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Hui Panalāʻau

Part of the equatorial “Line Islands” and “Pacific Remote Islands,” Baker, Howland and Jarvis Islands were first formed as fringing reefs around islands formed by volcanoes (approximately 120-75 million years ago). As the volcanoes subsided, the coral reefs grew upward forming low coral islands.

Howland Island lies 1,650 sea miles to the southwest of Honolulu, and 48 miles north of the equator. It and Baker Island, which lies about 35 miles to the south and a little east, are located northwest of the Phoenix group, and are 1,000 miles west of Jarvis.

There is evidence to suggest that Howland Island was the site of prehistoric settlement, probably in the form of a single community utilizing several adjacent islands. Archaeological sites have been discovered on Manra and Orona, which suggest two distinct groups of settlers, one from eastern Polynesia and one from Micronesia.

US whaling ships first sighted the islands in 1822.  The islands are habitat for birds.  Alfred G Benson and Charles H Judd took formal possession of the islands (as well as Jarvis Island) in 1857 in the name of the American Guano Company of New York (consistent with the Guano Act of August 18, 1856.)

The Guano Act stated that “when any citizen of the United States discovers a guano deposit on any island, rock, or key, not within the lawful jurisdiction of any other government, and takes peaceable possession thereof, and occupies the same island, rock, or key, it appertains to the United States.”

“The Peruvian Government has monopolized the supply of Guano throughout the United States … on account of said monopoly, the Farmers of this country have hithertofore been obliged to pay for said article about $50 a ton … it is the duty of the American Government to assert its sovereignty over any and all barren and uninhabitable guano islands of the ocean which have been or hereafter may be discovered by citizens of the United States …” (American Guano Company Prospectus, 1856)

“This Company own(s) an island in the Pacific Ocean, covered with a deposit of more than two hundred million tons of ammoniated guano and have dispatched a ship, agent, and men, to maintain possession thereof.” (American Guano Company Prospectus, 1856)

Rich guano deposits were mined throughout the later part of the 19th century, however, the guano business gradually disappeared, just before the turn of the century.  Thoughts of and activities on the islands disappeared.

Then, in mid-1930s, the US Bureau of Air Commerce (later known as Department of Commerce) was looking for sites along the air route between Australia and California to support trans-Pacific flight operations (non-stop, trans-Pacific flying was not yet possible, so islands were looked to as potential sites for the construction of intermediate landing areas.)

The United States reasserted its claim to the islands in 1935 (followed by President Franklin D Roosevelt issuing Executive Order 7368 to clarify American sovereignty and jurisdiction over the islands, on May 13, 1936.)

To affirm a claim, international law required non-military occupation of all neutral islands for at least one year.  An American colony was established.

The US Bureau of Air Commerce believed that native Hawaiian men would be best suited for the role as colonizers and they turned to Kamehameha Schools graduates to fill the role.

“They looked for someone that had some Hawaiian background. And that’s why they came to Kamehameha Schools to see if they can get someone from the school to participate because of our descendance as part-Hawaiians, that we would be used to the South Pacific or wherever.”  (James Carroll, colonist)

School administration selected the participants based on various academic, citizenship and ROTC-related criteria, as well as their meeting specified requirements for the job: “The boys have to be grown-up, know how to fish in the native manner, swim excellently and handle a boat, that they be disciplined, friendly, and unattached, that they could stand the rigors of a South Seas existence.”

On March 30, 1935, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Itasca departed in secrecy from Honolulu Harbor with 6 young Hawaiians aboard (all recent graduates of Kamehameha Schools) and 12 furloughed army personnel, whose purpose was to occupy the barren islands of Baker, Howland and Jarvis for 3-months.

“Once you get there, you wish you never got there. You know, you’re on this island just all by yourself and it’s, you know, nothing there at all. Just birds, birds, millions and millions of birds. And you just don’t know what to do with yourself, you know. It takes you a while to adjust to that, but once you adjust to it, it’s fine.”  (Elvin Mattson, colonist)

The American colonists were landed from the Itasca, April 3, 1935. They have built a lighthouse, substantial dwellings and attempt to grow various plants.

Cruises by Coast Guard cutters made provisioning trips approximately every three months to refit and rotate the colonists stationed on each island. Soon plans were put into place to build airfields on the islands and permanent structures were built.

