I was not sure what to expect at the PCC. When we arrived I had apparently paid for a tour, I am glad I did. Six different cultures are represented in separate island villages. In each village there is a cultural presentation. The presentations are given at different times. Our tour guide made sure we could visit as many presentations as possible before it was time for dinner and the main show. We visited the village islands of Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, and Aotearoa. Aoteroa is Maori for the land of the long white cloud also known as New Zealand.
I loved the Whare Rūnanga or Meeting House the most. The house is a representation of an ancestor and different parts of the house represent parts of the ancestors body. The head is in front at the top and the rafters represent the backbone and ribs. Along the walls below the rafters are poupou panels.
Each panel is hand carved to represent the lineage or ancestry of the person depicted. There were between twelve and twenty panels. One of the women who was part of the presentation pointed to one of the panels on the wall and told about her seventh great-grandfather who was depicted. They also said that some of the panels represent up to fifteen generations. Most of Polynesia has common ancestry but the Maori know their ancestry.
This all really struck a chord with me. I love how the culture is so focused on its ancestors. I feel a strong connection to Laie and now the PCC. Many visitors to Oahu are familiar with Laie if they have visited the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). This beautiful city on the north west side of Oahu is now home to over 7,000 residents, the PCC, LDS Temple, and BYU-Hawaii.
My second great-grandparents, Theodore Thaddeus Taylor and Martha Jane Johnson Taylor, were called on an LDS mission to serve in Laie, Hawaii in 1910. I have mentioned them in a previous post. In 1910 Laie was a small sugar and kalo plantation and location of the Hawaiian LDS Mission. It was five years before the temple would be announced and nine years before it was completed.
The early mission home is now located at the PCC. I did not expect to see it there. It struck me that my relatives had been there during their mission.
The above picture is from the mission home. My second great-grandfather is sitting in the back, second from the right.
My second great-grandparents, Theodore Thaddeus Taylor and Martha Jane Johnson Taylor, were called on an LDS mission to serve in Laie, Hawaii in 1910. I have mentioned them in a previous post. In 1910 Laie was a small sugar and kalo plantation and location of the Hawaiian LDS Mission. It was five years before the temple would be announced and nine years before it was completed.
The early mission home is now located at the PCC. I did not expect to see it there. It struck me that my relatives had been there during their mission.
The above picture is from the mission home. My second great-grandfather is sitting in the back, second from the right.
Many of the Taylor's descendants have visited Oahu and Laie. My parents visited there when I was young. My grandparents visited there several times. In late 2003 my grandma Trotter was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma and given only a few months to live. She made plans and traveled to Oahu with my aunt and died just a few weeks after they returned home. I have always wanted to visit Hawaii but it wasn't until I was there that I realized why.
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