Places on Kauai: The Holoholoku Heiau

Basic Information

• Name: Holoholoku Heiau
• Where: Kapaa, Kauai
• Founded: 1300’s
• Hours: Open at all hours
• Cost: Free
• More Information: Ancient Sites of Kauai

Directions

Getting to Holoholoku Heiau is very easy.  From the airport in Lihue take the Kuhio Highway north towards Kapaa.  Immediately after crossing the Wailua River bridge make a left turn on to Kuamoo Road.  A short distance up this road the sign for the Wailua State Park can be seen.

Parking

Next to the Holoholoku Heiau there is a blacktop pullout used for parking.  There is plenty of space in this small pullout considering the few visitors this heiau receives.

HAWAIIAN MEANING

According to the book, “Place Names of Hawaii” the word “Holoholoku” means “to run and stand”.  The temple is named after the foster parents of the legendary Kauai chief Kawelo.

Narrative

Considering how the Holoholoku Heiau is just a random stop along the road up the more popular Wailua River overlook, visitors may be surprised to learn that it is believed to be the oldest temple on  Kauai dating back to the 1300’s.  It is also believed that the temple is the first place on Hawaii where the sharkskin-covered drum called a “kaeke” was introduced from ancient voyagers from Tahiti.

The heiau was 24 x 40 feet in size and the walls would have been much larger than what is seen today.  Much like the nearby Hikinaakala Heiau, this was also a place of refuge where people fleeing punishment for a crime can receive amnesty if they reached here before being caught.  However, if they were caught this was also the place they were brought, not for amnesty, but to be sacrificed to the Gods for their crime.

With that said it is a bit ironic that right next to a temple used for human sacrifice is the royal birthstones known as Pohaku Ho’ohanau which in Hawaiian means “giving birth stone”:

Expectant mothers from the Hawaiian royalty would come here to lean against the stone to give ease the pain from childbirth.  After giving birth the child’s umbilical cord stump would be wrapped in the hair of its mother and placed in a crevice known as Pohaku Piko or “umbilical stone”.  The Hawaiians believed doing this caused the rock to become a guardian of the newborn child.

Conclusion

After Christianity came to Hawaii the traditional Hawaiian religion was overthrown by the monarchy.  To make a point that the old Gods were no longer welcome in Hawaii, the wife of Kaumuali’I, the last king of Kauai used Holoholoku Heiau as an enclosure to raise pigs in.  There are no pigs anymore at Holoholoku Heiau, just an interesting site to learn more about the cultural history of the Hawaiian people.  For people not interested in learning more about the cultural history of the island then visiting a heiau like this is probably not worth spending the time to see.