In addition to their basic duties of collecting meteorological data for the government, the colonists kept busy by building and improving their camps, clearing land, growing vegetables, attempting reforestation and collecting scientific data for the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.

In their free time, they would fish, dive, swim, surf/bodysurf, lift weights, box, play football, hunt rats, experiment with bird recipes, play music, sing and find other ways of occupying themselves.

Tragedy struck twice: Carl Kahalewai, a graduate of McKinley High School, died of appendicitis while he was being rushed home for an emergency operation; and on December 8, 1941, when the islands of Howland and Baker were bombed and shelled by the Japanese, Joseph Keliʻihananui and Richard “Dickie” Whaley were killed.

Howland Island played a role in the tragic disappearance of Amelia Earhart and Fred J Noonan during their around-the-world flight in 1937. They left Lae, New Guinea and headed for Howland Island; the Itasca was at Howland Island to guide Earhart to the island once she arrived in the vicinity – they didn’t arrive and were never seen again.  A lighthouse (later a day beacon) was built on Howland Island in Earhart’s honor.

The colonists were removed, following Japanese attacks on the islands in 1942. US military personnel occupied the islands during World War II. The islands have remained unoccupied since that time, but they are visited annually by US Fish and Wildlife personnel because the islands are a National Wildlife Refuge and later part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.

During the 7 years of colonization (1936-1942,) more than 130 young men participated in the project, the majority of whom were Hawaiian; none of the islands were ever used for commercial aviation, but the islands eventually served military purposes.  (Pan American Airways used Canton (Kanton) Island for its trans-Pacific flight flying boat operations.)

As early as 1939, members of previous trips formed a club to “perpetuate the fellowship of Hawaiian youths who have served as colonists on American equatorial islands.” Initially they were called the “Hui Kupu ʻĀina,” which suggests the idea of sprouting, growing and increasing land. By 1946 the group’s name had changed to “Hui Panalāʻau,” which has been variously translated as “club of settlers of the southern islands,” “holders of the land society” and “society of colonists.”

(Lots of information and images here are from Bishop Museum.)  The image shows four of the colonists (BishopMuseum;)  In addition, I have added other related images and maps in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa

We are happy to announce that Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association (NaHHA,) serving as the sponsor for the Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa Scenic Byway, has retained Hoʻokuleana LLC to assist in the application, designation and planning processes for the Byway through the Hawaiʻi Scenic Byway Program.

The Hawaiʻi Scenic Byways Program is designed to complement the National Scenic Byways Program, a nationwide effort to identify, promote, manage and invest in roadways that are the most significant in their region with regard to these scenic, historic, recreational, cultural, archeological and natural qualities.

The purpose of the Hawai`i Scenic Byways Program is to formally designate Hawaiʻi Scenic Byways and to establish and implement Corridor Management Plans (CMPs) for our corridors.

The Hawaii Scenic Byways Program identifies and recognizes:
• roads that “tell a story” that is special;
• roads with outstanding scenic, cultural, recreational, archaeological, natural and historic qualities; and
• roads that will benefit from a coordinated strategy for tourism and economic development

First, the name – it is not only descriptive of the meaning and feeling of Waikīkī as we know it today, it is also a metaphor of Waikīkī in traditional (ancient Hawaiian) times, at multiple levels.

In ancient times, a ‘kauhale’ was a cluster of structures [a living compound.]  The traditional Hawaiian home was the kauhale (Lit., plural house;) this was a group of structures forming the homestead – with each building serving a specific purpose.

Literally, ‘Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa’ translates to ‘Waikīkī – Home of Hospitality.’  But, this context of “Home” can expand and also represent the community of Waikīkī.

Starting with Māʻilikūkahi, who ruled in the 1400-1500s (at about the same time Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic,) Waikīkī became the Royal Center for Oʻahu’s ruling Aliʻi.  It remained as such, through Kamehameha I.

The Royal Centers were areas selected by the Ali‘i for their residences and Ali‘i often moved between several residences throughout the year.  The Royal Centers were selected for their abundance of resources (water, fishing, fertile land, etc) and recreation opportunities, with good surfing and canoe-landing sites being favored.

The Scenic Byways program serves to identify “Intrinsic Qualities” along the corridor; these include Scenic, Natural, Historic, Cultural, Archaeological and Recreational.

