“Kapahi Ka Moana i Kai” is this year’s theme for the 2025 Pulama Mauli Ola event, which will be a celebration of the Hawaiian language and culture.
This free family event will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Edith Kanaka‘ole Multi-Purpose Stadium and is produced by Ke Kula ‘O Nawahiokalani‘opu‘u which is an elementary, middle and the high school, ‘Aha Punana Leo Inc., a preschool, and Ka Haka ‘Ula O Ke‘elikolani, the Hawaiian language college of the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Pulama Mauli Ola has been an annual celebration for the previous 21 years and was held on the school campus of Nawahi in Keaau. This year they’ve decided to hold the event in Hilo at the stadium to publicize programs that collectively work together in Hawaiian language and cultural revitalization.
Pulama Mauli Ola will provide information and resources the public can readily access, from early childhood education to doctoral Hawaiian language degrees and an indigenous teaching licensure program.
All of these have one goal in common — the perpetuation of the language and culture.
The array of resources allows each program to educate the community on the options available in making Hawaiian language and culture a viable part of a family’s everyday life. This is not only for individuals who speak the Hawaiian language, but people who have a desire to learn the language and perpetuate an important part of our ancestral knowledge.
The event will feature presentations from the haumana (students) sharing interactive educational, cultural and language experiences.
There will be games and activities for the keiki, as well as an array of Hawaiian crafts and products by island vendors. There also will be food vendors and live enterainment.
For more information, email kahoolako@nawahi.org
