The Stones That Remembered: Hawaii's Māhū Healers of Kapaemahu

Drift off to sleep learning about the Healer Stones of Kapaemahu, four boulders on Waikīkī Beach that have held a suppressed truth for five centuries.Long before the reign of chief Kakuhihewa in the 1500s, four healers sailed from Tahiti to Oʻahu: Kapaemahu, Kahaloa, Kapuni, and Kinohi. They were māhū, people of dual male and female spirit, and in Hawaiian understanding, that duality was the source of their healing power. Beloved for their gentle ways and miraculous cures, they were honored at their departure with four great stones moved by thousands of people on the sacred night of Kāne, imbued with the healers' names and mana after a month of ceremony. Princess Kaʻiulani laid seaweed lei on the stones before her morning swims. Then missionaries arrived, the word māhū fell into forced silence, and in 1941 the stones were buried under a bowling alley. Unearthed in 1963 and restored in 1997, the monument's signage still erased the healers' identity, until Kumu Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu and filmmakers Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson brought the story back with the Oscar-shortlisted animated film "Kapaemahu" (2020), narrated in ʻŌlelo Niʻihau, a Bishop Museum exhibition, and a new bronze plaque dedicated October 24, 2023, the first signage ever to name the healers' dual male and female spirit.Tonight's story is told twice: once at a natural pace, then again slowly, with longer pauses, to guide you gently into sleep.Support the show: https://restful-rainbow.captivate.fm/support and if not, no need at all, sleep well either way.