These intrinsic qualities break into two clusters:
“Land” (Scenic, Natural and Recreational,) and
“People” (Historic, Cultural and Archaeological)

Sites and Stories of Waikīkī, as illustrated through its Intrinsic Qualities, help tell the stories of the Land (‘Āina) and its People from the earliest beginnings of Hawai‘i to today.  Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa will be incorporating several core story themes:
• Royal Residences
• Visitor Industry
• Military
• Natural/Geologic
• Socio-Economic-Political
• Side Trips

Although many of the sites and structures of Waikīkī from the ancient times are long gone, many of these pre-contact Hawaiian places, environment, people, history and culture still convey the sense of earlier importance through continued use of original place names for areas, streets, surf sites, symbols, etc and other references to these people, places and times.  Though gone, they are not forgotten and continue to express the ways of the past.

Through the telling of stories of Waikīkī (and a goal of the establishment of a Scenic Byway (and dream of NaHHA founder, George Kanahele,)) we help to restore Hawaiianness to Waikīkī in a positive, productive and respectful way.

The sense of place of Waikīkī lies within these stories, under the overarching contexts of “Aloha” and “Hoʻokipa” (Hospitality.)

“Waikīkī’s significance is as a place of history, not destination.” (George Kanahele)  Restoring some of Waikīkī’s historical and cultural integrity through Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa Scenic Byway will help to illustrate “I ka wā mamua, ka wā mahope” (The future is in the past.)

This is our third Scenic Byway opportunity.  We also assisted the Kona Sponsor of “Royal Footsteps Along the Kona Coast” with their Corridor Management Plan (the first approved in the State,) as well as helping the Kōloa Sponsor of Holo Holo Kōloa Scenic Byway with their permits and CMP.

In addition to each of those receiving Historic Preservation Commendations from Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation, the Kona project also received the Environment/Preservation Award from the American Planning Association-Hawaiʻi Chapter and the Pualu Award for Culture & History from the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce.

For more information on this project, you can click the following link for a background summary of Waikīkī,  the Scenic Byway Program and the many stories that are told along its roadways.

Click here for more information on the Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa

The image shows our theme image, theme statement and mission/vision – ultimately, we see this Scenic Byway helping to “Restore Hawaiianness to Waikīkī.”

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Aliʻiolani Hale

By 1866, the need for a new courthouse government building in the Hawaiian Kingdom was apparent.  The old courthouse, completed in 1852, accommodated not only the judicial needs, but also served as the reception hall for diplomatic ceremonies and official social functions.

The legislature appropriated funds towards a new palace and a new government building. Delays ensued.  Plans for a new palace were postponed, but the new courthouse moved forward.

On February 19, 1872, Kamehameha V laid the cornerstone for the new building.

The use of concrete blocks, a fairly new building material, “infinitely superior for both durability and ornament,” was recommended and accepted by Public Works.  (The coral foundation supports concrete block bearing walls varying in thickness from 17″ to 22″.)

To increase the work force, convicts were brought from the prison and made to labor on the project. In 1874, during the reign of King Kalākaua, the building was finally completed.

Lively events characterized Aliʻiolani Hale’s first year. Already designated as the home of the Legislature, in May of 1874, the Judiciary Department also moved into the new government building.

In July, the Law Library took up residence on the second floor with “3,000 law books and 2,000 scientific books.” By September, Aliʻiolani Hale housed the first National Museum in the Hawaiian Kingdom.

An appeal made to the public requested the donation of artifacts: “Old Hawaiian ornaments and utensils, Hawaiian minerals and preserved zoological specimens are particularly desired.”

CJ Lyons made scientific use of the building late that year as an observation site for the transit of Venus. The transits of Venus occur only four times in 243 years, and at that time, this astronomical event was the best known means of determining the dimensions of our planetary system.

Aliʻiolani Hale played a role in the Wilcox insurrection. Unhappy with the changes in the constitution of 1887, the young hapa-Hawaiian, Robert Wilcox, and several hundred armed men marched into the neighborhood on the morning of July 30, 1889.

At 6 am, twelve of the men took over Aliʻiolani Hale, and the rest moved into the ʻIolani Palace yard. By noon, volleys of rifle shots were exchanged between Wilcox’s men and government forces.

Wilcox’s men, stationed in the Palace yard, were surrounded by the government troops whose sharpshooters were placed in nearby buildings, including the tower of Kawaiahaʻo church.

