{"id":183428,"date":"2023-09-12T17:15:37","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T03:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=183428"},"modified":"2023-09-13T15:30:32","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T01:30:32","slug":"tongan-princess-seeks-resources-from-hamilton-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/09\/12\/tongan-princess-seeks-resources-from-hamilton-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Tongan princess seeks resources from Hamilton Library, receives royal welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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From left, Tina Tauasosi, Macmillan Willyander, Malia Tonga, Christine Paletuʻa<\/span>-Shimasaki, HRH<\/abbr> Princess L\u0101t\u016bfuipeka, Kalo Cornett and Fiorenzo Toncan. (Photo credit: Phedeas Leger Malupo)
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most of us will never meet a member of a royal family, much less snap a selfie with one. That rare occasion occurred for one very excited student on September 5 inside Hamilton Library<\/a> at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n

Christine “Tini” Paletuʻa<\/span>-Shimasaki, a UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa senior majoring in Pacific Islands studies<\/a>, was over the moon after learning Princess Angelika L\u0101t\u016bfuipeka Halaevalu Mataʻaho<\/span> Napua-o-kalani Tukuʻaho<\/span> of Tonga had scheduled a visit to Hamilton Library\u2019s Hawaiian and Pacific Collections<\/a> for research.<\/p>\n

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Paletuʻa<\/span>-Shimasaki wasted no time and reached out to Honolulu\u2019s consular agency of Tonga to see how she could simply tell the royal, hello.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t care if she\u2019s walking down the little stretch on Maile Way to the door, I just wanna wave! That\u2019s all I wanna do,” Paletuʻa<\/span>-Shimasaki exclaimed. “I just want to go, ‘Hey girl, I\u2019m Tongan and you\u2019re Tongan and I go here.’ I just really wanted to say hi to her.”<\/p>\n

Princess L\u0101t\u016bfuipeka is the eldest child of Tupou VI<\/abbr>, the king of Tonga. The royal family is descended from three ancient dynasties of the kingdom. <\/p>\n

Royal greeting<\/h2>\n

After Tonga\u2019s consulate granted Paletuʻa<\/span>-Shimasaki permission to organize a formal welcome for the princess, she teamed up with UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa graduate student Malia Tonga and Kalo Cornett to spearhead proper protocol and gathered students such as Macmillan Willyander, Fiorenzo Toncan and Tina Tauasosi, a Community Partnership and Research Specialist at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa to collectively prepare.<\/p>\n

Upon the arrival of Princess L\u0101t\u016bfuipeka and her royal entourage on the library\u2019s fifth floor, she was greeted with a traditional royal greeting in lea fakatonga (Tongan language). Students asked permission to adorned her with lei, a custom called fakamokomoko or keeping royalty cool with fresh adornments.<\/p>\n

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Students laid out a woven mat for Tukuʻaho<\/span> and gifted lauhala baskets filled with UH<\/abbr> accessories.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They also set down a meʻa<\/span> ʻanga<\/span> or woven mat covered with ngatu (cloth) for the princess to sit, and abided by royal etiquette, ensuring their heads were always kept at a lower height than her.<\/p>\n

Pacific resources<\/h2>\n

According to the consular agency, Princess L\u0101t\u016bfuipeka was interested in accessing the library\u2019s extensive collection of Pacific Island materials. Hamilton houses the world\u2019s foremost collection of published works about Pacific Island nations from Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia and is internationally recognized for the excellence of its holdings which contains more than 100,000 volumes.<\/p>\n

For Paletuʻa<\/span>-Shimasaki, the princess\u2019 interest in delving into the university\u2019s substantial historical catalog reaffirmed why she chose to pursue her bachelor\u2019s degree at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n

“I wanted to go somewhere where I could continue learning about the Pacific region,” said Paletuʻa<\/span>-Shimasaki. “Now, even the princess of Tonga is coming to UH<\/abbr> for those same resources and for research! It\u2019s like a full circle for me because I know that I\u2019m supposed to be here.”<\/p>\n

The Center for Pacific Islands Studies<\/a> is part of the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa College of Arts, Languages and Letters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa students presented traditional protocol to honor Princess L\u0101t\u016bfuipeka Tukuʻaho<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[321,1471,128,1538,9],"class_list":["post-183428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-center-for-pacific-islands-studies","tag-college-of-arts-languages-and-letters","tag-manoa-library","tag-pacific-island-studies","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183428"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183495,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183428\/revisions\/183495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}