This huge (14 feet) statue of King Kamehameha can be found at Hilos' Wailoa State Park, Monday (King Kamehameha Day) he was decorated with many gorgeous leis at a special ceremony...these leis can be 30-40 feet long and are made from Maile (vanilla scented green vining leaf), white and pink aromatic crown flowers, Pikake (Jasmine), plumerias, orchids and more. you can smell the complex odors of all of these flowers mixing from 50 feet away...King Kamehameha was an incredible though very war like man, especially for his day and age...he was responsible for unifying the islands of Hawaii under one rule (except for Kauai), and for the Great Mahele of 1848...Mahele means "sharing" and it was due to Kamehameha's attempt to emulate the European custom of owning land (yes it was primarily a economic situation), that all Hawaiians as well as Europeans received the ability to own land individually, before this only the Ali'i (chiefs) where allowed to possess land and even then it was fairly tentative.
In 1848 the land was portioned out between the Ali'i families and certain favored others...it really didn't come into the hands of very many commoners until the Royal families began selling of portions to pay for debts or to gather funds to pay for homes/lifestyle/trips to England, etc...
This statue and the 3 others like it have a fascinating story, to read more about it, please click here. Mahalo~
1 comment:
A beautiful photograph. I was last there in uniform in 1955 the year my wife and I got married. It still looks the same except those garlands were not on it.
Abraham Lincoln
Just a Lily today, plus a shaft of sunshine on my oak tree. A blessing for a bountiful crop — I hope.
Brookville Daily Photo
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