Building Holua to ‘Ride in the Footsteps of the Ancestors’

Thursday, April 24th, 2025

By Catherine Cluett Pactol

Molokai residents gathered around as cultural practitioners and educators Mahi La Pierre and ‘Iliahi Doo unfurled a long roll of brown paper covered with sketches, names and dimensions. It’s a road map to building holua — ancient Hawaiian wooden sleds.
“These days are going to be like, laugh, cry, everything, and just pouring our time and energy into these things that our kupuna rode,” La Pierre told the Molokai participants of a three-day holua workshop.
La Pierre and Doo, of Oahu, visited the island last month to share their love and knowledge of holua. It was a sport of the akua and ali’i, in which brave kane and wahine rode narrow sleds that were between 7 and 18 feet in length, down a mountain track at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour.…

Statement on the Need for an Active Burial Council 

Thursday, April 17th, 2025

Community Contributed 

By Keomailani Hanapi Hirata

The protection of iwi kupuna and burial sites is a sacred kuleana that must be upheld with the highest level of cultural care, local oversight, and community authority. For remote islands like Molokai, Lanai, and others with limited state agency presence, the absence of an active burial council leaves our most sacred sites vulnerable to desecration, neglect, and irreversible harm. Our kupuna and their final resting places deserve better. 

There are four main reasons why an active burial council is critical for Molokai and remote islands. One, is the geographic and cultural necessity of the council.…