The rebellion came to a halt when government authorities hurled homemade dynamite bombs into the Palace yard scattering the rebellious constituent.

In the small room beneath the clock tower, often used as an artist’s studio at Aliʻiolani Hale, a sculptor was working on a bust of Kalākaua. He reported, on that day, that stray bullets created “a disturbing background” for his artistic endeavor.

Seeking to abolish the Hawaiian Monarchy, the Committee of Public Safety took over Aliʻiolani Hale on January 17, 1893. Here, was the reading of the declaration of the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands during the Revolution of 1893.

The Honolulu Rifles, a volunteer group of men who supported the Committee of Safety, assembled there in opposition to the loyalist guard stationed across King Street at the Palace.  With horse blankets and boxes of hard tack, the Honolulu Rifles camped in the halls of Aliʻiolani Hale.

Queen Liliʻuokalani, in order to avoid violence, abrogated the monarchy and the troops did not engage in armed conflict. After the establishment of the Republic of Hawaiʻi, most likely to disassociate the new government with the monarchy, the new officials renamed Aliʻiolani Hale, “The Judiciary Building.” The legislature then moved to ʻIolani Palace which was renamed the “Executive Building.”

Hawaiʻi almost lost Aliʻiolani Hale in 1937 when the territorial planning board drafted plans to demolish the structure and build a new Judiciary Building. Former Chief Justice and Governor Walter Frear strongly opposed the idea, and the Honolulu Advertiser picked up the torch in support of Frear announcing that “The Old Judiciary Building is threatened by the march of progress.”

Instead of demolition, repairs and plans for a new wing were approved. Construction began in March of 1941, but was considerably hampered by the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December. The new wing was finally completed in 1944, the same year that Martial law was lifted. In 1949, a second story was added to the new wing to complete the structure that stands today as Aliʻiolani Hale.

By 1951, the building, even with the new wing, was overcrowded and not providing adequate space for the needs of a growing Judiciary. In 1960, it was recommended that a new court building be constructed and that Aliʻiolani Hale retain the Supreme Court, the Land Court, the Administrative Offices, and the Law Library.

In 1965, the interior of the building was refurbished at a cost exceeding the total expenditures for the building in 1874.

Today, Aliʻiolani Hale houses the Supreme Court of Hawaiʻi, the court administration offices, a law library and the Judiciary History Center.

While decisions are made affecting the present and future of Hawaiʻi by the Supreme Court, the Judiciary History Center interprets over 200 years of law and judicial history in the Hawaiian Islands.

From Monarchy to statehood, Aliʻiolani Hale has faithfully served the people of Hawaiʻi. Kings and queens have walked its halls. Revolutions have been lost and won around it. Sensational cases have been tried in its courtrooms. Since 1874, Supreme Court rulings affecting the future of Hawaiʻi and its people have been decided within its walls.

Open to the general public, the History Center reflects the unique legal and judicial history of our islands from the days of kapu to the present.

The inspiration and information here is from the Judiciary History Center (as well as the National Register.)  The image shows Aliʻiolani Hale in 1875 (before the Kamehameha Statue.)  In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Keʻelikōlani – Princess Ruth

A great-granddaughter of Kamehameha, a grand-niece to Kamehameha II and III, and a half-sister of Kamehameha IV and V, Ruth Keʻelikōlani was born in Pohukaina, O‘ahu on February 9, 1826.

Ruth’s heritage was controversial.  She was the poʻolua (“two heads”) child of Kāhalaiʻa and Kekūanāoʻa.  (Johnson)

Her mother, Pauahi, was said to be carrying the child of Kāhalaiʻa when she married Kekūanāoʻa. Kekūanāoʻa claimed Keʻelikōlani as his own in court, and the matter was officially settled, though it would be debated again in later years, even by her own half-brother, Lot.  (Nogelmeier)

After Pauahi’s death, Kekūanāoʻa married Kīna‘u, and they became the parents of Lot Kapuāiwa, Alexander Liholiho, and Victoria Kamāmalu, making Keʻelikōlani a half-sister to these three.

Her mother, Pauahi, died while giving birth to Keʻelikōlani, who was then cared for by Kamehameha’s wife, Ka‘ahumanu, who herself died six years later. The Princess was then sent to live with her father, Kekūanāoʻa, and her stepmother, Kīnaʻu.

