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Closing a sunny day in July of 1869, His Majesty Kamehameha V hosted a party in honor of H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh. Newspapers of the day reported: "A Piper, in attendance on His Royal Highness, the Duke ... stepped on to the ballroom floor -- the observed of all observers -- and with stirring notes and martial tread, promenaded the room, while the company parted right and left for him as he advanced; and as they gazed with curiosity and admiration, many felt, 'How, in the noon of night, that pibroch thrills, Savage and shrill.' Royal Ball kicks off
Aloha Festivals SaturdayBy Nadine Kam
Star-Bulletin"The Piper was, for the moment, the hero of the scene."
This scene that would be repeated often during Royal Balls of King David Kalakaua's reign.
Then the pageantry stopped, relegated to the pages of history after the end of the monarchy.
The Royal Ball will be in full swing again Saturday as the event kicks off two months of statewide Aloha Festivals celebrations.The ball takes place 6 to 11 p.m. at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom. The theme is He Makana O Na Lei Nani (A Gift of Beautiful Lei), and the royal court will be dressed in costumes evoking Kalakaua's era.
Whereas guests at the Iolani Palace in 1869 feasted on leg of mutton, pigeon pies, boiled kalo, oyster pates, a fricandeau (larded and roasted or braised) of veal and "cocoanut" puddings, this year's guests will dine on island greens, New York strip steak with teriyaki glaze and fresh fish.
Don't knock it. While there are those who look at the festival events as mere tourist attractions, others credit the celebration with resurrecting Hawaiian culture beginning with the first Aloha Week events in 1947.
Mary Ann Hutchinson, who is Hawaiian, was queen of the royal court in 1953 and remembers the days when Hawaiian culture was dying.
"I'm 80 now, but when I was growing up, children were whipped, punished when they spoke Hawaiian in school," Hutchinson said. "I was sure the language would be dead when all the old folks were gone.
"When my elders would speak to me, I would say, 'Don't talk to me in Hawaiian. But I picked it up because they spoke it among themselves."
Later, her language skills came handy because members of the Aloha Week royal court are required to speak Hawaiian.
"Aloha Week started as a push for tourists, a week where we would wear Hawaiian shirts, put on pageantry -- and today we know that everything is about money -- but out of that came something good.
"It was like a renaissance, something new to my generation and the community got caught up in it," Hutchinson said. "Women would put on baggy muumuus; they were kind of funny. Little did we know how big the garment industry would become.
"And the prints, the textile people made us more aware of our lei and flowers. Before, I took flowers for granted. Sometimes when you're too close to something you can't see it. Someone had to open our eyes."
An invitation
What: Aloha Festivals' Royal Ball
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