Visiting Pu’uhonua (A Place of Refuge)

Not quite recovered from jet lag, we ventured out to Pu’uhonua, the Royal Grounds, a kind of living history in the summer but quiet just now.  Here, we wandered past rich murals and attended a lecture that explained a little of Hawaii’s history and culture.

Sometime between 1100 and 1400, the Hawaiian people came to these islands in boats from Polynesia and Tahiti. Between 1400-1600, the chiefs created a separate and sacred place to live. 

All followed strict rules (kapu); violating kapu could mean death — even as simple as a man and a woman eating a meal together, or eating a certain type of fish at the wrong time of year. 

View of Great Wall and Royal Mausoleum (Hale o Keawe)

Here, the first temple was created, and here also, a place of refuge for those who violated kapu — if they could reach it! Our guide talked of people fleeing through the jungle or swimming across the bay, hunted all the way. Not everyone who sought refuge made it to safety.

These wooden images represent Hawaiian gods called ki’i and protect the bones of ancestors buried here, a place of great mana (spiritual power).

Everything began to change when Captain Cook sailed to Hawaii in 1779. All this history makes me want to run to the library for more information after walking on these beautiful grounds under a very warm sun, just made bearable by a cooling ocean breeze! Aloha!

WRITING UPDATE: Morning quiet means the final revisions are going well. I'm working on the very last section of Scattered Stones. Exciting to see this story almost finished. And, yet, here we are in Hawaii, bringing me thoughts of Jamie, Moira's youngest brother, who at just a little over 10 years old, left her in Inverness to join a ship bound for China -- stopping at Hawaii along the way. 

Is that the next story? Or should I begin work on that second art crimes story set in Egypt?

HELP? I am looking for folks who might be interested in joining my Advance Reviewer team! Please send me an e-mail if YOU are interested!