At the age of sixteen, Keʻelikōlani married William Pitt Leleiōhoku. While serving as governor of Hawai‘i Island, Leleiōhoku died, only twenty-two years old. They had two children, only one of whom – William Pitt Kīnaʻu – survived childhood. Tragically, he died at the age of seventeen in an accident on Hawai‘i.

Keʻelikōlani’s second husband was the part-Hawaiian Isaac Young Davis, grandson of Isaac Davis (a Welsh advisor to King Kamehameha I.)

In 1862, they had a son, Keolaokalani (‘The Life of the Heavenly One.’)  (No one knew then that Keolaokalani would be the last baby born into the Kamehameha line.)  Keʻelikōlani gave him as a hānai to Bernice Pauahi.

Lot (Kamehameha V,) forced Ruth to renounce all ties with Keolaokalani as her heir. (But six months was all the time Pauahi would have with her son. He died on August 29, 1862.)

Then Lot insisted that she adopt William Pitt Leleiōhoku II, King Kalākaua’s youngest brother and heir apparent.    She did; however, Leleiōhoku predeceased Ruth.

Determined to uphold the honor of her ancestors, she retained many traditional religious practices. Although she learned English among other subjects at the missionary-run Chief’s Children’s School, she was a staunch supporter of the Hawaiian language and traditional cultural practices.

Able to speak and write English, she chose not to. Trained in the Christian religion, she held fast to practices and beliefs that were considered pagan, including her patronage of chanters and hula dancers.  (Nogelmeier)

When Madame Pele threatened the town of Hilo with a lava flow in 1881, the people asked Keʻelikōlani to intercede. The Hawaiian-language newspaper Ko Hawai‘i Pae Aina published a letter with the heading “Ka Pele ai Honua ma Hilo” (Pele, devourer of land at Hilo) that describes the immediate danger, “Hapalua Mile ka Mamao mai ke Koana aku” (the distance from town being only one half mile). Ke‘elikōlani offered traditional oli (chants) and hoʻokupu (tribute) to Pele and later reportedly camped at the foot of the flow. The flow stopped just short of town.  (Bishop Museum)

She was a member of the Privy Council (1847,) the House of Nobles (1855-1857) and served as Governor of the island of Hawaiʻi (1855-1874.)

She was godmother to Princess Kaʻiulani. At Kaʻiulani’s baptism, Ruth gifted 10-acres of her land in Waikīkī where Kaʻiulani’s father Archibald Cleghorn built the ʻĀinahau Estate.

Keʻelikōlani was respected as one of considerable rank, and as time passed, she was said to be “Ka Pua Alii Kiekie pili ponoi o ko Kamehameha Hale – the highest-ranking descendant of Kamehameha’s line … ke Alii kahiko aku i ko na Alii e ae a pau – the chiefess with the most historic lineage of all”.  (Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, 1883 – Nogelmeier)

Throughout her life she was regularly addressed by all as Ka Mea Kiʻekiʻe – Highness. Foreigners knew her as “Princess Ruth.”

By the time King Kalākaua was elected, Keʻelikōlani was the richest woman in the kingdom, having inherited the estates of her parents and siblings.

Despite owning Huliheʻe Palace, a Western-style house in Kailua-Kona, she chose to live in a large, traditional grass home on the grounds of that oceanfront property.

She later chose to build Keōua Hale, a large, ornate mansion on her land in Honolulu.  Keōua Hale was a Victorian-style mansion, and the most expansive residence of the time; it was larger than ʻIolani Palace.

The house was completed in 1883; however, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani never lived in the palace. She became ill immediately after the house warming and birthday luau.

Her doctors recommended that she return to Huliheʻe, her Kailua-Kona residence, where they believed she would more quickly regain her health.  She died in 1883 at Haleʻōlelo at her large native-style home (thatch house) on the grounds of Huliheʻe Palace in Kailua, Hawaiʻi.

At her death, Keʻelikōlani’s will stated that she “give and bequeath forever to my beloved younger sister (cousin), Bernice Pauahi Bishop, all of my property, the real property and personal property from Hawaiʻi to Kauaʻi, all of said property to be hers.” (about 353,000 acres)

This established the land-base endowment for Pauahi’s subsequent formation of Kamehameha Schools at her death.  Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop passed away a year later.

