Local Hawaiians have luàu to celebrate important occasions such as birthdays, weddings and graduations. An especially important luau is for a baby’s first birthday. The reason the baby luáu is so important is that traditionally in some Hawaiian families, the baby was not given a name until the first birthday. This gave the grandparents and others a chance to watch the baby and pick a name appropriate to that baby’s mission in life.

But today, Hawaiians use the word luau to refer to this party gathering. If you have an opportunity to go to a luau, you should go for a real Hawaiian experience. There is usually lots of great food, music and hula. The food traditionally served at a luau includes kalua pig, which is pork that has been cooked in an imu or underground oven, fish, limu (seaweed), crab, he’e (octopus), opihi (limpets), lau lau (pork and vegetables wrapped in leaves) and poi.