HAWAIIAN HULA DANCERS,  SURFERS
AND PA'U RIDERS

GNOMES,
DWARVES,
PIXIES

"Hula is the language of the heart and therefore the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people." -Kalakaua Rex-       A graceful girl with long hair and dark eyes, grass skirt swaying side to side, her hands telling stories of life in Hawaii and the beauty of the islands. The image of the Hawaiian hula dancer recalls not only Hawaiian days gone by, but the new Hawaii of today. Hula means dance in Hawaiian. It has been passed down for hundreds of years in Hawaii and even today it is still evolving. Yet no one knows where or why the hula began, or how the ancient Hawaiians danced. There are no records. In the old days hula was exchanged between islanders to preserve their culture, share histories and tell stories. It was a simple dance with only a few basic steps. The different islands developed their own styles simply because the distances between each other was too far to travel very often. When the missionaries arrived they found the dance indecent and discouraged its practice. It was even forbidden to dance it in public. The hula seemed sure to become obsolete if not for the revival in the early 1900's by interested visitors to Hawaii. The hula dancers of today are sharing in the knowledge and culture of their rich and colorful past, bringing from deep within the dancer a spiritual heritage linking the beauty of Hawaii  today with the Hawaii of yesterday.

The Hula dancers are made in small, medium and large sizes. They can be costumed in a large variety of styles and colors with brightly colored fringe, natural raffia or tapa printed fabric. The wahines, (women),  wear head and neck leis of colorful flowers. The kane, (men), can be found blowing a conch shell, strumming a ukulele or surfing on a Koa Surfboard. The men are available in the medium size only and wear either Hawaiian tapa print shorts or a malo (loincloth). Also available is a mini palm tree which can be added to accent the realistic look. It has a ceramic trunk and fabric leaves.

ORDERING INFORMATION AND PRICES

Large Hula Girls   6 - 10" high

The surfboards these men are riding are made from hawaiian Koa wood and are made by Kandice's husband Rodney. They are also sold separately.

         Medium Hawaiian Surfers  
8" high

ORDERING INFORMATION AND PRICES

PAU` RIDERS...Many parades now seen in Hawaii are graced with the magnificent Pa`u Riders. Each Hawaiian island is represented by a different flower and color. In the early days Hawaiian women rode horses for recreation, socializing and just about everything. Being free spirited from social restrictions they did not wish to sit side-saddle while riding. So they would draw up the back end of their skirt and mount their horse astride. The word for skirt in Hawaiian is pa`u and so they became known as Pa`u riders. If the women were attending a social gathering a far distance away, they would wrap a long sheet of plain muslin around them in the pa`u fashion so as to keep their good dresses from getting soiled. This unique skirt developed into the elaborate ones worn in the parades today. The Hawaiians love for flowers was also shown towards their horses and their mounts were often seen wearing colorful leis around their necks. This tradition became an important part of the pa`u units attire seen in todays parades.

HAWAIIAN PA`U RIDERS  12"- 14"  high

Beautifully dressed in their island colors, the pa`u parade is lead by the pa`u queen, often dressed in red. Then each island is preceded by the princess, her ladies in waiting and paniolo (cowboy) outrider. The colors and flowers symbolizing each island are: red-lehua-Island of Hawaii, green-kukui-Island of Molokai, yellow-ilima-Island of Oahu, pink-lokelani-Island of Maui, orange-kauna`oa-Island of Lanai, purple-mokihana-Island of Kauai, gray or blue-hina hina-Island of Kaho`olawe, white or brown-pupu o ni`ihau-Island of Ni`ihau.

Hawaii's last monarch was Queen Liliuokalani who lived from 1838-1917. Her reign was from 1891-1893 until it was overthrown by a group of American businessmen who wanted Hawaii to become part of America. This doll sculpture is in honour of her.

The Hawaiian royalty wore elaborate gowns for important occasions and black was the color chosen most often. They also wore satin sashes which were decorated with precious metal and stone ornaments.

Queen Liliuokalani  
12" high