The image shows Keʻelikōlani in 1877; in addition, I have added related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Na Pōhaku Ola Kapaemahu A Kapuni – The Healing (Wizard) Stones of Kapaemahu

Pōhaku or stones are believed to hold mana or spiritual power. Pōhaku are featured in shrines as manifestations of ʻaumakua (family guardians,) akua (deities) and ʻuhane (spirits.) Throughout the islands are famous and named pōhaku which figure prominently in healing and health.

At Waikīkī, Oʻahu on Kūhiō Beach Hawaiian legend says Na Pōhaku Ola Kapaemahu A Kapuni were placed here in tribute to four soothsayers, Kapaemahu, Kahaloa, Kapuni and Kinohi, who came from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi (long before the reign of Oʻahu’s chief Kakuhihewa in the 16th century.)

Kapaemahu was the leader of the four and honored for his ability to cast aside carnality and care for both men and women. Kapuni was said to envelop his patients with his mana. While Kinohi was the clairvoyant diagnostician, Kahaloa— whose name means “long breath”—was said to be able to breathe life into her patients.

The art of healing they practiced is known in the Islands as la‘au lapa‘au. In this practice, plants and animals from the land and sea, which are known to have healing properties, are combined with great wisdom to treat the ailing.

They gained fame and popularity because they were able to cure the sick by laying their hands upon them. Before they returned to Tahiti, they asked the people to erect four large pōhaku as a permanent reminder of their visit and the cures they had accomplished.

Legend says that these stones were brought into Waikīkī from Waiʻalae Avenue in Kaimuki, nearly two miles away. Waikīkī was a marshland devoid of any large stones. These stones are basaltic, the same type of stone found in Kaimukī.

On the night of Kāne (the night that the moon rises at dawn,) the people began to move the rocks from Kaimukī to Kūhiō Beach.  During a month-long ceremony, the healers are said to have transferred their names — Kapaemahu, Kahaloa, Kapuni and Kinohi — and or spiritual power, to the stones.

One of the pōhaku used to rest where the surf would roll onto the beach known to surfers as “Baby Queens”, the second pōhaku would be found on the ʻEwa side of ʻApuakehau Stream (site of Royal Hawaiian Hotel), and the last two pōhaku once sat above the water line fronting Ulukou (near the site of the present Moana Hotel.)

It was not until the first decade of the 1900s that Gov. Archibald Cleghorn discovered two stones on his property and two on an adjacent property.

Recognizing their significance, Cleghorn had them excavated and placed together on his estate with the stipulation that they should not be moved.

However, in 1941, the estate land was leased out for the building of a bowling alley.   Upon the bowling alley’s demolition, in 1958, the stones were identified and repaired.  (They were used in the building’s foundation.)

Then, in 1963, they were relocated to Kūhiō Beach.  In 1980, the stones were moved again, approximately 50 feet mauka (toward the mountains) from their 1963 location.

Finally, in 1997, action began to create a permanent and more appropriate home for the stones.  Cultural historian and great-great-grandson of Archibald Cleghorn, Manu Boyd, reportedly said, “The value and meaning of the stones had faded over time with the changing values and mores of the day. Then, their importance was remembered and embraced by people who wanted to restore them.”

For years, committed individuals collaborated on plans to create a wahi pana (sacred place) where Na Pohaku could be honored and protected.  This wahi pana (or legendary site) was restored with the Assistance of Papa Henry Auwae and the Queen Emma Foundation 1997.

In addition to the many involved with the restoration, a delegation from Tahiti was present for the final ceremonies. These individuals blessed the stones with wild basil, traditionally used for cleansing, and presented a small stone from Tahiti named Ta‘ahu ea as a ho‘okupu (offering). That stone is now set on top of the altar in front of Na Pohaku.

Following the direction of Papa Auwae, four plants with medicinal value were added to the site—ma‘o (Hawaiian cotton), ‘ohe (bamboo), makahala (wild tobacco) and naupaka kahakai (beach naupaka).

The group Na Haumana La‘au Lapa‘au O Papa Auwae is the adoptive caretaker of Na Pōhaku. Babette Galang, who studied la‘au lapa‘au under Auwae, explained, “We were advised by Papa Auwae before his passing that we were to malama [take care of] the site.”

The image shows Na Pōhaku Ola Kapaemahu A Kapuni.  Lots of information here from Karyl Reynolds.  In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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