(For those of you,
who weren’t able to access the volcano videos in the last post, scroll down to
the bottom of that page and click on “Read in Browser”.)
This post is
the only other one that I will be doing on my recent trip, as my intent is not
to do a travelogue! In general, there
was a lot of hiking involved in addition to identifying plants and birds that
were new to me. We went from the ocean
on all sides of the Big Island, to our highest elevation of 4091 feet at the
top of the Kilauea volcano, and through several ecosystems. Miles and miles of old lava flows were seen
everywhere we went.
Our local group
leader, Kaika Nihipali-Wailani, was an award winning Hawaiian dancer and
ceremonialist. He came from a long
lineage of native Hawaiians. We visited
3 places in particular where he brought an offering for the spirits of those
locations, and chanted in Hawaiian a prayer and asking permission for our group
to enter.
The first was
at the bottom of the Halema’uma’u trail where it ends on the floor of
Kaluapele, in the Kilauea caldera. You
can see that other offerings were left there in addition to the wreath of
leaves that Kaika brought. Fortunately,
we were not near where the volcano would be erupting the next day. (If you look carefully, you can see the steam coming up from the volcano above the top of the cairn and just below the horizon.)
The second
location was the next day when we hiked down to the floor of the Kilauea Iki
crater.
It was from here that we
observed the great plume of smoke that signaled the start of the eruption.
There are many
sacred sites throughout all of the Hawaiian Islands that were established and
used by the original Polynesian inhabitants.
The forces of nature were revered as their gods.
Many of these have been lost to time, many
carefully hidden and guarded, and others desecrated.
Many
others have been preserved as National Historical Parks, and we had the honor
of visiting one of these.
Once we crossed
over to the Kona side of the island, we were able to visit one of the most
sacred locations on the western coast of the Big Island. This was the Pu’uhonua o Honaunau (Place of
Refuge) National Historical Park. This
180 acre park was once the home of the royal grounds and a place of refuge for
Hawaiian lawbreakers. It was established
about 450 years ago. Captain cook, the
first European to visit the islands, landed just north of there in 1779.
I could feel the spiritual energy and elevated
life force, or mana, as soon as I started walking around. We first walked down the coast a bit through
what would have been a former residential area.
There were also numerous burials there in lava caves that had been
documented but were off limits to the general public. Waves were crashing onto the lava
cliffs. I can tell that I am in a
special place when everything starts to slow down, as if I am walking through
pudding. I was feeling that there.
We turned back
to go to the entryway to the royal grounds. Kaika
did another prayer and left an offering before we went in. We
were walking past what would have been ceremonial altars and platforms and
royal residences.
After walking
along the beach we encountered a magnificent megalithic wall that separated the
royal grounds from the Place of Refuge.
The wall is up to 12 feet tall, 18 feet wide and 950 feet long and was
constructed over a 400 year period. It
separated the Place of Refuge from the royal grounds. The masonry was done in a way so that it
could withstand earthquakes.
The Place of
Refuge was from an ancient Hawaiian tradition that would allow lawbreakers to
avoid prosecution (death) if they could swim around the rough lava rocks to get
there, being chased along the way. Their
crime would then be absolved by the resident priest. Back then, there were many of these in
existence in Hawaii, not only this one.
What interested
me the most was the Hale o Keawe, which was a royal mausoleum that housed the
bones of 23 Hawaiian rulers, including King Kamehameha’s great
grandfather. It is said that the mana
exuded by these bones also gave power to the Place of Refuge. Below
is the reconstruction of the original temple on its original site. Offerings are still left there on
occasion. All of the wooden figures are
of Hawaiian gods and guardians of the site.
The bones of the rulers have long since been removed for safe
keeping.
I have to say
that I could strongly feel the sacred energy of this particular place, even
though many years have passed since the Hawaiian royals did ceremony here. I hung
out there for a bit just soaking in the mana.
So this
National Historical Park and the time spent with Pele and the erupting Kilauea
volcano were the highlights of my trip. Of
course, there were hikes in the jungle, a visit to a Cloud Forest Preserve, and
many new birds and wildflowers to photograph along the way. Below is a very common orchid that was seen all over in the higher elevations.
And, good food and good
company. All in all, a great trip.