Kamehameha

Today is Saturday, November 12, 2005, one day before my son (Nimai) ‘s birthday.
He is actually very happy, especially because we went to visit Hawi Town, the birthplace of the King Kamehameha and he got a big size ice-cream Tomorrow, we will take him to Kona to buy his new toys; games, etc.

Nimai’s birthday aside, Hawi is a nice little town, with nice views to the ocean, where one can easily picture the Wales. According to the great lady, Marcell Loren, who was raised in Hawaii since 1959, from this time of the year until Eastern, many people comes from all over places to glance over these beautiful aquatic animals, and experiment the unique magic of this remarkable time of the year. The Wales, looking for warmer waters, are migrating from Alaska to Hawi, where they can joyfully mate. Well, I did not take any picture of the Wales, nor did I take any of Kamehameha statue yet; however, I will be coming back for more...

In this tour, Marcell kindly took us (Hermann, Regina, Nimai) to see the birthsite of King Kamehameha. We toured around the coastline until we arrived at the ancient site, which the Hawaiians consider the actual birthplace of the King. Being Marcell well acquainted with the place, we first stopped at a magical place that was built with stones and she said, “Mookini Heiau is the place where the Hawaiins use to practice their rituals, a long line of more than thousands men, starting from Pololu Valley, passing stones to each other; it was how this place was built in just one day”.

Searching online I found at PAX7net.com the following:

"Mookini Heiau measures about the size of a football field. The heiau was built by 18,000 men, passing each stone hand-to-hand in a single night from Pololu Valley, about fourteen miles away!"

The place has such a high energy that one feels as if an especial power is actually dragging the explorer into the mysterious past.

Another interesting thing on that sacred spot was a “stone-bed”, which is a source of contradiction for many. Some people say that the “stone-bed” was used in rituals involving human sacrifice; others say it was a resting place for the new babies, presumably from the Royal family. As Marcell explains, “It is all a matter of consciousness; some see in one way some see on the other way, but it is a fact that Hawaiian culture has no much to do with violence in ritual, as the Polynesian culture does; It maybe possible that Hawaiians had suffered influence by this foreigner culture. In this way, one may find traces of violence in it”. However, either way one may look at it, this place, which is known as luakini heiau (sacrificial temple) is one of the most famous in Hawaii, as so it surely deserves admiration.

After spending sometime at Mookini Heaiau, we all left to the Birthplace site of King Kamehameha, which completes the historic landmark touring. The birth site is a memorial to Hawaii's greatest king, who united the island chiefdoms into a kingdom, and as far as I understood, King Kamehameha never faced any defeat in his lifetime.

Historic facts aside, Hawi offers a picturesque road-trip. It gently takes one to the past and the nowadays people, who, as Marcell Loren, are helping to preserve the environment and culture, which Hawaii possess in great splendor.

Marcell, your first guess about the date when all those things occurred was close. It was in the year 1753 that the King born, he actually born 352 years ago. Considering the time all, those stones were place in his homage, he maybe in his middle age that leaves us with 300 years, and you said 280 yeas ago. Very close indeed.

Click here to read about Kamehameha's Celebration Day.

Hawi's Deep Blue Ocean