Kauai - This Side Of Paradise

More than a century after the first tourists arrived on Kauai, the Hawaiian island is luring modern travellers with a return to tradition— and a mission to give back.

- Gina Decaprio Vercesi

THE SKY BLUSHED rose gold and lavender as dawn broke over Hikinaakala Heiau, on Kauai’s eastern shore. This sacred place, where the Wailua River spills into the Pacific, was once home to an ancient temple. It’s where the first rays of light shine on the island, and for centuries, the Kauaian people have come here to celebrate the sun’s return each morning.

My 19-year-old daughter, Stella, and I had been invited to greet the day with Kumu Leina'ala Pavao Jardin and three of the students from her hula school, Halau Ka Lei Mokihana o Leina'ala. Standing on the shore, the women—heads crowned with leafy lei po‘o, wrists and ankles wrapped in beaded lei kukui—began to clap. Their hands set the beat for the chant, beckoning the sun to rise from the depths of the ocean. “With the sun rising, there is a new day ahead,” Jardin said. “What is our purpose on this land? What is our kuleana, our responsibility?”

As the sun climbed higher, the women started another chant, this one telling the story of Hi‘iaka, the youngest sister of the volcano goddess Pele, who travelled to Kauai to fetch Pele’s lover. When her canoe reached the Wailua River, she began to chant, requesting to be welcomed ashore.

Native Hawaiians cherish this ancient legend, which conveys the deeply held principle of asking permission to enter a place that does not belong to you. “We are kamaaina,” Jardin continued, using the word for long-time Hawaii residents, “but we, too, are guests of this land, stewards of this land. It is our responsibility to share that idea with visitors, in the same way we teach our children.”