Honolulu Rail Project Highlights Burial Concerns
05/19/2010
Flickr: randystoreyphotography
In Hawaii, bones are everywhere, and they're nowhere.
In a centuries-old tradition that departs sharply from common mainland practices, Polynesians buried their dead in unmarked graves from the time they arrived in Hawaii, seeking to protect their loved ones' spiritual power (mana) from theft.
The City and County of Honolulu's $5.3 billion plan to construct a 20-mile elevated train line from West Oahu to downtown Honolulu, which would become the largest infrastructure project in Hawaii history, is almost certain to contact iwi kupuna at one point or another.
How those burials are treated — especially in the culturally sensitive area of Kakaako — tells us a great deal about the relationship between Native Hawaiians and their government, not just in Honolulu but across the state. A public official who has direct control over what happens next seems resigned to the prospect of relocating bones.
