Page 68 - Hawaii: Diving, Surfing, Pearl Harbor, Volcanoes and More

uring this process, if a stone were ants of these people to come to grips with religious worship were introduced and un-
D dropped it was left where it lay to and one which is best simply accepted and told thousands of people were sacrificed at
preserve the rhythm of passing; the scat- not commented or speculated upon. There Mo’okini to worship a new god, the war god
tered line of dropped stones can be followed is no counting the tens of thousands of Kuka’ilimoku (also called “Ku”). Born nearby
all the way back to Pololu to this day. The Hawaiians who were made sacrifice here on at Kapakai Kokoiki Heiau in about the year
alter stones were brought by war canoe this stone at barren, terrible Mo’okini over 1758, Kamehameha the Great was brought to
from Pa’ao’s home heiau of Taputapuatea (lit. the centuries, but the sacrificial victims were Mo’okini for his birth rituals.
sacrifices from abroad), the most powerful all gathered by a class of kahuna called the
and most feared heiau in Polynesia and the Mu, or “body catcher”; the foundation of the ong-foretold was the coming of a warrior
center of Ku worship. Boulders for corner- dwelling of the Mu can still be found among L king who would unite all the islands into
stones brought hundreds of miles across the the ruins of Mo’okini. a single kingdom and who would rule wisely,
sea from Taputapuatea were laid with human piously and long. Prophecy and legend held
sacrifices Beneath and gave a formidable t, is believed that Holoholoku Heiau was that this Ali’i would be terrible in his fierce-
power and the air of menace and despair that I used for human sacrifice in ancient Hawaii, ness, unstoppable in his strength, just in his
clings to it to the site to this day. Outside the mainly prisoners of war. Others who were laws and faithful in his observances to the
heiau walls can be found a large phallic rock killed here were those who had broken a gods. The prophecy continued that the ruler
and a flat stone with a cup-like depression kapu (who had done something that was would be born along the wild northern coast
near the top. Here, on this holehole stone, forbidden, such as walking in the shadow of of Hawai’i, the most sacred of the Hawai’ian
the baked bodies of human sacrifices were a chief ). The heiau is located right next to islands. This ruler would, according to the
stripped of flesh and the bones saved to be the Royal Birthstone (Pohaku Ho’ohanau), prophecy, wield power of proportion un-
rendered into fishhooks and dagger blades. the sacred site of royal births on the islan. It known to previous Hawai’ian Ali’i, but for all
Not much mention of the fate of the human was here in North Kohala, at Mo’okini Heiau, this destined greatness, he was prophesied
flesh from these sacrifices is made, but it is that a new religion was born. Passionate to live a lonely life.
universally documented that Polynesians priests and princes from Tahiti reconstituted
everywhere were cannibals. This is a topic and revived the laws and society of Hawaii in
that is very difficult for the modern descend- the 11 and 12th centuries. New practices of