Category: people

King Kamehameha’s Heiau

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Pu'ukohola Heiau, Hawaii, Big Island
Pu’ukohola Heiau, early in the morning

This is the Puukohola Heiau a hawaiian temple.It took one year to build and was completed in 1791. The story of the heiau is as much about religion as it is about political decision making, propaganda and warfare.

KING KAMEHAMEHA: WALKING IN ANGER

It was ordered to be built by King Kamehameha who had been King from 1782. It is said, he “walked in an aura of violence” when he was young. A little bit of power was not not enough for him, he wanted it all. He was convinced it was his destiny to subjugate all other rulers of the Hawaiian Islands. This conviction was encouraged or enhanced by a prophecy of a Kahuna (holy person). However, King Kamehameha was able to think outside of the religious box when it suited him. He tried warfare first and when this didn’t work he built a heiau to please the war god Ku.

TEN THOUSAND MEN OR MORE

In order to build a heiau you need water-worn lava rocks. So, King Kamehameha’s men carried the stones in a chain hand to hand some 25 miles (40km) from Pololu Valley. Everybody was involved, even King Kamehameha himself, except for women and individuals excluded for ritual reasons (King Kamehameha’s brother for instance). A Kahuna had the role of the architect. 

At the time of construction the Hawaiian chiefs had been embroiled in a fight over supremacy for well over ten years. A completed heiau was regarded as so potent to success that other chiefs tried to prevent its construction. 

To consecrate the Heiau an enemy needed to be killed, ceremonially roasted and offered to Ku. There is the curious story about one of King Kamehameha’s cousins,  Keoua Ku’ahu’ula, who had fought him bitterly, but turned up at the ceremony.

SACRIFICE OR RUSE?

He must have had an inkling as to what followed next. He was captured and sacrificed. Some people think he wanted to be sacrificed. He turned up in his best gear with his best men and apparently this is how you want to go as a chief. But to what end? Were there some religious deliberations, such as he fell out of favor with the gods and the only way to get back into favor was to sacrifice himself.  Keoua’s men were decimated by an eruption of the Kilauea volcano. So he must have felt that at least Pele, goddess of volcanoes, bore a grudge. Perhaps it was some sort of deceit and he was promised otherwise. When Kamehameha’s men captured them he dodged a spear, so it looks like wasn’t willing to die.

EUROPEAN WEAPONS

But king Kamehameha didn’t only rely on the power of Ku. He also enlisted (well initially kidnapped) a couple of British seamen as advisors. And ultimately this war was fought and won with European weapons.

Homeless in paradise

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Homeless at the Armory in Hilo, Hawaii
A homeless person sleeping in the entrance of the Armory, which is now used as a gym.

Homelessness in Hawaii is a problem. Hawaii is the US state with the most homeless per capita, driven by years of rising costs and low wages. There are two peculiar aspects about homelessness in Hawaii.

DID OTHER STATES SENT THEIR HOMELESS TO HAWAII?

The first is that there are persistent rumors that most of the homeless came from other states to escape the harsh winters or even that their states of origin have given them one-way tickets to Hawaii to get rid of them.

However this is not reflected by the numbers. One study showed, 40% of the homeless had lived in Hawaii their entire life. More than half had been in Hawaii a minimum of 20 years. Only 3.3% of the homeless had lived in Hawaii for one year or less.

COFA MIGRANTS

The other is, the case of Marshallese and  Micronesian homeless. After World War II, their islands became nuclear testing sites. Between 1946 and 1958 the US dropped the equivalent of more than 7,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs on the Marshall Islands alone. Atolls became radioactive and uninhabitable, forcing the local people to relocate. In 1986, the US signed agreements called the Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Palau was later added in 1994. The US was granted exclusive territorial claims and in exchange, the citizens of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands were granted the right to live permanently in the US. They are legal residents, but not citizens, though they are required to pay local, state and federal taxes. Officials say it’s difficult to determine exactly how many COFA migrants live in Hawai’i, because they can travel back and forth without a visa or green card, but current estimates are more than 12,000.

MORE NUMBERS

Data homeless shelter gathered show that 30% were Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian, 27% Micronesian, Marshallese or other Pacific Islanders, and 26% white. Figures are much lower for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean groups.

Service providers say 40% of Hawaii’s homeless people are working at least part time, 30% need some housing assistance, and 30% have mental health or substance abuse problems that prevent them from maintaining a home.

Autumn pic

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Autumn's Polaroid picture of Queen's Bath near Kiholo Bay, Hawaii

There were only a hand full people at the Queen’s Bath near Kiholo Bay. One of them was Autumn. She shot some Polaroids and gave me this one. The Queen’s bath is a lava tube in the woods near the beach flooded with fresh water. It was Autumn’s birthday. And of course it’s autumn in Hawaii.