HAWAIIAN MISSION HOUSES
ANNOUNCES THE RETURN OF OUR MELE PROGRAM
“I Ke Kapuaʻi o Kahu William Ellis”
“In the Footsteps of Rev. William Ellis”
SATURDAY June 1 2024
DOORS OPEN AT 5PM PROGRAM BEGINS AT 6PM
(Honolulu HI) Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives is excited to
announce the return of our Mele Programs the first to be held since 2019. Join us
on a musical journey in the footsteps of Rev. William Ellis’ circumnavigation of
Hawaiʻi Island in 1823 featuring the musicians and dancers of Hālau Mele Kumu
Sam ʻOhu Gon III and Kumu Mahealani Wong and Hālau Hula Kamamolikolehua
Kumu Pohai Souza as well as a LIVE History Theatre portrayal of Rev. William Ellis.
The program will be held on the beautiful Kahua Hoʻokipa Stage at the Hawaiian
Mission Houses 553 S. King St. Honolulu HI 96813 on the Waikīkī side of
Kawaiahaʻo Church. Seating will open at 5pm and the program will start at 6pm.
Tickets are $35 per person. Tickets and more information available at
https://missionhouses.org/upcoming-events/.
In 1823 Rev. William Ellis of the London Missionary Society and several American
Protestant missionaries toured Hawaiʻi Island scouting possible locations for future
mission stations. Rev. Ellis wrote a detailed account of this circumnavigation
published as A Journal of a Tour around Hawaii the Largest of the Sandwich Islands in 1825.
He describes in minute detail his travel path the people he encountered the landscape he
saw and the stories and traditions of the different parts of the island he travelled through.
The journey by foot and waʻa (canoe) took place June through August 1823.
Rev. William Ellis is well-known for his anthropological observations from his time as a
missionary in Tahiti and Hawaiʻi in the early 1800s published in Polynesian Researches.
Rev. Ellis and the American Protestant Missionaries became the first Westerners to visit
Kilauea Crater. The Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail encompasses many of the places
that Rev. Ellis visited in 1823 (https://www.nps.gov/alka/index.htm).
Through the mele oli and hula presented by the two hālau as well as a special guest
appearance by Rev. Ellis from the Hawaiian Mission Houses’ History Theatre Program we
will recreate parts of Rev. Ellis’ journey as well as share the stories and beauty of Hawaiʻi
Island.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, 553 S King St, Honolulu, HI 96813, United States