A tropical paradise on the North Shore of natural beauty, royalty and cultural heritage
Waimea Valley, located on the North Shore of Oahu, is a destination rich with history, culture, vegetation and depicting how life was for the ancient Hawaiians, said local experts. This valley, as explained by educators at the valley's center, offers visitors and tourists an opportunity to embrace the culture and ancient traditions of the Hawaiian people in the past, yet still practiced today.
According to the Waimea Valley website, the valley is an Ahupua’a, which is a division of land stretching from the mountains to the sea. The website further explains the entire island of Oahu consists of Ahupua’as, ensuring each community has the resources they need in order to survive. Each division of land has a stream with falls that leads to the sea and across the land to cater to the basic necessities needed by individuals to survive.
According to George Del-Barrio, one of the educators of the Hale Hoike at Waimea Valley, he said, “Notice the brown signs of Ahupua’a when driving the Kamehameha Highway. It's the state's way of honoring the lines of Ahupua'a. [The signs] look like a triangle formed by a bunch of rocks with a pig’s head on the top middle. Ahu is an altar, and pua’a means pig in Hawaiian language.” He added historically and also how it is taught in the world today, following the Ahupua'a signs represents the continuation of people's journeys as they pass by each sign and onto the next. One of the Ahupua’a also makes up the botanical garden of the Waimea Valley, he said.
“This is practiced in the Hawaiian culture, that as people learn about Ahupua’a, often times they will come to know that when stopping by at any of the relatives' houses to visit, there is always a spirit of taking something or presenting a little offering like donuts and more,” he added.
“We know it was extremely important to the native Hawaiians to represent many things both spiritually in person and as part of the culture,” he said. Pointing out a display at Waimea Valley about the uses of the kukui tree and it seeds or nuts, he added, the kukui nuts and their oils are flammable. These kukui, he explained, were used to make candles, and once the candles were burned through, the shells were dried and used to hold oils used for tattooing.
In addition, he shared, “The district of Waimea, is one of the living districts, which should always be around any source of water. This serves a purpose for the community to survive, as it flows from the top to the bottom of the district, then into the Lo’i or the farming area.
Discussing the waterfall at the back of the valley, educator Del-Barrio added, “It was mostly used for agricultural purposes, since my total understanding is water is life.” He explained the cultural aspects of how to use water as it flows through an Ahupua’a. “Some of the basic things that I believe that beautifies the Hawaiian culture is that you can’t wash your clothes or do anything higher up [stream] or do any of that was a little closer down towards the ocean because ancestors wanted to use the pure water and plants or anything that was growing for medical and unique usages,” he said.
Aside from any other places in Oahu, Waimea Valley is known as the Valley of the Priests. According to Waimea Valley's website, Waimea is presented as an ‘ili kupono, a unique land presided over by the kahuna nui class of Oahu high priests. It is the home of royalty who granted a high-ranking priest the status of ali’i (chief), accompanied by his family and a small entourage of people.
According to Kawika Pangelinan, an educator and a Hawaiian studies teacher for the Waimea Valley from Haleiwa, he said the valley has been home to Hawaiians for thousands of years. “Usually, the reason why people come here is to enjoy swimming in the falls. However, along their way to the falls, we strive our best to remind everyone that this place is sacred and significant to us Hawaiians,” he said.
Moreover, according to its website, the valley is also rich with its botanical garden, featuring displays of more than 1,000 genres in over 200 plant families from all over the world. The website says it features dozens of distinct gardens representing different parts of the world. Examples of places include the Ogasawara Islands, Central and South America, Fiji, Guam and the Mascarene Islands.
Darrilyn Crisostomo, an educator for Waimea Valley from Mililani, said, “Besides from the plantation available around you, you can also see significant tools and cultural sites used by the ancient Hawaiian people. As an educator, it is now my task to let people know how ancient tools are used and what each hale (house) represents.”
On the valley's website, it provides information about local teachers and artists sharing their knowledge about the tools Hawaiians used, cultural sites and ancient Hawaiian ways of living. These local teachers and artisans said they showcase their works to tourists and share their knowledge with all who take time to talk to them. Each artisan and teacher holds a unique skill about Hawaiian history, which include coconut frond-weaving, ukulele lessons, lei making, Hawaiian weapons-making and fish hooks, kapa-making and stamping, kalo farming and poi pounding, use of kukui and coconut frond and lauhala weaving. The website also suggests visitors take the time to learn the history of the tools Hawaiians used before people visit the valley so they can carry home a treasure of knowledge to remember.
Moreover, according to Crisostomo, the hale (house) was built for ancient Hawaiians to dwell and rest. She said, “Unlike our generation of Hawaiians today, the people who used to live here have their houses built with wood, grass and coconut-fiber.” She said besides the regular style of housing of ancient Hawaiians, there are also significant hales that pertain to other things like the Halo o Lono (house of Lono), which is considered as a heiau (temple) and hale ho’ona’auao (house of education) where ancient Hawaiians were taught life skills like weaving.
Pangelinan said, “I help contribute to its beauty and history by perpetuating its culture to people coming in the valley.” He said besides teaching regularly in public schools, he invites visitors to teach and share the knowledge they gained by visiting the valley to relatives and friends who might visit this sanctuary one day. “In that way, it is preserving oral history like what our ancient Hawaiian ancestors used to do when they imparted knowledge to future generations,” he said.