# A lifelong Hawaii resident gets snippy about the Merrie Monarch Festival **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 19, 2026, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378 "2026-04-19T05:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/21 "2026-04-22T15:46:30Z")
You could have led with the last paragraph and spared us from reading through the rest of that diatribe. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/22 "2026-04-22T16:35:25Z")
I’d have loved to attend a Merrie Monarch dance festival, but I was never there during that time. I do enjoy watching the videos of the dancing and chanting. My great-aunt/uncle were in Hawaii in the 30s and brought back LPs with Hawaiian singing and chants (the real stuff – not the commercial crap), and my mom had them. I’d listen to them over and over again, and I think they imprinted on my brain. It’s a rhythm I can really sink into. The adults in the video with the adorable little boy were awesome dancers. So smooth and percussive at the same time. I find it completely hypnotic to watch. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/23 "2026-04-23T03:46:55Z")
“Kama’aina” covers a whole lot of territory. It literally means native to Hawai’i (“aina” means “land”, a fact I actually know; Google tells me that “kama” means “child,” which I did not know.) At a minimum that means you have to have been born in the islands; a stricter definition is that you actually are of Native Hawaiian ancestry. In practice, the meaning of kama’aina gets expanded/diluted a lot. Locals will be nice and say that if you’ve lived here long enough, you are kama’aina. From a commercial standpoint, many businesses offer a kama’aina discount. Whip out your Hawai’i driver’s license, and you will pay less. “Malihini” is anyone who isn’t kama’aina. A tourist, a newcomer … someone who either isn’t originally from the islands and hasn’t lived here long enough to become somewhat conversant in local culture, or is just visiting. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/24 "2026-04-23T13:52:48Z")
Thank you. I have learned something today, and it does seem unusual for someone there since child wouldn’t know that. But according to the uppers I’m just a below the bridge troll 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/25 "2026-04-23T20:45:10Z")
Not defending or supporting @DKW, but it’s sadly easy to be ignorant of the culture of a place you’ve lived a long time. I grew up in Las Cruces NM (transplanted there from Western Massachusetts before I turned 6), and lived there until I went to college. But in school back in the 80s, _almost_ everything taught in the public schools I went to were very heavy into the traditional “Americana” frame, despite whites (or passers like myself) being the distinct minority. My family mostly associated with the few members of the faith in the area, and/or with what would be considered the intellectual crowd centered around NMSU (which is fine, my folks were both teachers there). Things got a little better in Jr. High, with at least one semester on NM studies, but as usual, it was mostly names, dates, and _early_ history, not real cultural studies. And I was culturally _uncurious_ (probably by acculturation rather than intent) so despite a few visits to Santa Fe, Cliff Dwellings, Pueblos and the like I didn’t ever really get a deep feeling for the culture of the peoples, something I certainly regret these days! I understand things are getting better these days, with less visible (note there’s absolutely a cultural imbalance) self-segregation, but I bet if I spent more than the 8-10 days a year I do visiting, I’d see plenty. One of the large changes I’ve seen is that small, local places in the past where my family would be the only “gringos” present has changed. The people take good New Mexican food as a _right_, and now you’ll see people in full business dress next to day laborers at a good yet cheap place. Anyway, long digression, but it’s possible to be insulated from a local culture despite decades alongside it, but I don’t consider it a good option, more a waste considering the costs of travel (especially international) to get first hand experience of different ways of life. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/26 "2026-04-23T21:56:43Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Anyway, long digression, but it’s possible to be insulated from a local culture despite decades alongside it, but I don’t consider it a good option, more a waste considering the costs of travel (especially international) to get first hand experience of different ways of life. Somehow, I’m guessing you wouldn’t come on here to start a thread grousing about how all the turquoise and silver jewelry looks alike at the Santa Fe Indian Market, or that Diné is a dead language because it isn’t spoken internationally(!?). ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/27 "2026-04-23T22:28:23Z")
As I said, I’m choosing not to attack or defend **DKW** , merely choosing to express how it can happen, and my regrets at NOT taking the opportunities presented to me in my youth to diversify my experiences. Sure, some may not click with me, or may tire me _despite_ my interests (I did a 6 hour traditional blacksmithing course with charcoal fires, and it left me exhausted and bruised!), but why not try? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/28 "2026-04-23T22:29:39Z")
Some people find it easy to disparage an indigenous ritual if they have been exposed to it their whole life, especially if they know people of that culture who disparage it as well. It’s a “all my best friends are black” sort of entitlement. I lived in Port Townsend, WA for seven years. Nearby, was the Makah tribe that had a strong contingent of traditionalists who endeavored to revive some, frankly, unpopular and risky pursuits engaged in by their forebears. They alienated most of the tribe and all of the local non-Native Americans by hunting down and killing an Orca. Shortly after, the tribe went ahead with a traditional armada of war canoes despite a forecast of bad weather. A boat overturned and one rower drowned. I was astounded by how many of my neighbors in my liberal enclave used language like “dumb Indian” to describe the event. My Fed-Ex guy who was Makah made the same comment, like that was supposed to give me license to join the crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/29 "2026-04-23T22:44:09Z")
