Tribal chiefs help greet Hokule‘a in Jamestown
POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY
The voyaging canoe Hokule‘a arrived in Jamestown, Va., on Sunday. So far on its worldwide voyage, the canoe has stopped in 12 countries and 55 ports.
About 300 people, including chiefs from the Pamunkey Indian tribe, Mattaponi tribe and Nottway Indian tribe of Virginia greeted the crew of the Hokule‘a as the Pacific voyaging canoe made a historic stop in Jamestown, Va., on Sunday.
As they did upon their arrival in Florida weeks ago, the crew arrived in Jamestown heralded by the blowing of a conch shell and a chant to indigenous tribes asking permission to enter the area.
On Saturday the canoe arrived at Newport News and docked at the James River Bridge Fishing Pier. There the crew shared lessons on Polynesian voyaging and the importance of malama honua (caring for the earth) as part of an Earth Day celebration organized by the Mariners’ Museum and Park.
The canoe will remain docked at Yorktown until May 7 as the crew interacts with the community at planned educational events. The itinerary includes a crew lecture at the Mariners’ Museum on Thursday and a home-school community day on Friday. The latter event will include hands-on activities that encourage participants to explore the ways Polynesians navigated the seas and interacted with the ocean.
“We greatly appreciate the efforts of our partners at the Mariners’ Museum and Yorktown, who have been planning for months to work Hokule‘a’s visit into their programming,” said Bruce Blankenfeld, captain and master navigator. “As a result, this engagement will allow us to reach and interact with hundreds of students, teachers and other members of this part of Virginia.”
Since leaving Hawaii on the “Malama Honua” worldwide voyage, the Hokule‘a has traveled more than 23,000 nautical miles, making stops in 12 countries and 55 ports.
11 responses to “Tribal chiefs help greet Hokule‘a in Jamestown”
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When the great late Indian Chief Phillip Martin came to Oahu, he met with tribal chief of the native Hawaiian Hou at the trading post, where the massive wooden tiki of an Indian was installed on the North Shore. The tiki was set ablaze in the middle of the night by those who viewed it as a “monstrosity”. It is said to be now in a field in Waialua, where it was trucked after being taken, along with the trading post property, by the same organized mob of drug dealers and drug money launderers who are active in “saving” the North Shore for rich white people, where they can be “safe” from “colored” people.
Way back in the 1980s when I was a tourist just passing by I had the pleasure of visiting Chief Maui Loa who happened to be present in the trading post next to the huge carved Indian tiki. Thank goodness somebody took a photo of the tiki, which is still available on the internet (see the front of a white car parked nearby, for comparison of size).
https://sp.yimg.com/xj/th?id=OIP.M07c7dc3e601e2bb56f26baffe9fc280fo1&pid=15.1&P=0&w=300&h=300
The Chief had a collection of rocks he was hoping to sell, laid out on a table; and he had a story to tell about the personality of each rock and how he had fount it. The big Indian tiki is now gone, but the trading post still exists a few miles away, at 59-059 Pupukea Road, across the street from the Foodland parking lot. The trading post is apparently the entryway to what I imagine must be the lavishly furnished mother church, the world headquarters of the Church of Hawaii Nei. I was fortunate to meet the Pope, kahuna nui Chief Maui Loa and talk shtory with him about a year ago, perhaps 30 years after our previous meeting (although I was disappointed he appeared not to remember me). It was an unforgettable experience, and I recommend it to anyone else who happens to be in the area.
Ken’s recollection of events so long ago slightly falters as Maui Loa never did say he made the stones or found them. They “talking stones” were carved by a local native boy who was killed in a motorbike wreck. He “found” natural stones that evoked legends and finished them by sculpting them. The entire collection of over a thousand stone sculptures was sold to a collector of Indian art. The Church of Hawaii Nei refers to the heiau up the hill, as Dr C’s faulty memory fails to also remember accurately. Also the HHCA, 1921, has language in it referencing native Hawaiian churches. The Hou 1778 Hawaiians is the more important entity. Maui Loa has married several thousand people through that church, by the way. And given as many blessings also. One might recall Sam Lono, who was an uncle of Maui Loa. Don’t fret Ken, Maui Loa knows who you are.
What an awful racist thing to say Mythmaker. Just race baiting as usual.
Hawaiian! !
Polynesian-Hawaiians are NOT Indians. This whole thing is nothing but a side show in a circus.
Hey folks. I just now looked at photo #2 — click on the little arrow at the middle along the right edge of the photo. And what do we see in photo #2? The U.S. flag is flying in its rightful position above the Hawaiian flag on the only flagpole on Hokule’a. It’s good to see that somebody knows who has sovereignty in Hawaii and in the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
That same somebody knows where their grant money and their non-profit tax status comes from too.
Its all about $$$ that use to be free flowing from Senator Inouye since the 1970’s
Free flowing to the tune of 12 billion dollars, including an annual payment to the PVS. Now Pam and Pierre Omidiyar (sp?) subsidize them.
“As a matter of courtesy, it is appropriate to fly the flag of a foreign nation on your boat when you enter and operate on its waters” (according to Sailonline.com).