Hale o Keawe Heiau - Pu'uhonau O Honaunau National Historic Park - HI - Outdoor Altars on Waymarking.com

This former royal ground is a place of refuge and holds a sacred altar, or heiau (hey-ow). No blood may be shed here. At the Hale o Keawe heiau, anyone guilty of kapu (sinful or illegal acts) had the opportunity to get to this altar and have rituals performed by the kahuna pule (priest) to cleanse the kapu and cleanse the soul. This is also where defeated warriors could be cleansed and offer loyalty to their defeater with amnesty. After driving through rough, obstructive lava fields to get to this park, it's hard to imagine how it was reached years ago.

In old Hawaii, you had broken a law the penalty was death. Perhaps you had entered into an area that was reserved for only the chiefs, or had eaten forbidden forbidden. Laws, or kapu, governed every aspect of Hawaiian society. The penalty for breaking these laws was certain death. Your only option for survival is to elude your pursuers and reach the nearest puuhonua, or place of refuge.

As you enter, the great wall rises up before you marking the boundaries between the royal grounds and the sanctuary. Many ki'i (carved wooden images) surround the Hale o Keawe, housing the bones of the chiefs that infuse the area with their power or mana. If you reached this sacred place, you would be saved.

Today, you may visit Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, and still fell the spirit of peace and forgiveness that continues to surround and bless this special place.

National Park Service website