Heilala festival

The Heilala Festival was first organized in 1980 by the Tonga Tourist Association and the Tonga Visitors Bureau when celebrating of His Late Majesty’s King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV birthday. This year’s 29th Anniversary of Heilala Festival Celebrates another diverse program. The theme for this year, “Tonga Fiefia” or “Happy Tonga” in celebration of His Majesty’s King George Tupou V birthday.

The Heilala Pageant has become the highlight of the National Heilala Festival with young beautiful ladies from New Zealand, Australia, United States, Vavaʻu, Haʻapai and ʻEua Islands, joining our local ladies to compete for the coveted title of Miss Heilala 2009 – 2010.

The Festival is named after our national flower, the Heilala, which is the highest in the hierarchy of the Tongan flowers. The Heilala plant has both male and female variety. The Heilala plant is very difficult to propagate and has to be closely nurtured to survive.

Just like the Heilala plant, the young ladies competing for the Miss Heilala title are closely scrutinized in order that we may select the most suitable amabassador for the Kingdom’s tourism industry. In her duties as Miss Heilala, the winner is expected to assist the Ministry of Tourism and the Tonga Tourist Association in Tourist promotions both locally and abroad. In addition, this year’s Miss Heilala will become the Kingdom’s entrant to Miss South Pacific held in Fiji.

One of the most popular event during the Heilala Pageant is the Miss Tauʻolunga Competition. This popular event is an ideal occasion to see our Heritage and Culture that depicts graciously from the dance. The Tauʻolunga is a classic solo dance – the costume, the “set piece” movements and the grace and art of their execution and the natural charm and beauty of the dancers are all taken into account in the judging of the Miss Heilala Tauʻolunga.

Recognizing the technical complexities of the Miss Heilala competition, a panel of experts of each category are put together to judge each selected independent event. The judges are brief with guidelines to ensure consistencies and transparencies throughout the pageant. The judges will also take account of the contestant’s grasp of Tongan and English languages, their understanding of Tongan Culture and their empowerment of knowledge. Those elements are essential in the selection process of Miss Heilala.

Message from the President of the Tonga Tourist Association

It is always a privilege to be involved in any event that unites our community and stimulates our fragile economy.

Regardless of the current global economic downturn, Tonga Tourist Association (TTA), the umbrella non-government organization for tourism in Tonga, together with the Ministry of Tourism are expanding the Heilala Festival to a level that has never been experienced before. The Festival is to bring happiness and to help renew our economy in many ways.

This year is the 29th Anniversary of the Heilala Festival and it is the only consistent Festival within the Pacific Islands.

Our beloved King, George Tupou V, is the Patron of the Heilala Festival and all these celebrations from the 8th July until 1st August are to mark and  celebrate His Majesty’s official ascension to the Throne. His Majesty’s principal vision is to make sure his people are happy and advance in every way of life.

Tourism is our biggest hope to maintain and achieve this vision and it is the largest revenue earner here in the Island Kingdom – second only to remittances. It is very important during this economic downturn for the tourism industry and government to regroup, reassess, strategize and get ready for the coming upswing.

Though all ideas should be welcomed, our tourism sector would be ill advised to consider quick fixes and listen to unreliable consultancies from institutions that do not directly involve, understand, and know our market. The economic downturn is affecting the momentum that the industry has been painstakingly and expensively built up in the past years. Now, we have to work on strategies that will help recapture the momentum.

Interest Rates are the biggest challenge within the industry and TTA submitted a Stimulus package Proposal to government which was approved by Parliament. This is a huge relief to the industry that has never been resolved in the past. We are now more hopeful and anticipating a “better Tonga”.

I am sure you will all enjoy this year’s Heilala Festival and its Theme “Happy Tonga”.

Long Live The King and Happy Birthday Your Majesty!

Message from the Minister of Tourism

On behalf of the Tourism Industry of Tonga may I welcome you to our group of Islands, where you will be able to appreciate the culture and history of our Kingdom during our Heilala Festival.

To our Tongan families and friends, to our guests who are here for the Heilala Festivities, I extend to you a heartfelt welcome. I hope you will find your time in Tonga a most memorable one. You will find the activities of this week a delight and a pool of fond memories.

The Heilala Festival symbolizes Tonga’s great pride in its cultural heritage. During this week of fund filled activities you will experience the grace and magnificence of our traditional dances, the intricacies and artistry of craftsmen of past and present and the crowning of Miss Heilala 2009. Heilala Week is a testimony to the world that Tongans have a living culture nurtured by a strong sense of history, national pride and traditional values.

Music has always been an integral part of Tongan life and the Heilala Week is the perfect time to share with Tongans their musical joy, their gift for song and harmony.

Lastly, to all our guests, may your experience be memorable and exiting, that you take away fond memories. To the Tongan people, I thank you for your support and hard work in making this Heilala Festival a success. I wish you all a happy Heilala Festival.

