Mo'okini Heiau: Warrior Kings and Human Sacrifice on Hawai'i

Narrated by Frank Burgess; Produced by Donnie MacGowan; Brought to you by Tour Guide--Our GPS Tours put Hawaii at your fingertips!

Have you ever seen anywhere as stark, impressive, primitive and ancient, yet still able to raise the hackles on your neck? Here, untold thousands of people were sacrificed to worship a new god, the war god Ku. Mo'okini Heiau stands today at the north end of Hawai'i, the well preserved remains of a terrible luakini heiau built by the powerful Tahitian kahuna Pa'ao in the 11th or 12th century. This heiau was the first temple of human sacrifice in Hawai'i and the first site in Hawai'i to be preserved as a National Historic Landmark under the Historic Sites Act of 1935. Mo'okini Heiau is now part of Lapakahi State Historic Park; as Mo'okini is an active Heiau and visitors are reminded to stay away if religious observances are being celebrated.

Built on the site of a much smaller heiau, Mo'okini Heiau (lit. "many lineages") is said to have been raised in one night by as many as 15,000-20,000 men passing stones hand to hand from Pololu Valley, 14 miles distant.

Born nearby, Kamehameha the Great was brought to this heiau for his birth rituals.

To reach the enormous but especially well-preserved heiau, drive to near the 20-mile marker and turn onto the road to the Upolu Airport, heading left past the airport at about 2 miles. The unpaved section of the next 1.6 miles of road may require 4WD, but at any rate, one must park at the gate and walk 5 minutes to the heiau. The heiau itself is impressively large, 270 feet long by 140 feet wide by as much as 30 feet high.

This dirt road goes all the way (about 4 miles) to the old Coast Guard Loran Lookout and makes a wonderful beginner's mountain biking trip, especially considering the amazing historical sites along the way.

During the 11th century, warlike Tahitians arrived in the Hawai'ian Islands, conquering, enslaving, sacrificing and largely displacing the descendants of the original Marquesan settlers. Into this bloody landscape came Pa'ao, the terrible and powerful Tahitian kahuna who was affronted at the lack of respect the Hawai'ian Ali'i commanded and at the apparent weakness of the Hawai'ian gods. He sent back to Tahiti for the warrior chief Pili and together they brought worship of the powerful war god Ku to Hawai'i and strengthened the kapu system of laws and power of the Ali'i.

Worship of Ku demanded human sacrifice, which was performed at luakini heiau throughout the parts of Polynesia where Ku was venerated. Pa'ao caused Mo'okini Heiau to be constructed on the site of a previous, smaller heiau, of stones passed hand over hand from Pololu Valley. During this process, if a stone were dropped it was left where it lay to preserve the rhythm of passing; the scattered line of dropped stones can be followed all the way back to Pololu to this day.

The alter stones were brought by war canoe from Pa'ao's home heiau of Taputapuatea (lit. sacrifices from abroad), the most powerful and most feared heiau in Polynesia and the center of Ku worship. Boulders for cornerstones brought hundreds of miles across the sea from Taputapuatea were laid with human sacrifices
Beneath and gave this heiau a formidable power and the air of menace and despair that clings to it to the site to this day.

Outside the heiau walls can be found a large phallic rock and a flat stone with a cup-like depression near the top. Here, on this holehole stone, the baked bodies of human sacrifices were stripped of flesh and the bones saved to be rendered into fishhooks and dagger blades. Not much mention of the fate of the human flesh from these sacrifices is made, but it is universally documented that Polynesians everywhere were cannibals. This is a topic that is very difficult for the modern descendants of these people to come to grips with and one which is best simply accepted and not commented or speculated upon.

There is no counting the tens of thousands of Hawai'ians who were made sacrifice here on this stone at barren, terrible Mo'okini over the centuries, but the sacrificial victims were all gathered by a class of kahuna called the Mu, or "body catcher"; the foundation of the dwelling of the Mu can still be found among the ruins of Mo'okini.

There are no services in the vicinity of Mo'okini Heiau, whatsoever.

