Question: What iconic instrument of Hawai'i can be traced back to Portuguese settlers in the Islands?

Answer: The 'ukulele, spawn of the Portuguese braguinha.

Want to learn more about the Portuguese in Hawai'i? Today the Waipahu Plantation Village turns the spotlight on Portuguese heritage as part of its ongoing, family-friendly and educational Relive the Plantation Days series.

Among the highlights is a genealogy workshop, presented by the Portuguese Genealogical Society, in which you can trace your roots through a list of ships that arrived in Hawai'i carrying workers from Portugal. The workshop is free; research kits are $5. After the workshop, there will be a parade of Portuguese costumes.

Portuguese food — vinha d'ahlos (pickled pork), Portuguese bread and bean soup — will be available, too, in addition to hotdogs, teri burgers and drinks.

Other multicultural activities include an Okinawan taisho koto demonstration and red-rice tasting; mahjong demonstration; Puerto Rican gandule rice sampling; Filipino sari sari (stew) demo/tasting and escrima (martial-arts) demo; hula, Hawaiian crafts and taro sampling; and plantation games.

And the entire village — a nonprofit museum of restored buildings and replicas from the Islands' plantation days — will be open for touring.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is $7 general, $4 kama'aina and military, free for kids 12 and younger and Hawai'i Plantation Village members. The village is at 94-095 Waipahu St. 677-0110.