NEWARK, N.J. » A Honolulu hula halau that had been fundraising up until a 10 a.m. Sunday Mass so it could perform for Mother Marianne Cope’s canonization in Rome finally showed up on the East Coast on Monday, exhausted but excited about getting to Rome to dance at the Vatican Museum.
"It’s awesome to perpetuate our culture and the legacy that’s been left with us and bring it further," said Leimomi Ho, kumu hula for Keali‘ika‘apunihonua Ke‘ena A‘o Hula, which means "the chief that travels the world."
Thirty members of the halau made the nearly 10,000-mile trip in 2009 to perform at much smaller venues for the canonization of Father Damien.
This time, only eight members were able to afford the trip. But they will give a 30-minute performance Friday at the Vatican Museum, on top of other venues yet to be scheduled.
The members of the halau brought an ukulele, ipu heke (double-headed gourd) and uliuli (feathered rattle gourd) for the performance.
Four members performed with the halau in Belgium and Rome in 2009. For four others, such as Kapeka Lagundino, 21, it will be the performance of a lifetime.
"I’m nervous," said Lagundino, a student at Kapiolani Community College. "But I’m excited, also."
While the halau continued to raise money Sunday, the bulk of its travel expenses came from a $25,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and a $10,000 grant from Abigail Kawananakoa, Ho said.
Cope will be elevated to sainthood Sunday at the Vatican for her work with Hansen’s disease patients in Kalaupapa, Molokai, in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
