" The hawaiians are not agreed in the idea as to what becomes of the soul after a person dies. They say that the soul has three abiding places, namely : the volcano, in the water, and on dry plains like the plains of Kamaomao (Wailuku) and Kekaa.
Should a chief die or any of his own men or the servants of Pele, then their souls will go to the volcano, and the servants of Pele and other men will serve as they served in this world…
    Another thing : the soul also lives on a dry plain after the death of the body ; and such places are called « ka leina a ka uhane » (the casting-off place of the soul). This name applies to wherever in Hawaii nei people lived. Following are the places where the souls live :… for the Maui people, there are two places at Kekaa and the plains of Kamaomao.
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    Among the old Hawaiians it was a belief that as soon as the soul left the body, it traveled west. « Travel west » is an eupheministic term for « dying » among many other peoples. Kaena point is the western extremity of Oahu. As the newly released soul approached the point, it was met by the souls of ancestors or friends who had preceded it. They might send it back to the body if death were not real. On the other hand, if the distingration were to be final, they conducted it to Leina Kauhane, whence the soul would make its plunge into the sea on its way to eternity.
    We stopped at a stratified and overhanging mass of granular limestone between the track and the sea, near to No 63 culvert as the railroad begins to straighten out after the bend. It is Known as « White rock » to the railroad men and campers, but the Hawaiians of early days knew it as Leina-Kauhane , « the soul’s leap »."

Honolulu Advertiser, Feb. 12,1933
Newspaper Scrap Book- Bishop Museum vol « 1931 », p. 68
extraits de:« sites of Oahu », compiled by Elsphet P. Sterling and Catherine C. Summers

Catégories : articles in english
KAENA: a sacred site on Oahu
KAPALUA
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