Six Sacred Sites of Hawaii
Take a tour of the idyllic sites across the many islands where native Hawaiians have longstanding spiritual connections
- By Megan Gambino
- Smithsonian.com, November 16, 2011
(Photo Resource Hawaii / Alamy)
About 16 miles from the rim of Kilauea, on the southeastern coast of the Big Island, is a trailhead that leads to Puu Loa, Hawaii’s largest field of petroglyphs. The site, within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, contains over 23,000 centuries-old etchings—of dimples, circles, bars, even humans and sailing canoes—in hardened lava formed sometime between the years 1200 and 1450.
William Ellis, an English missionary who traveled to the Hawaiian Islands in the 1820s, was the first to describe the decorated puu, or hill, in writing. “On inquiry, we found that they [the petroglyphs] had been made by former travelers, from a motive similar to that which induces a person to carve his initials on a stone or tree, or a traveler to record his name in an album, to inform his successors that he had been there,” he wrote. “When there were a number of concentric circles with a dot or mark in the center, the dot signified a man, and the number of rings denoted the number in the party who had circumambulated the island.”
In addition to being a travelogue of sorts, the petroglyph field is a sacred site where native Hawaiians have been known to bury the umbilical cords of newborns. “A hole is made in the hard crust, the cord is put in and a stone is placed over it. In the morning the cord has disappeared; there is no trace of it. This insures long life for the child,” wrote anthropologist Martha Beckwith in 1914.
Comments (6)
I have been to Hawaii five times, four during WWll and again in 1996 on vacation. I failed to do proper research before visiting in '96 and failed to visit some most interesting sites. Thanks for these sites.
Posted by Louie Hornsby on February 7,2012 | 11:21 AM
I sure hope one day to go and visit in person that magnificent place and feel its spirituality and splendor. Merci-Thank you again for sharing.
Posted by Lucien Alexandre Marion on December 21,2011 | 01:13 PM
Mahalo for the knowledge you have shared. Maybe to share about sacred sites listed on each island and do an educational featuring cronilogical hstory, or the specific time periods about each moku would be appreciated. I don't remember this ever been done. That would be exciting. There is so much history, and sacred sites are referred to as wahi pana. Education and knowledge shared excites academic intrest of that unique culture.
Posted by Casina Waterman on December 7,2011 | 01:53 PM
One more reason to visit these paradise islands...
Posted by Lucien Alexandre Marion on November 24,2011 | 03:41 PM
Thankyou for showing the 6 sacred places in Hawaii. I didn't realize there was the sacred place on Molokai with the sacred rocks. I've been to all the other places except the 6th place. What about the 7 sacred pools in Hana, Maui or the Old Pali Lookout on the island of Oahu where Hawaiian battles were fought, or the Hawaiian fishpond at Koolau Ranch on the island of Oahu.
Posted by Chieko Higuchi on November 23,2011 | 10:44 AM
these petroglphs are so amazing, you can wander around for hours and get so lost in the stories they still tell
Posted by joani morris on November 18,2011 | 02:23 AM