Thanksgiving tradition aids pursuit of higher education

By Ira Zunin

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Nov 24, 2012

~~<p>Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday in the islands. With commercial interests at bay compared with other holidays, Thanksgiving is about the attitude of gratitude and a celebration of community, family and friends. For thirteen years now my son and I have gone up to the KEY Project in Kualoa-Heeia to build a giant imu the day before Thanksgiving. We get up early on Thanksgiving day, pull the turkeys out and bring our offerings home to Mom.</p>
<p>For twenty-six years the KEY Project has been bringing people together to connect with one another and with traditions of the ancestors. A truckload of kiawe is brought over to make fierce fire that heats the stones. Once they are red-hot, we pull out the unburned wood, level the stones and lay in stacks of banana stalks followed by banana leaves. We then lift in more than 400 tinfoil-wrapped turkeys, then more banana leaves and sometimes ti leaves. Next comes a layer of water-soaked burlap sacks, wet canvas sheets and finally plastic tarps. Around the edge of the tarps we place sandbags to make the imu airtight. The turkeys cook in the aromatic steam through the night.</p>
~~

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday in the islands. With commercial interests at bay compared with other holidays, Thanksgiving is about the attitude of gratitude and a celebration of community, family and friends. For thirteen years now my son and I have gone up to the KEY Project in Kualoa-Heeia to build a giant imu the day before Thanksgiving. We get up early on Thanksgiving day, pull the turkeys out and bring our offerings home to Mom.

For twenty-six years the KEY Project has been bringing people together to connect with one another and with traditions of the ancestors. A truckload of kiawe is brought over to make fierce fire that heats the stones. Once they are red-hot, we pull out the unburned wood, level the stones and lay in stacks of banana stalks followed by banana leaves. We then lift in more than 400 tinfoil-wrapped turkeys, then more banana leaves and sometimes ti leaves. Next comes a layer of water-soaked burlap sacks, wet canvas sheets and finally plastic tarps. Around the edge of the tarps we place sandbags to make the imu airtight. The turkeys cook in the aromatic steam through the night. Login for more...