Post #670783 by creativenative on Tue, Mar 12, 2013 1:22 PM

Ahh, PCC. I used to work there in the early 80s. I was a VIP tour guide and head Spanish guide. Since I'm totally Caucasian looking I would always start my tour by saying my name and that I'm Chinese Hawaiian, but I look Scots and I speak Spanish. What a mixed up world I'm from. I would say this because I didn't want my group to feel cheated out of a non-native experience. Most employees at the Polynesian Cultural Center were students next door at the little BYU-Hawaii campus. The Center was built, yes by the "Mormon" church for two reasons; the first one was to give the poor students (90% of us) an opportunity to have part-time employment (it put me through school with literally pennies to spare) and the second reason was to share with the world the beautiful cultures of the Pacific along with teaching the world the difference between the island cultures. Because after many decades of modern Western media mixing the cultures as one. We see this in movies, TV and yes in tiki bars. The mixing is not a bad thing (because they all still come from the same place - Oceania) but it nice that john-Q public can know the difference. I notice the pure tikiphiles on TC know well the difference between tikis from Hawaii, the Marquesas or Aotearoa and I'm impressed.

Another important purpose of PCC, although indirect, was the teaching of the indigenous cultures of the Pacific to native islanders raised outside of the Pacific. I was raised in central Washington State and I only met one other Hawaiian there, I had Californian/Samoan, Utah & Missouri/Tongan and Hawaiian New Yorkers as classmates, for example and it was great to learn our roots. Perhaps this is where my love of tiki germinated. At BYU-Hawaii (which was set up by the church to teach Pacific Rim students) there where a lot of real island students who's first language was a Polynesian dialect and it was these students (from the islands) that I learned the most from at PCC and I hoped they learned from me at the University next door.

I'm not trying to sound preachy or anything but I'm proud as a Hawaiian/Mormon to know that when the 1st Mormon Missionaries arrived at Hawaii it was 70 years after the other Christian Missionaries arrived but within just a handful of years these few missionaries (plus early Hawaiian converts) converted more Hawaiians than all of the the other Christian Churches combined even with the 70 year head start. One reason is the church embraces other cultures, it does not change them to a western one. The early Mormon missionaries learned and taught in Hawaiian, they DID NOT try to teach English to the natives then preach to them in English (of course there were exceptions to the rule but it was the rule). Also I just read the new revision of the book "The Hula" a chronological volume on the history of Hula. I was almost shocked to know that in an crucial chapter in our hula history (turn of the last century when hula was oppressed by children of early missionaries in Hawaii) there were only about a dozen or two Hula practitioners left and they danced in secret behind closed doors. The book states that the majority of these now historical figures in Hawaiian history where Mormon women. Without these women authentic Hula would of been lost forever.

Lastly we had a running joke at PCC and some of you who toured the place may have had this experience; yes because PCC is sponsored by the "Mormon" (a nick name) church there is a dress code for all our guest, no beach attire, more specifically bikini tops or 2-piece clothes by women. Of course people visiting Hawaii with its year around warmth get a little preturbed by the rule but we tell these angry guest (and it never fails to cheer them up again) that; "It was the western Christain Missionaries that made our ancestors put on clothes, now it's our turn to make YOU wear clothes!" haha, now enjoy a couple screen savers of Elvis at PCC from PARADISE HAWAIIAN STYLE:

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