Because those are the province of white people, of course. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/30 "2026-04-24T00:07:25Z")
@DKW, please explain what you meant by that sovereignty comment. I’m trying to assume good faith, but it SOUNDS like you’re saying that if Hawai’i wasn’t governed by the US, the native population would be unable to maintain their infrastructure on their own. That can’t really be what you meant, is it? ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/31 "2026-04-25T05:08:11Z")
[deep sigh] I didn’t want to return to this, but once the personal attacks come out, I can’t ignore it. So here goes: I grew up in a cutthroat Chinese immigrant family, where rules were rigid, expectations were astronomical, and the threat of being thrown out onto the street loomed constantly. As a minor, the order of the day was to get as good grades as possible and avoid irritating my endlessly demanding parents as much as possible to not get thrown onto the street (amidst a constant flood of torment from the most repulsive human beings I have known in my life, did I mention that?) As a young adult, the order was the day was to get some job skills and try to get any kind of career going in a job market that constantly wavered between weak and on life support. Any “culture” that I had that was not handed out in brief snippets in grade school, I had to pick up from newspapers, television, radio, etc. So **excuse** me if anyone thinks that failing to know a certain word (and trust me, I know _all_ about things like “ohana”, “kupuna”, “keiki”, “mauka”, “makai”, and “pau hana”) is an indication that I just went with the prettiest flag I could find. I was a bit too preoccupied with the business of **survival** to spend my days immersed in the plumerias and tilapias. Yeah, I know people who have, I just never had that luxury! And just so we’re clear, I _want_ to like this. I understand on a basic level that it takes a lot of skill to do these dances, and there’s nothing quite like it anywhere else. (Not to mention the sheer logistics of getting all those performers to the venue and on and off the stage in an orderly fashion must be tremendous.) It’s just that over the years I find I’m running into things that could use some improvement (explanation of the judging, more variety in the subject matter, actually showing the children), and it’s frustrating that these things will never change. It’s something I’ve needed to get off my chest for a long time, and I don’t intend to make it an annual thing (like, say, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which has different stuff every year). As for the sovereignty movement, truth is, I’m not even clear on what these people _want._ If they intend to have their own homeland but with all the conveniences of modern America, that’s essentially making a colony, so they’re still going to owe fealty to the state. If they want to start a new nation completely with their own resources, that’s not going to last long. If they want their cause honored in State holidays, public festivals, official ceremonies, etc., well, first convince the rest of us that it’s worth it. They’re free to pursue whatever course of action they want, and I’ll pay attention if it affects something I care about. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/32 "2026-04-25T07:47:57Z")
NM. Will respond when it’s not late and I’m tired, and can say more measured and less emotional words. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/33 "2026-04-25T18:38:00Z")
Wait, I’m confused. @DKW didn’t attend this event, he decided to watch 15 hours of television coverage of it, and is bored, doesn’t see children in the TV coverage, and is unhappy that there aren’t subtitles? I bet that event is a lot more fun in person. I bet you would have seen kids in person, too. It’s fairly common to avoid photographing kids for stuff that will be widely publicized. And i bet that in person, the helpful spectator next to you would be able to help interpret the story the dance is telling. I have a friend who grew up in Kauai, a very white friend, who understands a lot of Hulu, and explained a lot of the standard tourist shows to me before i went, asking with some very broad primers on what to pay attention to. I bet it’s a blast to wander around the stalls, talk to the artisans and some of the performers (who probably are available. Not all of them, of course, but some of them) and just generally drink in the ambiance. In fact, now i want to go. There were a lot of highlights to my trip to Hawaii: the scenery of Kauai, some of the botanical gardens i visited, the amazing and exotic-to-me fruit, Volcano National Park… But the city of Hilo was one of the highlights. It felt like a real place, not just a tourist destination. It felt foreign enough that i kept being surprised the temperature was in Fahrenheit, but it was English-friendly and honestly just a friendly place, with a lot of history and culture. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/34 "2026-04-25T18:59:52Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Claiming to be a lifelong resident of Hawai’i and not knowing the words “kama’aina” and “malihini” is like claiming to be a lifelong resident of Maine and not knowing what a lobster is. He didnt say either. He said- > [@DKW](#): > > I’m still not clear on what kama’aina means and you said later- > [@CairoCarol](#): > > “Kama’aina” covers a whole lot of territory. It literally means native to Hawai’i (“aina” means “land”, a fact I actually know; Google tells me that “kama” means “child,” which I did not know.) At a minimum that means you have to have been born in the islands; a stricter definition is that you actually are of Native Hawaiian ancestry. > > In practice, the meaning of kama’aina gets expanded/diluted a lot. So in other words- that term does not have one exact meaning . as for > [@DKW](#): > > I’ve never even heard malihini before, Dont get me wrong, I understand why you reacted as you did, but