It was a rainy day on Oahu but that didn’t stop us from continuing our drive around the island. My husband is really into history and we both love learning about the culture. So our next stop was to discover some of the sacred spots on the island.
Dave did some research and found a couple of places we just needed to go to absorb some of the spiritual cultural of the islanders. To start out, you need to understand what is Heiau . . . according to Wikipedia, “A heiau (/ˈheɪaʊ/) is a Hawaiian temple. Many types of heiau were built, including heiau to treat the sick (heiau hōʻola), offer first fruits, offer first catch, start rain, stop rain, increase the population, ensure the health of the nation, achieve success in distant voyaging, reach peace, and achieve success in war (luakini).”
The architecture varies depending on the purpose and while many were destroyed or left in ruins, there are still several you can explore. I will share two of them with you today. The first one is deep in the mountains surrounded by lush vegetation. When you drive in it is like the rest of the world disappears into this secluded spot. If you are quiet and listen, you can feel those who came before. There is a feeling of calm that envelops you as you stand before this spiritual alter. You can’t get up to the actual alter as it is blocked off to preserve it but it doesn’t detract from the feeling you get standing before it.
There is a farmer’s market going on behind us and the opportunity to hike up to the waterfall but we decide to stay down below. As we walked through the farmer’s market it is so exciting to see fresh fruits and vegetables. I even find a fresh coconut which is another of my favorite things. There is nothing better than fresh coconut milk and the meat of the coconut. If you have never experienced one fresh off the tree, you are missing out!
The milk is sweet and abundant. It takes me quite a while to finish it so I can take it back to the young man who will break it open so I can enjoy the meat. The meat of a fresh coconut is soft, sweet and juicy. The flavor is so rich and intense, it is hard to stop eating it but I know that if don’t, I will eat way too much and make myself sick. This is so different than the coconut I got in a store on the mainland. It lacked milk and the meat was hard – nothing like the experience of a fresh coconut on the islands.
As we were standing there and I was enjoying the coconut milk I took a moment to look up and encountered an interesting tree. The branches seemed to create a lace like look. I found out that they are MonkeyPod trees. You can see that they are mesmerizing to look at.
The second Heiau we stopped at was different and we were able to walk around it and explore more of the area. It was inside a State Park and a little harder to reach. There were open offerings throughout. We stopped at each one and reflected on the history and the culture. Curiosity abounds as we seek to understand what each one meant. It is a humbling experience as we come across a colorful alter paying respect to a loved one. Out of respect, there is no picture to share as it didn’t seem appropriate to invade the privacy of the family.
We walked the park the view draws me in and I am overwhelmed by the beauty of God’s creation. As I try to claim the picture, I almost slide over the edge; luckily my husband was close and grabs me to pull me back. There is just no way to describe the sense of beauty but it brings tears to my eyes and my heart fills to overflowing as I feel so blessed to be able to experience this moment. As we continue our hike we see waterfalls, beautiful vegetation with colors so intense and then open fields. We run the gamut of diversity as we walk through this park. Soon we are back to where we started and ready to journey back down the mountain to see where our adventures will take us.
To read more about Heiau go to: http://www.aloha-hawaii.com/hawaii/heiau/