Message from the Miss Heilala 2007 – 2008

My reign as Miss Heilala and Miss South Pacific 2007 – 2008 has been one of the most beneficial yet trialling experiences of my life. It has forced me to grow as an individual, as well as develop a better understanding of who I am and my cultural identity, I know that things I have experienced within the past year will last me a lifetime, not because of the glory, but the opportunity I have had to represent the people and country I love and hold dear to my heart.

It was exactly twenty years ago that I was born here, since than, I have always felt a special connection to Tonga. Although I was raised in Hawaiʻi, Tonga will always be my home. It is here in Tonga that my ancestors planted their roots, in which I inherited. My success in life is due to my heavenly fathers love and the sacrifice my ancestors made to lay the foundation for me and my family to have a future. I will never forget who I am and where I come from.

I am also most grateful for the experiences I have had working here in Tonga. My life has been deeply impacted by the love and kindness I constantly receive. I will never forget the opportunities I have had and the many people I have met through these experiences. I want to thank them for all the love and support. I could not have done it without them.

Lastly I want to commend this year’s participants in the Heilala Pageant for their courage and devotion to represent the beauty of a Tongan woman. It is through these experiences that will bring you closer and more familiar with whom you are. It is also an opportunity for you to grow, develop, and show appreciation for your culture and your people.

Thank you again for a wonderful year as Miss Heiala 2007 – 2008. I will forget the memories I have had as your representative of Tonga.

Message from the Miss Heilala 2008 – 2009

Fakafetaʻi ki he ʻotua he ʻoku lelei ia he ʻoku tolonga ‘o taʻengata ʻa ʻene ʻaloʻofa. ʻOku ou fakamālō ki he ʻotua he tōfā hala maʻaku pea u ʻinasi ai he tapuaki ko e Miss Heilala 2008 – 2009. How do I count the ways? I am blessed, and it has been an honour and a privilege to be an ambassador of our beloved country. This whole journey has opened my eyes to new horizons, to new social networks, to countless international friendships I will cherish forever.

I had my own notions about what the whole Heilala pageant would be about, and i have been pleasantly surprised since last year. I was given the opportunity to spend a brief 3 month period here in Tonga from December 2008 – February 2009 to work in the Ministry of Tourism and it was one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences of my life. I managed to learn the Tongan language, my eyes have been opened to the Tongan way of life, to the underlying values which underpin and sustain our way of life and culture, the importance of family, religion, faka’apa’apa and the prevalence of social hierarchy.

Coming from a Western country where money and economic success are the bulwarks of identity, I am so glad this experience taught me the real value of life, of money, and of the richness of simplicity. To witness and experience first-hand how Tongan people are humble, loving, care-free and God-fearing has taught me to be grateful for life. I have learnt to live without wants, without petty desires, without the luxuries of Westernization, and I know I am a better person for it has humbled me, and made me true to myself and my country.

Indeed it has been a beautiful experience for the most part. To the critics and pessimists, I thank you for your critiques – it has made me a stronger, prouder, more confident Tongan woman. A favourite quote of mine that hs stuck with me is by Ben Okri: “the most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to transform, to endure, to love and to be greater than our suffering.” I hope this year’s Heilala contestants can take to this for it has been my pillar. Indeed highs and lows are an ineveitable part of pageant life and I am so thankful I have made it through to the end of the road, a more mature and more patient person. I have witnessed and am well aware of the needs of our country and people. I regret that I do not have more time to give back to Tonga and its people what it has given me, an identity and respect. I have learnt the hard way the beauty of womanhood, the virture of preserving our culture, and the potential for greatness. Our beautiful Island Kingdom is unique, and it is majectic. Change is ineveitable, yes...but I hope after this year’s pageant that the contestants will realize the significance of Heilala, which is not so much a competition of beautiful ladies vying for the crown, but a reminder to each and every one of us of our Tongan heritage and culture.

I thank the Tonga Tourism Association and its members. I thank the Ministry of Tourism, the Tongan Government, Lady Maria, my designer Tito Schmidt of Lavashe Couture for his beautiful and inspiring numbers. I would like to thank my beautiful and amazing mother – Siosiʻana Lupeʻeke Tupou Kalauta (Kolovai) for her undying support, for her hard work, for her sacrifices, for her love, for her advice, for her strong will and her capacity to shield me from the worst. I would not be who I am or where I am without her. I thank my chaperone Tiana Namoa for accompanying and encouraging me throughout this year. To my sister, Nunia Lupe Mākisi – thank you for the hula and belly dance choreography, to my brothers, Paula Nofomuli and Setitaia Taulanga He ʻOfa Mākisi – I thank you for keeping me humber, keeping me level headed and down to earth. But most of all, thank you Tonga for the memories, for the history, for the love, and most of all, for the identity.