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Hawaiian group to
hold purification rite
at Iolani Palace

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

A group called Reinstated Hawaiian Government is hosting a purification ceremony at Iolani Palace to right what it calls spiritual wrongs committed there during the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.

Henry Noa, director of the self-proclaimed Reinstated Hawaiian Government, said the group asked Hawaiiana experts if a purification was ever done on the palace after the overthrow.

Although no one knows for sure if it was, the group decided to put together a program that includes the ceremony as well as a dedication that honors each of Hawaii's monarchs.

The daylong event begins at 8 a.m. July 22, and it will include live entertainment, food and information booths.

"I think the significance is in our culture, whenever we have a bad event that takes place, we turn for spiritual aid and a lot of times a ceremony is conducted to remove what is known as the hewa, the wrong that was done," Noa said.

"So the ceremony, the intent of it, is to remove the spiritual hewa that had occurred 107 years ago at the time of the overthrow. It was the hewa done to our monarchy and our sovereign," he said.

Kumu hula John Keola Lake will perform the ceremony, which Noa believes was not done seven years ago during when thousands of people jammed the palace grounds to mark the 100th anniversary of the overthrow. Organizers just want it on record that a purification was done on the palace.

Noa said he is looking for hula groups to perform at the event. Those interested can call 732-3849.