Last updated: March 30, 2021
Place
#16 - Hālau
NPS
Quick Facts
Location:
Royal Grounds
Significance:
Cultural
Designation:
National Register of Historic Places
Amenities
3 listed
Audio Description, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Scenic View/Photo Spot
Malu i ka hālau loa; step under this shaded long house and reflect upon what you have seen here today.
The term hālau refers to a long house, such as those used for meetings, as a place for storing canoes, or as a place of learning. By the park’s stewardship, several traditional waʻa (canoes) have been fashioned or restored beneath the shade of this hālau, including the sailing-canoe Mauloa, which today has become a symbol of the revival of Polynesian Voyaging traditions.
In ancient Hawaiʻi, high levels of knowledge and skill in a specific craft such as carving, tool and implement making, and fine weaving and featherwork instilled high status and respect from one’s community. Practitioners kept the secrets of their craft closely guarded with strict protocols, not unlike the guilds or trade unions formed in many Western countries. Knowledge in crafts such as canoe making, dry-set masonry, weaving, and hula to name but a few, have been handed down from instructor to apprentice over countless generations.
While advancements brought in by the industrial revolution of the last century have brought changes both fruitful and detrimental to this island world, we are thankful for the kupuna or respected elders who have dedicated their life’s work to the preservation of traditional knowledge and skill. With that in mind, these hālau continue to be places of learning and instruction, where today you may meet craftsmen preparing materials or working on their craft under the protective shelter of a pili grass roof.
Cultural demonstrators are an excellent source of knowledge and perspective, often learning and perfecting their craft over the entire course of their lives. Please engage respectfully with these priceless sources of manaʻo (thought) and ʻike (wisdom).