Zealand, Gordon was chosen as the chief to represent the group of people that were there, in a ceremony customary of peace welcoming. He had to pickup some green leaves (he is holding in his hands) as a symbol that he and his people are coming in peace. There is a formal ceremonial greeting where they had to shake hands and touch heads and nose. He then had come down to where I was seated in the front row and do the formal head and nose formal greeting with me too. It was very interesting.

New Zealand girls doing ceremonial singing

There was a parade of dances from the different Polynesian cultures at the canal.

There were different shows that explained about the cultures and customs of the villages of the different islands

We took a boat ride on the main canal

We were seating on the second row at the two hour evening show.
This show summarises all the cultural costumes that we had learned as we walked and did the different activities during the day. They do dances from the different Polynesian islands.
A very lively and colorful presentation.