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KRYSTAL JACOBS

As we embark on this 2024 Merrie Monarch journey, I find myself reflecting on my own personal journey in being more connected with my Hawaiian roots.

 

Rediscovering my Roots

 

Hiiiiii everyone! Krystal here- I was born and raised on O’ahu before moving to California in 2011 when I left for college, and I’ve mostly resided here in the Bay Area since. Being a multi-ethnic (native Hawaiian, Middle Eastern, Western European), girl growing up on O’ahu, I sometimes felt like I didn’t have a place where I truly fit in back home. I felt as though I wasn’t “Hawaiian enough” to some, but then to others that’s all I was...“a little Hawaiian girl” (especially when I left the motherland and visited the continent). At times this resulted in dissonance (and maybe a mini-identity-crisis LOL) and I struggled to come to terms with what this all meant for me in the bigger picture of my life. I decided to be more intentional with my learning and started with Hawaiian language (‘olelo). While most of my friends took Spanish, I opted for two years of Hawaiian Language in high school to fulfill the “foreign language” requirement for graduation. But this was really as far as my efforts took me in high school, as I then left for college on the continent in 2011 and the focus of my life changed.

I attended Holy Names University for college, largely due to basketball but also because of a wonderful woman, Sister Christine Patrinos (Nahuanani).

 

I met her during my Senior Year of high school at a college information session.

She was one of the Sisters of the Holy Names and came to Hawai’i to speak to us future college students. It was comforting knowing that someone with Hawaiian heritage could serve as a mentor to me in this next chapter while being away from home.

 

Sister Chris held a special place in her heart for us Hawai’i kids.

 

Not only was she the advisor for our Pacific Islanders Club, but she also taught a Hula class that I took for PE credit in college. Believe it or not, for someone born and raised in Hawaii, this was my first semi-formal experience with hula.

Yes, when you grow up in Hawai’i, you are surrounded by the culture and customs, but you are only a bystander unless you intentionally seek to learn and practice those customs and traditions. That’s what I was mostly; a bystander just observing and appreciating. But in this class, and for the first time really, I was learning hula in an organized manner that included cultural and historical ‘ike (knowledge).

Sister Chris was always a beacon of light and support for all of her students and loved ones. But like I said, she had a special place in her heart for us Hawaii kids. This meant that she often encouraged us to join her in her Hawaii-related activities

 

...such as taking hula as a PE class, helping to transcribe old Hawaiian newspapers, and volunteering at the annual Iā ʻOe E Ka Lā Hula Competition & Festival.

 

The first Iā ‘Oe competition I went to was in 2013. It was no Merrie Monarch but for a homesick little 19-year-old I was SO happy to be there. For the first time since leaving for college, I could close my eyes and (almost) feel like I was back at home. The food, the people talking all around me, and of course the amazing displays of hula and culture. AHA was also competing this year, but at the time I was SO oblivious to the hula world; who was who, what was what. I just sat there in awe and clapped, thinking that maybe I could start coming every year and it would help my homesickness!

Fast forward to 2015. I graduated from college and had participated in our Pacific Islanders club for a couple of years. I kept in touch with Sister Chris, and she would often urge me to join a hula hālau in the Bay Area since I was staying for graduate school. Maybe she saw potential, but I think she knew how homesick I was and how much I needed to really grow in my own personal understanding and connection of my Hawaiian culture.

But...I had just started a new job on top of grad school and didn’t think I had the time for another commitment. She told me to check out The Academy AHA, and I had watched AHA on TV compete at Merrie Monarch a few times, so I made a mental note and put it on the back burner for when I felt like I had more time.

Coincidences are crazy...and I absolutely believe everything happens for a reason. In my first year of grad school, I met a few friends that I still keep in touch with, but one in particular is a BIG reason why I ended up at AHA that year.

What are the odds that a girl from Kapolei, Hawai’i would end up in a tiny (maybe 16-20 students) class at a small private graduate school, with my kumu hula’s brother-in-law??? I’d say slim- so I took that as the last sign I needed. He encouraged me to go to an upcoming open enrollment class in January 2017, and the rest was history.

 

Shoutout Aunty Pua for keeping me on that email list to get those updates (;

 

It took me leaving Hawai’i, the motherland, and all my friends and family behind to become more intentional in being Hawaiian. We all know that through hula, we become a vessel for the narratives of our ancestors, carrying the weight of their wisdom, experiences, struggles, and triumphs. When I get in the zone during practices or performances, there are moments when I feel a profound connection to a rich heritage that had been dormant within me for so long.

Through this journey, I realized that my cultural identity was not static; it was a dynamic force that could evolve and adapt as I did.

 

Living in California didn't mean severing ties with my Hawaiian heritage; instead, it became an opportunity to rediscover my roots in new soil. 

 

To my fellow hula sisters and brothers, I wish us all the best of luck on this Merrie Monarch 2024 journey.

To our supporters, we could not do this without you! MAHALO NUI, and stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

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