Hawaiian Imu

Paul got together with several of the people in our ward (mostly Samoan, and Tongan) and made this Hawaiian Imu for our ward Christmas party. It was an ALL day event. Matix and Lullaby went with Paul early in the morning, long before the sun came up, to start the fire and get the lava rocks hot enough.  They used wet banana branches to create all the smoke.  The kids loved helping.

The Imu started days before, when they collected rocks from specific beaches, and prayed a special Hawaiian prayer over them. This whole thing has been so interesting, and never something that anyone in our family has done before. They also prayed over the site where they were going to dig the hole, and again before they started the fire, and after the meat was there, and after it was buried. I am so happy my kids get to see this amazing Hawaiian (and Tongan and Samoan) culture up close. It's so cool.

After several hours of heating up the rocks until they were all glowing, they took some of them out of the pit.  Took the meat (pig and turkey) wrapped in several other plants, and then banana leaves and put them in the fire. They covered them back up with more rocks, and then dirt.  The Imu cooked for several hours, right up until it was dinner time at the church. They made SO much food. Everything was super yummy.  Thanks for all your hard work!

That's Matix standing on top of the whole thing. It was very smokey.