Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Ancient Hawaiians built a variety of heiau for different gods and different purposes:
healing the sick, sharing the harvest, changing the weather, offering human sacri-
fice and succeeding in warfare. Some heiau were modest thatched structures, but
others were enormous stone edifices.
Today the eroded ruins of heiau, found across the Hawaiian Islands, often only
hint at their original grandeur. After Liholiho (Kamehameha II) abolished the kapu
(taboo) system in 1819, many were destroyed or abandoned. But on the Big Island,
two of the largest and best-preserved heiau remain: the war temple Puʻukohola
Heiau (
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) and sacrificial temple Moʻokini Luakini Heiau (
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)
.
The war temples were typically massive platforms built with boulders, plus
covered shelters for kahuna (priests), ceremonial drums and idols of the temple's
patron god. The larger the heiau, the more threatening it appeared to enemies.
Indeed, the sheer magnitude of Puʻukohola Heiau, built during Kamehameha the
Great's rise to power, foreshadowed his ultimate conquest of the Hawaiian Islands.
Luakiniheiau (temples of human sacrifice) were always dedicated to Ku, the war
god. Only Ku deserved the greatest gift, a human life, and only the highest chiefs
could order it. But human sacrifice was not taken lightly; typically people gave of-
ferings of food to Ku. The actual act of killing was not a necessary ritual; an enemy
slain in battle was acceptable. But the victim had to be a healthy man - never a wo-
man, a child or an aged or deformed man.
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