Missing sacred staffs returned to mausoleum
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
Two sacred staffs that have stood over the crypts of Hawaiian royalty for 113 years were returned last week to the Royal Mausoleum in Nu'uanu Valley, the mausoleum's caretaker said last night.
William Kaihe'ekai Mai'oho said the staffs were returned to the mausoleum, known as Mauna Ala, after a five-year absence. He declined to say where the staffs had been or to provide other details.
"People came to me and said they were placed in a cave, and that's when I got concerned," he said. "They were returned, that's the main thing. That's the only thing."
In ancient Hawaiian culture the staffs, or pulo'ulo'u, symbolized the presence of royalty, according to experts.
They were carried at the front of royal processions and were found in pairs outside of a royal house.
If royals decided to take a swim, pulo'ulo'u would be planted nearby to warn others away.
Typically, relics — such as bones, teeth or hair — of ancestral chiefs who watched over the living chiefs or chiefesses were stored in the orb of the pulo'ulo'u, which had strong mana, or spiritual power.
Mai'oho has said the pulo'ulo'u that stand before the crypts at Mauna Ala are symbolic and do not contain relics. But, he said, they have strong mana.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