For more information, visit www.tourguidehawaii.com, www.lovingthebigisland.wordpress.com or www.tourguidehawaii.blogspot.com. (more)

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[DrBlizzardo]

My video, my music---I'm Scots--it's the signature intro music for my studio and we do a lot more than just Hawaii point of interest videos. Sorry it bothers you. Don't watch.

[DrBlizzardo]

My video, my music---I'm Scots--it's the signature intro music for my studio and we do a lot more than just Hawaii point of interest videoes. Sorry it bothers you. Don't watch.

[DrBlizzardo]

I have removed none of his comments; the comments were removed by their author--if you notice--he removed his own comments. When I take them down, they disappear completely--you never even know they were made.

I believe you'll notice I have gone out of my way to accommodate and respect ALL traditions and stories in a very short video...and many of these are deeply conflicting.

Please send me your suggestions, corrections and ideas...as you can see, I want these to be as accurate as possible.

[wayne127]

I'm curious...?? The story of this Mo'okini by the families Kahuna of Mo'okini she tell's Pa'ao is from Samoa not Tahiti. Why was the story changed in this video? In the late King Kalakaua's book he wrote that Pa'ao is from Samoa. I'm wondering at what point did the story change and why..?? If you post this the story will change in the minds of many. Eventually they will teach it. Please respect the story told by Leimomi Mo'okini Lum the Kahuna of this Mo'okini Heiau.

[DrBlizzardo]

One of the great joys of working in Hawai'ian history is that there are so many families and so many stories--many of them complimentary and many of them contradictory. But there is a rich palette of oral tradition and and varied tapestry of interpretation--this is the version put out by the Bishop Museum, for better or for worse.

Pa'ao may indeed, or indeed may not, have originated in Samoa, but he came to Hawai'i from Tahiti, with Tahitian princes and Kahuna...most people agree on this.

[promofairie1]

Thank you for the video. My husband & I tried to find the Mo'okini Heiau on our last visit. We went all the way down the dirt rd (after turnning left @ the airport). then, we came to a house on our left, amost all the way to the water/cliffs edge. From there, we turned right and drove a long way. It was incredibly bumpy & rough terrain. But, we never saw it! Can you tell me where we went wrong in our directions? If we had even been CLOSE, we sure couldn't have missed it! Thanks!

[theephraimite]

@jlsamoa Actually, many well informed Hawaiians acknowledge that Kamehameha's royal line originate in Samoa; it's just that some Hawaiians (not all), as well as other cultures in Hawaii today, are so anti Samoan, they had to change the truth. Now they are lying to the younger generation, so they can meet an anti Samoan agenda.

[theephraimite]

@DrBlizzardo Actually, King Kalakaua said it hismself. His royal lineage originated in Samoa. That's why the Big Island has many Samoan names, like 'Upolu, which is the name of one of the Samoan islands. It seems to me that you and the Bishop museum chose the anti-Samoan lies over the king's account. Many stories contradict each other, but the king has spoken. His royal his ancestors came from Samoa. Yet, you chose to believe the lies of commoners and ignore the king's account.

[GearsOfWarAddict808]

@DrBlizzardo My name is Nalei Antone Jr. I am a grand nephew of aunt leimomi mo'okini, for all that she has told me saddens me to hear such a story told & changed from someone who has no ancestrial knowledge of our heiau & i care less of your music & ancestrial background

[jlsamoa]

NO...PILI AND PA'AO were SAMOAN brothers from SAMOA not KAHIKI!! AND KING KAMEHAMEHA is of SAMOAN descent...his original name was "Tamameamea" many other people, maybe even Hawaiians, may not agree or even have heard about it but that is a story passed down from generation to generation in Samoan families and i always remember hearing about these things when my grandma and mom and aunts and uncles talked about this!!

[ThornUvDaath777]

Sorry, I'm Jewish, and we don't preserve places dedicated to human slaughter, we burn them.

[789hawaiiangurl]

wtf is scottish music doing to introduce this video, thats dumb,