Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 12, 1 December 1996 — Kūpuna lāʻau lapaʻau meet [ARTICLE]

Kūpuna lāʻau lapaʻau meet

Traditional Hawaiian healers, kūpuna lā'au lapa'au, met last month, Nov. 8-10 at Lapakahi State Park, Kohala, for their fourth annual conference to share knowledge, led by Papa Henry Auwae, po'okela (foremost person) of Kupuna Laau Lapaau O Hawai'i. The conference, "Ka Uhane O Keia Wa a me Hala o Ke Ola Kino" (the time of the spirits now and past to care for the body today) drew 65 participants. It was eosponsored by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Queen Emma Foundation, Papa Ola Lōkahi and E Ola Mau (a non-profit organization of native Hawaiian heahh practitioners. The conference is held eaeh year at Lapakahi, in recognition of its role as a Hawaiian healing site a century ago. In recent years, Hawaiian traditional healers have been meeting to share their knowledge and increase pubhc awareness of heahng methods. In the past, native healers from throughout the islands would gather at Lapakahi twice a year to share, learn and work with lā'au (herbs) under the direction of the kāhuna lā'au lapa'au po'okela. The last known gathering was in 1918 with Auwae's great-great-grand-mother as the po'okela.