puʻili

The term puʻili is used primarily by hula dancers, kumu hula (teachers), and Hawaiian cultural practitioners to describe the traditional split-bamboo percussion instruments used in hula noho (seated hula) and hula ku (standing hula). It is appropriate to use when discussing Hawaiian music, May Day performances, or halau practices. It would be inappropriate and disrespectful to use the word to describe random sticks or toys, as puʻili are considered culturally significant implements that require proper care, handling, and respect. Historically, these rattles were carefully crafted from indigenous Hawaiian bamboo (ʻohe), with the slits cut precisely to produce a rustling sound reminiscent of wind or rain when struck against the dancer's body or another puʻili.

Maile dumped her backpack on the garage floor, pulling out a pair of perfectly uniform, mass-produced bamboo sticks she bought online for her Castle High School May Day performance. Her tutu, sitting on a folding chair peeling taro, took one look at the smooth, varnished wood and shook her head. "What is dat? Look like chopsticks for a giant."

"It's my puʻili for the hula, Tutu," Maile sighed, already defensive. "Two-day shipping. Everybody else in the line got the same ones so we match."

Tutu wiped her hands on her apron and stood up, walking over to the dusty rafters of the garage. She reached up and pulled down a cloth bundle, untying it to reveal a pair of aged, deeply golden bamboo rattles, the slits hand-carved and worn smooth from decades of striking. "You don't buy your puʻili from one website so you can match," she scolded, pressing the heavy, resonant bamboo into Maile's hands. "You use these. They sound like the rain in Kaneohe, not like plastic clicking together."