Polynesian Cultural Center, Cultural theme park in Laie, Hawaii.
The Polynesian Cultural Center is a cultural theme park and shopping district in Laie, Hawaii, organized into open-air pavilions beneath palm trees along artificial waterways. Bridges guide visitors between rebuilt living areas in Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, Hawaiian, Fijian, and Maori styles, while canoes with painted prows glide between the structures.
Students from the nearby university opened this site in 1963 to earn tuition fees through cultural presentations. During later decades the institution expanded several auditoriums and built warehouses for costumes and traditional tools.
Attendants demonstrate tattooing methods, wood carving, and weaving techniques in both English and their native languages before an international audience. Families regularly conduct ceremonies with conch shell trumpets or hand drums while children braid patterns from banana leaves and watch members of their own communities perform.
The center closes on Sundays and Wednesdays, so planning around these days is helpful. Pathways remain mostly level with shade beneath tree canopies, though some presentations involve additional standing or stair climbing.
Evening fire performances include rotating poles dipped in flame and swung by dancers in dimly lit arenas. Spectators feel the heat from torches several meters away while synchronized drummers accelerate the rhythm.
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