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rapidly lunges forward in the wake of replacement by values inimical, in many ways, to those of extended families in large kind groups? What can silent temples be made to reveal of Hawaiian knowledge if probed, and probed with understanding? What values, if any, exist there for Hawaiians to realize how their families and ancestors of old fared under kind or ruthless power figures?
The issue of Kaho'olawe looms large in the minds of young and old alike, but the issue remains a divisive polarization of opinion between young Hawaiians who wish the Navy to stop bombing long enough to allow them to set up religious practices in accordance with present law, and older Hawaiians who see no need to recover it from the United States Navy. Common ground or agreement between them may be found, perhaps, in the realization of scientific interest and curiosity about existing archaeological sites on that island.
OHA states in its 1982 report the view that: "The Hawaiian religion was the first aspect of our culture to be suppressed. It is today the least understood dimension of the culture. As we shed light on religious and ceremonial practices, we will choose more freely how we live our lives."
There is no doubt in anyone's mind that much can be gained in combing recorded but untranslated Hawaiian documents for history on such sites that have been wasting away through neglect, due to lack of funds to study them more fully. The value, especially for young Hawaiian people, in involving themselves in careful, patient study as such is that it generates enthusiasm for authentic history. 13/
F. RECOMMENDATIONS */
From all appearances the OHA cultural plan under the State of Hawaii for implementation of action gather, record, and to make available information desired by the Hawaiian community about traditional values a religion and ethics, or rites and ceremonies, seems to be on solid ground.
In the same direction one major private corporation, American Factor has begun to seriously consider building, within a live native Hawaiian village setting, a functioning heiau kilolani, or astronomical tempi than, among other things, will feature alignment to the celestial equator/ ecliptic coordinate system, which is known to have been used by ancient Hawaiian priests in computing the sidereal and tropical calendar.
In the same context, astrophysicists and geographers have been drawn to the Pacific, Hawaii included, to continue research into potential archaeoastronomic sites in the Oceanic and Southeast Asian area. Within the last few years, some of this work has reached publication. 14/
Along these lines of inquiry, local, national, and international interest in the Pacific archaeo- and ethno-astronomy may perhaps grow, with concomitant interest in the aboriginal religious institutions that raised, as in Hawaii, temples to celestial and spiritual understanding. On never knows how much human progress there is in this mustard seed of genuine hope.
*/ NOTE: These recommendations
are reproduced directly from Professor
Johnson's paper, and do not necessarily
refect the views of the Native
Hawaiians Study Commission. (See
"Conclusions and Recommendations,"
above.)
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