{"id":9142,"date":"2014-10-09T00:27:13","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T23:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/?p=7732"},"modified":"2016-04-30T10:33:19","modified_gmt":"2016-04-30T09:33:19","slug":"mauna-kea-encounter-with-the-indigenous-people-of-hawaii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/09\/mauna-kea-encounter-with-the-indigenous-people-of-hawaii\/","title":{"rendered":"Mauna Kea: Encounter with the indigenous people of Hawaii"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"intro_0317\"<\/a>Since several years it belongs to our routines to drive to the summit of Mauna Kea, this magic and sacred mountain on the Big Island. You climb up round about 4200m from sea level, quite a demanding trip for your body and mind.
This year I didn\u2019t want to choose the easy option of a vehicle but take the Humu\u2019ula foot trail up to the summit, but about this adventure in my next post.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, October 3, 2014, a plan by California and Canadian universities to build the world’s largest telescope at the summit of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano won approval from the state Board of Land and Natural Resources. The decision clears the way for the group managing the Thirty Meter Telescope project\u00a0to negotiate a sublease for land with the University of Hawaii.<\/p>\n

\"Ahead<\/a>
Ahead to left the sacred grounds where the observatory should get built.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Despite<\/a>
Despite the serious occasion nobody was aggressive, not even tensed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some native Hawaiian groups had petitioned against the project. For Hawaiians the mountain is sacred and so is high altitude. In their tradition high altitudes are a gateway to heaven. In the past, only high chiefs and priests were allowed at Mauna Kea’s summit. The mountain is home to one confirmed burial site and perhaps four more.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The impressing face of a true Hawaiian you rarely see downtown Kailua.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"herwig-demo_0290\"<\/a>
People silently protest against the construction of the world’s largest observatory.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"No<\/a>
No money in the world can outweigh the value of this ground.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The beauty of Hawaiian tradition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday the Hawaiian groups occupied the territory where the ground-breaking ceremony for the observatory should take place. They had barred the road for quite some time. But not only on this sacred place people had gathered, all the way up to Mauna Kea people silently expressed their protest against this enterprise. We ran right into this rally. It was very impressing to see how calm and friendly everything was, not a slight touch of aggression was in the air.<\/p>\n

\"You<\/a>
You felt the serious concern of the people who met there for the one cause, to preserve the sacred land.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"It<\/a>
It was such a delighting and instructive encounter up there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>
We saw an authenticity of the Island we never saw before.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unfortunately, we are not very optimistic that this enterprise will be stopped. Maybe we shall be surprised one day, hopefully so. We are very grateful to have made this experience.<\/p>\n

\"And<\/a>
And then we left quietly and lost in thoughts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Coming on this Island you are usually so far away from its traditions and native people. The whole event is another proof for how far we Westerners are from nature and how disrupted is our respect for other peoples’ traditions and beliefs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since several years it belongs to our routines to drive to the summit of Mauna Kea, this magic and sacred mountain on the Big Island. You climb up round about 4200m from sea level, quite a demanding trip for your body and mind. This year I didn\u2019t want to choose the easy option of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2291],"tags":[370,27,781,1719,1340,208,1818,1887,1931,1975,2014,2041,2181,2207],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9142"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9317,"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9142\/revisions\/9317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}