Merrie Monarch, Hawaii’s biggest hula festival, is honoring Lahaina wildfire victims this year

The Merrie Monarch Festival, a weeklong cultural event in Hilo, Hawaii features the best hālau hula, or hula schools, from across the country.

Jayda Lum Lung will dance a traditional hula in honor of Lahaina wildfire victims at Hawaii’s biggest hula competition of the year. Her hand movements will flow gracefully to symbolize the winds, rains and mountains, she said, and the dance itself will tell a story of the sacred land.

Lung, whose family was at home the morning of Aug. 8 and barely escaped the fires, is a returning participant to the Merrie Monarch Festival, a weeklong cultural event in Hilo, Hawaii, every spring. The hula competition, which runs April 4-6, features the best hālau hula, or hula schools, from across the country, and this year performers will pay special tribute to Maui with dances and songs in the Hawaiian language.

“The mele [song] for Kahiko [traditional hula] and ‘Auana [modern hula] are about Lahaina. When I dance it, when we practice every time, it just gives me a special sense of connection and it makes me so proud to be from Lahaina,” Lung said. “I hope to bring a sense of hope for Lahaina, and to remind everyone that we can do this together and we are going to come out stronger.”

Hula teacher Manu Boyd chants at the annual Merrie Monarch Hula Festival in Hilo, Hawaii, in 2007.Tim Wright / AP fileFour hālaus from Maui were invited to the festival this year: Hālau Hula Kauluokalā, Hālau o Ka Hanu Lehua, Hālau Kekuaokalā‘au‘ala‘iliahi and Hālau Nā Lei Kaumaka o Uka.

Seven dancers in the Merrie Monarch lineup from Hālau o Ka Hanu Lehua lost their homes in the fires.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/merrie-monarch-hula-lahaina-rcna145532

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