The Tahitian He'eiau

When I was 16 the opportunity arose to join a student exchange program through Punahou Summer School that traveled to Tahiti to study French.  There were about 10 of us on the trip which included staying with local families and excursions to art museums and local places of cultural significance.  Ironically enough the family I stayed with was Chinese and spoke Chinese at home. 

Early in the trip we travelled around the main island of Tahiti, stopping at a site where archaeologists were excavating a he'eiau.  It looked very similar to the Hawaiian version, as the two cultures are very closely related.  In fact, Tahitian and Hawaiian languages are nearly the same, the only difference being certain consonants that are switched.  For example, in Tahitian the word for forbidden is "tabu" and in Hawaiian it is "kapu".  In any case, a he'eiau is basically a low wall of a few feet high surrounding a square shaped enclosure. There are often several sections and levels with an particular spot designated as the altar.

We arrived at the dig site and were taken over to a deep pit that had been dug off to the side of the lower enclosure.  I can't remember exactly why they had chosen this spot in particular to dig, if they had found artifacts or some clues that they might find something there.  In any case, the archaeologists were French so we had a translator along to translate for us since our linguistic skills weren't up to the task.  It took a very long time for the archaeologist to speak, then for the translation to us.  It was warm, and after awhile I started to feel very sick.  Assuming it was the heat and standing still, I told our chaperon I needed to go sit down. She told me to sit in the bus.

After a short time, feeling much better, I went back to the dig.  I usually find these things very interesting and wanted to get back and hear more about it.  I stood there again and within 5 minutes my stomach began to heave.  I  thought it strange, so this time I walked away to find the altar and look around.  Once I had walked 20 feet from the dig the illness stopped almost immediately.  I noticed this as being rather odd.  If I were really ill then surely it would return no matter if I sat in the bus or walked around, but I felt fine.  I decided to test a growing theory that the dig site was making me feel ill. 

After a walk around the place I headed back to the dig site being very aware of how I felt.  Once again the nausea welled up in me as soon as I got to the edge of the pit.  Stepping back made it abate, coming closer it intensified.  After we got on the bus I polled everyone else and learned that no one else had felt ill. 

Later in our trip we visited a woman on another island that was considered a Tahitian spiritual woman who we should give much respect to.  The house, as I remember it, was blue and much like every other house in Tahiti.  There were many plants outside, and dogs and cats hanging around.  The woman, whose name I don't remember, spoke to us about Tahitian spiritual practices in general and then the group moved on to refreshments outside.  The woman remained inside and so I asked to speak with her.  Through the translator I was able to relate the experience at the he'eiau, explaining how I had felt ill near the dig site and how this was not the spot thought to be the altar. 

The woman told me that something bad had probably happened in that spot where they were digging.  Sometimes there were sacrifices and possibly human ones at one point in time.  I couldn't believe that she was telling me this so matter-of-factly.  Instinctively I sensed that she didn't approve of sacrificing any living thing.  But she gave complete credibility to my experience.  She never doubted that I felt this odd nausea and that it only happened near this spot.  She told me that I was merely sensitive to these things and that the world was telling me something, that's all.  I felt better for having been validated.

What really happened? In my heart I felt that something was communicated to me.  Something happened - I wasn't sick before or after we went to the dig.  Strange things seem to happen in Hawaii and alsoTahiti. These places hold on to the spiritual thread that the ancient cultures brought to the land.  You can almost feel it in the air, a kind of different energy.  It's the kind of energy that I think people hope to find by visiting Indian sites or events.  They hope to find this powerful, primeval kind of energy that lingers just below the surface, but oddly enough I never feel that either at Indian sites or from Indians themselves.  It makes me feel sad. 

Sometimes, in places like Shiprock or Devil's Tower, there seems to be a very faint energy, but it's not like Hawaii.  In Hawaii, things happen. You get the feeling that nothing you do leaves you any control over what happens there.