Pathway to the Gods The place of worship

Historical pictures

Oral History relates that there was a "Pathway to the Gods" near the O'ahu Club that led to a place of worship.

Groves of trees surrounding the place of worship near the Hawai'i Kai Rec Center (O'ahu Club)

Fish petroglyph at Hawea

Hawea Interior

Low lying wall around platform at Hawea

Upright worship stone at Hawea

Kohelepelepe from Hawea

Coconut trees at Hawea

Here's more information for everyone.

A hui hou,

Ann Marie

From the book Our Hawaii Kai

by Jane Barr Stump

The Sacred Drum of Hawea

Once upon a time a man called La’a-Mai-Kahiki, adopted son of the great Tahitian chief Moikeha, decided to travel to a distant land with his astronomer and kahuna, leaving his wife

and sons in Maunalua. As he sailed along the coast of Hanuma Bay, he decided to play his special drum, and the three men chanted.

Another man, Haika-Malama, happened to be walking alolng the shore and heard the wonderful drum and the beautiful chanting. He followed the canoe in order to remember the sounds of the drums so he could make one of his own. When the canoe landed, Haika Malama pretended that the drum was just like all the other drums in the area. He then ran away and made a drum just like the one of the adopted son of Moikeha. The sound of it was so beautiful that it became a sacred drum and was later placed in the house of the worship called Hawea in the Maunalua area.

The second story of the drum appears about four hundred years later during the 16th century when Europe was going through the renaissance, Shakespeare was writing, and the Portuguese were expanding and exploring.

The islands were stabilized. The people had now become a society and the second migration had ceased. Apparently, like other people, there was a movement to unify. They wanted to become one people under one king. There were battles and Kuali’i, a great chief, unified the island of O’ahu. Our drums appears in the early part of the story of the greats chief as it is brought forth from its home in Maunalua for the birth of the great king who was to conquer all the tribes and unify the island of O’ahu. (For more information see Forandner An Account of the Polynesian Race.)

Keawaawa was a village described by Levi Chamberlain, a missionary, who wrote Trip Around Oahu in 1826, and by Mathison in his narrative in 1821 and 1822. The village was located at the head of the pond (at the time called Keahupua - O - Maunalua Fishpond) and contained about 100 huts. The people were fishermen and apparently had easy access to the sea until the Pond was walled in. At that time the village declined.

Oral history indicates that the village was located near what is now the Hawaii Kai Recreation Center (O’ahu Club). There is a spring at this spot called Waiakaaia which oral history relates was utilized as a means of obtaining water for ships that anchored in Maunalua Bay.