Ancestors' remains laid to rest

A memorial at the corner of Kapahulu and Kalakaua will house ancestral remains that are unearthed or repatriated. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaiian ancestors whose remains were unearthed accidentally from graves at their old Waikiki homes found a new resting place at Kapi'olani Park yesterday.

"Now they can rest," said Emalia Keohokalole, wiping tears from her eyes after joining others in a wailing Hawaiian lament, or ue.

In ceremonial robes, white Victorian dimity, black lace, dark suits with royal capes and sashes or colorful mu'u mu'u, the descendants walked slowly around a new burial mound at the corner of Kalakaua and Kapahulu avenues. "Now sleep," Ema-lia said. "Sleep the long sleep."

"E oli la kou, a'ohe o makou pono Hawai'i maoli," her brother Keawe chanted. "Without (the ancestors), we have no reality, we are not real Hawaiians."

Another brother, Dennis Ka'imi Keohokalole, scaled the mound to light a gas flame inspired by the Kalakaua family emblem of a torch burning in daylight, and promised the flame would be lit on special occasions, such as royal birthdays.

For decades, parades and passersby have walked heedlessly over hidden burial places in Waikiki, said another descendant, A. Van Horn Diamond. Henceforth, Waikiki parades will pause at the intersection to honor "those who no longer cast a shadow in this world," he said.

One hundred sets of bones, or iwi, were exposed three years ago when the Board of Water Supply dug into Kalakaua Avenue to repair and replace water mains.

Another set of remains had been stored for years at Bishop Museum after being unearthed during construction of the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center.

The Waikiki discovery brought tears to the eyes of the state burial council workers called in to survey the forgotten graves.

"And for the families, there was kaumaha, a heaviness on us to know what had happened," said Emalia Keohokalole, whose family name appears on records of 19 acres of land in Waikiki.

People also realized they had a responsibility to care for the remains, and to do so in a way that showed respect for the feelings of all families involved, she said.

The eight-sided mound was designed by Keawe Keohokalole, linking the eight stars of a sacred constellation in the sky with the eight legs of the Hawaiian spider on the land, the eight legs of the octopus under the sea, and the eight main islands of Hawai'i, all in multiples of the number 4, revered in Hawaiian culture.

The new "Kahi Hali 'A Aloha," or Waikiki Ancestral Memorial, will become the resting place for other remains that may be found in Waikiki, she said. Only one-eighth of the available space was used by the first 200 sets of iwi.

The area, surrounded by a black wrought-iron fence with round white knobs atop the pickets, is the first of its kind, and provided a model for permanent and dignified protection for Hawaiian ancestral remains unearthed or being returned to Hawai'i from museum collections across the country, Mayor Jeremy Harris said.

Diamond thanked Harris for his support and said families had honored him on the night the remains were placed by handing him a package of some of the iwi and letting him help move them.

Harris said the culture that makes Hawai'i the most wonderful place in the world to live comes from the kupuna, "and we have the responsibility to honor them. We owe to them everything that we are."

Reach Walter Wright at 525-8054 or wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com.