sometimes you have to look at the exact wording. > [@ParallelLines](#): > > Not defending or supporting @DKW, but it’s sadly easy to be ignorant of the culture of a place you’ve lived a long time. Yeah, lifelong SoCal, and I know little of Surf or Valley culture. And many of the “commonly used” slang words from those cultures fly right over my head. > [@DKW](#): > > As for the sovereignty movement, truth is, I’m not even clear on what these people _want._ > **[Unexpected Common Ground: The Sovereignty Movement | Grassroot Institute of...](https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/2014/11/unexpected-common-ground-the-sovereignty-movement/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22130875124&gbraid=0AAAAADlXsZhso0a7__BMdbUqMX6Rgw8cL&gclid=CjwKCAjwzLHPBhBTEiwABaLsSsWnsVU6jonGaoTZYvYt2hp6BKq2TKJrLV7mQGbFxoqdnN4841ZJvRoC50UQAvD_BwE)** > > If you keep up with E Hana Kakou, the Grassroot Institute’s regular program on ThinkTech Hawaii, you may have seen the recent interview with Leon Siu, a well-known Native Hawaiian Sovereignty activist.  As a general primer on the Sovereignty Movement... You are not alone, apparently there are several subsets in the Movement, with at least two different ideas as to what they want. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I bet that event is a lot more fun in person. I dunno- the Gilroy Garlic festival was NOT fun in person- hot, dusty, crowded with too many drunks, etc. Same with some other festivals. Some Irish/Americans complain about the commercialism, crowds, and drunks at the big St Patricks day event in NYC. Once an event gets big and popular, it often changes radically. In San Jose, the Cinco de Mayo festivals got so out of control they were cancelled a couple times. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I bet you would have seen kids in person, too. It’s fairly common to avoid photographing kids for stuff that will be widely publicized. This is an excellent point. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/35 "2026-04-25T19:05:41Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > I bet that event is a lot more fun in person. > > I dunno- the Gilroy Garlic festival was NOT fun in person- hot, dusty, crowded with too many drunks, etc. Same with some other festivals. Some Irish/Americans complain about the commercialism, crowds, and drunks at the big St Patricks day event in NYC. Would you watch video of the garlic festival? Of the Saint Patrick’s Day drinking-fests? I sure wouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/36 "2026-04-25T19:10:37Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Would you watch video of the garlic festival? Well, I saw it on TV a couple times, looked liked fun, so a local Gilroy resident, who knew some of the event folks, took me there. That did mean we got to park in the volunteer lot, which was nice (she really was a volunteer, just not that day) and a few other sorta VIP bennies, but she (and her friends) all said the event had changed, and it was now more work than fun. But true, only a 10 minute spot or two on the local news channel, not hours. The ten minute spot made it look fun. It wasnt. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/37 "2026-04-25T19:17:41Z")
I haven’t been to the Garlic Festival but I have been to the much smaller local Goleta Lemon Festival and Carpinteria Avocado Festival. They are centered around the food so there are various common and odd recipes using the type of food. There will be music there by local bands (which is why I go because I am friends with lots of local musicians) but it’s not something to watch. The festival in the OP is more akin to The Old Spanish Days Festival in Santa Barbara (aka Fiesta). A big part of that is the culture, music and dance of the Spanish colonial times and the Chumash Native Americans. The dance and song is something interesting to watch and it’s all in Spanish or Chumash with no translations. It’s a cool thing to do a few times, not every year because it is definitely repetitive. I would never think of criticizing it. It’s not my place. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/38 "2026-04-25T20:05:24Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > It’s a cool thing to do a few times, not every year because it is definitely repetitive. I would never think of criticizing it. It’s not my place. I would absolutely criticize it if my friend asked me to go and i really didn’t want to, do to having been bored the last time i was there. Or if someone was visiting the area, and asked, “should i do this thing?” I don’t think I’d wrote a post to a bunch of people who’d never heard of it criticizing it, though. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/39 "2026-04-25T20:46:00Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > the city of Hilo was one of the highlights. It felt like a real place, not just a tourist destination. It felt foreign enough that i kept being surprised the temperature was in Fahrenheit, but it was English-friendly and honestly just a friendly place, with a lot of history and culture. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I don’t live in Hilo per se; my home is a little ways up the Hamakua Coast, not far from Akaka Falls. But my professional (such as it is - technically I’m retired now, but I have a heavy volunteer schedule of board membership, running a music group, gallery sitting, etc.) and personal lives are centered on Hilo and while it definitely has problems, it’s a very lovable little town, full of charm and quirks and surprises. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378/40 "2026-04-25T20:49:12Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > that term does not have one exact meaning . And yet, so many of us are smart enough to understand the concept of “nuance.” > [@DKW](#): > > I grew up in a cutthroat Chinese immigrant family, where rules were rigid, expectations were astronomical, and the threat of being thrown out onto the street loomed constantly. Sorry your childhood was crap. It doesn’t excuse posting bigoted commentary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifelong-hawaii-resident-gets-snippy-about-the-merrie-monarch-festival/1029378.md?page=3)